Mike Newton comments about the steels: “Both of them are 1936/37; begun in ’36, shipped out in ’37.  The OK guitar is FON (Gibson factory order number) 1143B-9, Spiegel serial number (put on at Gibson) 271; shipped to Spiegel 1/20/37.  Gibson referred to these as the S-34 model; Spiegel catalog number was 8709, S/S ’37 catalog.  The steel is FON 1183-2, Gibson number S-36, Spiegel number 8710.  Obviously it was never shipped to Spiegel; after being made in to a Gibson, it was probably one of a job lot of miscellaneous instruments dumped on a pawn shop; Gibson did that occasionally to get rid of odd inventory.  I’m sure it was shipped out in ’37, but we haven’t been able to find it (or anything else from batch 1183; apparently NONE of them made it to Spiegel) in the shipping ledgers so far.”

It must have looked a little odd so the stencil master took an element from below to balance it out. I imagine a sense of accompishment he must have felt. Not just for an order or helping clear the shelves of unwanted inventory… But also instantly creating a custom shop beauty whose improvised elements looked just right.