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Hi Dennis,
Thanks so much for the tips - I will try your technique on the fretboard - I do have a 16" radius sanding block and will give it a shot - was planning on waiting to see what the wood will do - I SWEAR I saw it moving on it's own - the tree must have been possessed! When Tony had me unwrap it last night, he noticed some "Mystery Blotches" on it that have been disappearing and re-appearing! Now it's forming a grand canyon!

Yeah the vacuum was one of the things I inherited from my deceased father's estate from 10 years ago! Just a cheap shop-vac, but really seems to suck.... in a good way LOL.

Will keep everyone posted on what's going on - thanks again!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Thanks Chris - yeah, I have made so many changes since the original design, and that has been one advantage of taking so much time on this - so the bondo is no good for filling up the trussrod slot? What do you recommend?

Thanks, V

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

The rod has 2 plastic drinking straws (To keep it moving freely) surrounding it and a crescent shaped piece of poplar that forces a bend on it, this way, when tightened it goes opposite of the string tension. I'll check out more stuff for the next guitar - I know I can't stop at one!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

i would be lying if said that I thought dragons were cool, but I would also be lying if I said i was not super impressed with all that inlay work. looks great man.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Thanks so much - I visited your web site - those are some fine looking and totally unique guitars - appreciate ya droppin' by!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

thanks for the compliment sir. I really am very impressed by that, i sure didnt have the guts to tackle something like that on my first guitar.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Pretty impressive work and dedication. I'm definitely one to go all out on crazy ideas like this. I'm getting ready to plane a 68lb slab of Cocobolo for a one piece build. Wish me luck.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Thanks for checking it out - WOW! I thought I was crazy! Be sure to post your pics on the forum! By using a dremel, you can enjoy the process of the build for a long, long time LOL

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Latest Update:
On Friday night, I filled up the huge crack with ebony dust and thin CA glue - then, Saturday morning I sanded everything down and so far, no more cracks have shown up. Yesterday, I fixed the 24th fret that I smashed into pieces when trying to install the fretwire. I am not sure as to wait a few more days to see if anymore cracks show up before inlaying the dragons. I also have some concerns with the alignment of the fretboard that I should ask you all about.

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Hey egg-man,
fantastic video!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alan

Ha! Thanks Alan - I did that video last year - it took me 4+ months to do - it was one of those "If you were to make the coolest video possible, with no time limit and every creative idea possible needed to be done that comes to mind" videos. 4 months later I started this guitar project - I guess you can call this stuff items from my "Bucket List". Thanks for checking it out!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

OK, So the first thing I had to do was to repair the 24th fret inlay I destroyed the other day by "Hammering in" the fretwire - the solution is to actually file the inlay first with a triangular jeweler's file to make a "V" notch across the fret, since shell does NOT give like wood - thanks DennisK for the suggestion to press the frets in - I did that on the last fret and at seems to work - would love to get a fret press caul from StewMac when I get some more funds - anyways, I located the inlay pieces that flew around the shop -all but one, which I had to re-saw as you see in the photo below:



Next, I re-glued all of the pieces back into the routed out section:



After a 1/2 hour of filing, I got the faux turquoise piece to actually fit:


And here is everything sanded level:


Next, I decided it was ok to begin the process of the inlay of the dragons - last I posted, I was freaking out because the Gabon Ebony decided to start cracking on it's new home, so I filled the cracks with ebony dust and CA glue and since Saturday morning, it has not cracked, so I am going for it!

I first had to re-glue the dragons down to a flat board (With wax paper) and I had to fill up the areas that had the Green abalone with epoxy - the reason why is because everything else is 0.060" thick and I did get a good deal on a pound of Green Ab, but it was 0.030" so it made it uneven with the rest of the inlay. This technique I actually came up with myself when I installed the inlay on the fretboard - I looked around for suggestions on the web, but to no avail and thought it would work and it did. After it gets filled, I then sand it level with the rest of the inlay pieces. This pic is a little blurry, but it does have the epoxy on the green ab on the neck part of the dragon:



Next, I taped off the body with painter's tape because ebony dust will get all over EVERYTHING, so I wanted to make this all as easy as possible. I then started putting on the yellow poster paint to get ready for the next step...


This is so funny - it looks like I'm letting my daughter paint my guitar for me:


Tomorrow, the epoxy should be dried thoroughly and I will then move on to my next step - stay tuned!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

WHEW! I have been hacking away at these dragons! Tony and I also addressed a MAJOR issue with the neck that was cut incorrectly and Tony fixed it yesterday/today - I will be posting all of that info soon - anyways I finally got the dragons inlaid in the body after a week of grueling routing, sanding, gluing. picking. sanding, etc.

First, I painted the body with yellow poaster paint and aligned the dragons to where I wanted them:


Then I applied small dabs of Elmers on the back of the top dragon:


Glued!:::


Gluing bottom dragon:


Both glued:


Next, I traced both dragons with an X-Acto blade:


Then popped off the dragons:






Then I began the 3 day routing ordeal:


It takes such a long time because I do not force the 1/32" router bit to the 0.055" on the first pass - I actually make 2 passes of that, then go back with the 1/8" meat cutter.

Routed:


This actually looked pretty cool on it's own - kinda like "Tiki Art"??


When I routed down to the desired depth, the cracks in the ebony became very obvious again, which I ended up fixing before putting in the dragons - you can see the HUGE crack going the length of the dragon on the right:


Glued in:




After 1st round of sanding:




Last night, I began the inlay of the prehistoric sharks teeth:


Stay tuned - I'm working everyday on this beast! And thanks for all of your kind words - V

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

That's really coming out nice, Virgil!

Nice! How much to do this on my guitar? LOL

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Thanks Alan! I'm really excited now with the dragons in there! I am FINALLY putting in the prehistoric sharks teeth, which I have been so waiting for!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Hehehe Tony! If I did this whole thing at minimum wage for someone, they would fall over at the price!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Thanks Chris - yeah, I started drawing when I was just a young whipper-snapper - started with pen & inks, then eventually became a published cartoonist for a couple local mags in Tuscon back in the day - but I have been doing graphic art as well with a web design company I owned for a few years - it's been nice to get some of the goods FINALLY on a guitar - appreciate ya droppin by!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Those are real shark teeth you're inlaying? Badass.

Nice work on the routing and gluing. Tough to fit complex shapes without lots of gaps around them. The ebony is an excellent choice for this sort of thing, making filled gaps almost invisible anyway.

Usually I can get the full depth for 1.5mm shell in one pass, by first cutting the edge with a 1/16" bit so I can go relatively quickly (which also makes the central hogging at the end go faster, when the edge line is wider so you don't have to be so careful). Then go into the tight areas slowly with 1/32", followed by x-acto knife for pointy corners. Although Madagascar rosewood is the hardest wood I've inlaid into so far, so maybe the ebony is just too hard for a 1/32" bit at that depth regardless of how slow you move and whether it has open space around it.

Also, I'm impressed you got those things popped off intact after the marking process, with so many elmers dots That stuff can hold things down surprisingly well. Looks like the paint really helped there, peeling off instead of having to break the glue itself.

And to Mr. Verhoeven, just go for it With these things, it's the physical construction that takes forever, so you can pretty much spend as long as you need to get the drawing just right and it will still be a small percentage. Maybe draw on computer. It's much easier when you can draw in white just as easily as black, so you can rough it out in one pass, and then go carve out what you really wanted from the mess. What's really difficult to me is cartoon style drawing, making large smoothly curved lines in a single stroke. I've been drawing all my life and still don't have that kind of hand control. You really need a wacom tablet for computer drawing though... mouse is not fun, unless you're doing low resolution/pixel art type stuff.
You can do that style with pencil and paper too though, if you have an eraser with nice pointy corners for accuracy. Gum erasers are my favorite. Nice sharp edged rectangle, made of soft material that crumbles away and takes the graphite with it, rather than just smearing like a harder eraser tends to do. You can cut them in half to get more corners when they get too rounded over. But still, not quite as freeing as computer, since you can only go back and forth so many times before the paper wears out.

Hi Dennis!
Yeah man, these are real prehistoric shark's teeth I'm using - some from North Carolina and some from here in Florida - they range from 5 to 22 million years old and are very brittle to work with, some are more stable than others and I have approx. 450 to work with, and I will be using them for the claws of the dragons as well.

Surprisingly so, the gaps have been minimal, however always present. And as for the elmer's glue, I did go a bit heavy, however, it pops off pretty easy with the poster paint underneath.

I definitely agree with you going with the 1/16" bit for the outline, however, the Gabon Ebony is so freakin' dense, it was wanting to "jump"", hence me going around twice. I even broke my stewmac 1/32" bit whilst going slow at half the depth! On the sharp corners I have tried using a razor, but prefer using dental burs I got from my dentist, which are so small, that gaps are at a minimum and the CA glue covers everything - Since there are dozens of sharp corners, I knew the faster, sneakier way - I originally was going to inlay the dragons on flamed maple with a redish/burgundy translucent stain, however, since I am using woods for the inlay (as opposed to just shell) I was forced to come up with an alternative, and knew the ebony would be the best choice for the inlay, since it is so forgiving for inlay work.

And I concur with the point of drawing on the computer - I do have a Wacom tablet, which makes everything easy breezy. Even for the fact of getting all of the sizing perfect for inlay work - Adobe Illustrator has been dead on for ALL of the specs on this build, and all print outs on paper have been exact.

For the next few days, I will be inlaying all of the teeth & claws, which are all going in by eye/hand, with no computer help. I have been using the dremel extention cable/pen with these dental burs to first grind off the jaw bone from the sharks teeth, then to get them a bit more flat, then digging the holes that they are going into - it's pretty scary , but fun at the same time. Trying to get them flush with the wood has been a trick, because the teeth are basically flat on one side and rounded on the other. Each tooth has been a challenge thus far! thanks for droppin by!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I have spent the last several days working on the eyes & teeth of the dragons - this pic shows all of the teeth done on the dragon on the right and the beginnings of the dragon on the left. Using prehistoric shark teeth has been a bit tricky as some of them are very brittle and the process requires dremeling off the jaw bone, shaping the tooth, tracing around the tooth with an X-acto blade, then free-hand routing with a dremel into the substrate, which is tricky because the tooth is a bit "rounded" on the other side and requires different depths for different parts of each tooth. I have to admit that this isn't your average hobby that most people get into. ......


After the tooth is fitted, I then use CA glue to bond it into the routed holes:
Yes, I notice the gaps around the eyebrow of the pic above - I have not yet done all the touch-ups yet!

Because of the convex shape of the 5mm snake eyes I purchased from the taxidermist, there ended up being the problem of them not sitting flush to the surface - I even attempted to dremel them a bit more level and the dremel pulverized them, so I ended up cutting a drinking straw, cut a thin slice of plastic from a coffee can lid (For the eye slit) and decided to make my own eyes out of nail polish and CA glue:


This would have been fine, but the pieces ended up falling off of the coffee lid part because that plastic was too slippery...


I ended up taking a slice of plastic from the coffee can lid and jammed it into the eye sockets of the dragons themselves and poured the mixture directly in to the holes on the guitar and it came out fine - this pic aslso shows all of the teeth in - they are not sanded/cleaned up yet, but I will do that after all of the claws are in (Yes, I'm using the shark's teeth for claws too - can you see the 1 claw below?):


More stuff coming soon!
Thanks for all your support!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Wow, methinks this takes the cake for most ambitious first build and possibly most patience demonstrated on a first build. Keep up the good work and lots of pics!

Hi Hugh - thanks so much - I have questioned my sanity several times during this build - especially when everything seems to go wrong at the same time.... I just took another break just now - I had dremeled about 25 or so shark's teeth that were going to be used for the claws and accidentally dropped them all over the floor and had half the family searching for them and we only recovered about 10.... it was a couple hours of work that set me back, but I definitely feel I'm on the home stretch. I am coming up to some more "Luthier" based steps that I will definitely need some support on from everyone here and I am actually looking forward to my next build which my guess should be a cakewalk compared to this! I am hoping that the build will be done by Memorial Day weekend if everything goes as planned. Appreciate your kind words! Thanks, V

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

OK, I'm back from a much needed short hiatus, and I did some things before I left and worked some more on things this week - last week I took the 2 puppy's teeth my wife had saved and used them as the dragon horns - Molly's is on the left and Raven's is on the right:


Here they are in the holes:

Raven:

Molly:


Yesterday I finally inlaid the rest of the dragons teeth and claws:





Today I'm working on the knobs and waiting for FedEx to deliver the gold & silver sheet & wire to make the tongues and whiskers - that will be the final inlays and on to the fretboard & neck! Stay tuned - thanks, V

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I was wandering about the upper dragon wings webbing cooking.
You coocked it in sand ?
I'd love to try that, what exactly did you do there ?

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