i own one of each, vastly prefer the faded. It has a (fractionally) slimmer neck, IF your guitar is the 'right' piece of wood, the '57CH p'ups are decent, the newer ones in the Pro series sound rather lame to me, whichever guitar i try them in. The push/pull switching just sucks, imo.
Polished...
Buddy of mine knew Dime from the bar-band days in Dallas before Pantera 'made it'. Says Dime really was a nice guy, who loved his fans. What a sad thing.
Dry run is your friend here.
Install both E string tuners into the headstock, the tailpiece & bridge studs & respective hardware. Find 2 old strings, wind them onto the tuner posts. At this point, you're asking"what holds things together?" aren't you? Answer: the clamp you'll use to glue it...
That "glassy' look on the headstock is the result of multiple coats of lacquer being sprayed, then wet sanded to an even, dulled surface, then polished with polishing compound, then progressively finer polishes. there is no corner-cutting in doing a good finish. It takes time, and most...