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This thing is gonna look SEXY AS HELL when finished cant wait to see it!

Yeah, I just got some bad news this morning - found out from my painter/finisher guy "Mo" that it isn't gonna be ready this week - he's now looking at the end of next week. So that will be 6 weeks....... I am starting work on guitar #2 - that will fill the time!

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

Guess who's back in town?

That's right - I picked up the dueling dragons from MoeColors (Moe does all the custom finishes for Dean Guitars custom shop) this morning.......

I about fell over looking at the finish, but I still have some goods to do before I can jam on this bad boy - right now I'm masking off the cavities to apply the conductive paint for the next 3 days.

MORE pics coming SOOOOOooon!

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

Seriously?!?!?!?! You're gonna tease us all like that?!?!? Come on, at least post one picture...

Alright alright - I agree - however, my priority is to get this conductive shielding paint on for the next few days... Gabby, I saw the headstock and said "I CAN SHOOT THAT!" so here's at least the headstock for now:

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

It looks like at the side of guitar (Center/bottom leg curve) isn't finished, but that's the reflection of the towel!

It's a 70's reissue Japanese strat in the reflection before all the interrogation begins

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

Ye Gods! A masterpiece!

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks Chris! Having a bit of a time capturing the "essence" of the job he did without setting up my pro lighting. The fluorescent light is giving me a bit of an issue, but I snuck out a couple more for you all -









Also, I checked the fretboard to see how flat it is (Not the frets, the fretboard - I made my own straight edge with bevels to go over the frets) and it appears to be dead on flat, so I guess I'm good to do the fret leveling - wish me luck 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

*Thump* (jaw hits floor)

That's freakin' beautiful, Virgil!
Really nice!
Congrats.

Ha! You ok Gabby?

_________________
"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 Alan!

Yesterday I got the 1st coat of conductive shielding paint - 3 coats with 24 hours between coats and may put a 4th coat, so Mon/tues. will be done with that. Last night I leveled the frets with my steel beam, then used the fret rocker and found some touch-up spots, did the fret crowning, followed by polishing wheels then steel wool. I was amazed as to how flat the fretboard was. I need to file slots on the Schroeder bridge to match the 16" radius of the fretboard still, then install the electronics. Actually, I ran into a discrepancy with the StewMac 5-way rotary switch electronics tech sheet and decided to make my own - Comments on their web site were stating that they were missing the ground wire to the tone pot and also, I have the Dragon II pups that had a wiring diagram that was clashing with stew mac's, so I decided to make my own - if anyone has experience with the PRS electronics, please tell me if this diagram I made is correct - thanks so much!

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

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/c=P0dDgG9Aby1pGqKRI6TOF5g8h/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams.2_pickup_guitar_wiring_diagrams/

Looking great Virgil.

Thanks Man! I went and looked at the plans on the above link and unfortunately the diagrams show a slightly different version of the 5-way selector switch I bought from StewMac. There are things that I'm running into that are contradictory to each other, for instance the PRS wiring diagram that the Dragon II pups came with have the ground on one pup red and the other pup is black. The StewMac diagram doesn't show a ground that goes to the tone pot and in the Comments section of the PRS wiring kit, everyone says that they forgot to put a ground wire to the tone pot.

So I'm just merging the 2 diagrams together and hope everything works 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

Alright everyone!
I had allot of progress this weekend - Friday early afternoon I painted the first coat of conductive shielding paint, then I moved on to leveling the frets - I was a bit nervous at first, but had all of the tools, have read up on it quite a bit, watched videos, read some more, meditated, slept on it, watched more videos, read more books, articles, etc. then let it all sink in THEN I did it.

First checked the flatness of the fretboard with my homemade straightedge that has notches (Did I say NACHOS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING NOTCHES!!!) dremeled out for the frets on a 25" scale fretboard and it was perfect!, I did the tape-off job, marked the frets with a blue marker, sanded with the 16" stewmac heavyazz leveling bar, checked for uneven frets with a fret rocker, found about 10 or so spots I ended up sanding down slightly, crowned them, polished with the dremel wheels, followed by some 0000 steel wool, double checked with fret rocker and then I had to file grooves into the bridge saddles on my Schroeder bridge, got all the strings at the 16" radius. Put 2nd coat of conductive shielding paint on yesterday, then the final coat today, then I sanded the nut down to get the clearance right at the 1st fret, checked the back-bow at the 8th fret (007) then tuned up the guitar and played Funk# 49 (James Gang) and it was quite an awesome experience . My initial design was done on August 12, 2010. I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this elaborate design, but it has been quite the journey.

Tomorrow, I will attempt to install the 5-way rotary switch/electronics, put on the final hardware, set the intonation & plug this bad boy in. The painter dude Moe still has the knobs & backplate, which will be done in 2 more days.

Guitar #2 was in the works, but is on hold...... ((((((((((((((((((insert drum roll here)))))))))))))))))))))))

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

What a day!
I worked quite a while wiring and soldering today(I have done this quite a bit over the years on guitars) but ran into some problems - fixed all but one - one of the selections on the 5 way selector switch makes the guitar sound like is coming through an AM radioMaybe I am on to something here?}. Will look at it tomorrow.... I did plug it in and jammed on it a while and I have to admit, it came out way better than I expected. It was a strange feeling - to play a guitar that took me forever to build. It actually sounds great, has low action, a great feeling neck and has the best balance of any guitar I have ever played - meaning, when it sits in my lap, it doesn't tip to the neck or the base. This was certainly not planned, it just happened to come out that way. The guitar is lighter than my PRS, but sounds better than! I have some final tweaking, and still need to pick up the knobs and back cover plate from Moe.... so as soon as it's complete, I will do a nice photo shoot and upload a video as well.

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

Congratulations, Virgil!
I'm glad you like it!

congrats, Virgil. I know you've gotta be really proud to see something like that to fruition. It was a beast of a project.

Hi Alan! Thanks man for ALL your kind posts!

_________________
"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 Roger!
I know this may sound insane, but not once did I say during the build " AK, I WISH THIS WERE JUST DONE!" I actually enjoyed the process and the learning more than finishing it.

Tomorrow I pick up the knobs and backplate and get to do the final touches - I have to do some mods on the pot shafts because they are too high for the knobs I made - maybe I should buy a chainsaw for that? (hehe) Also, the 5 way selector was not working right, so another is on it's way tomorrow. Today I set the intonation - only 3 strings needed adjustment - couldn't believe it! Jason Shroeder had given me some tips on setting up his bridge - I also had to modify it to the 16" radius - I jammed on the guitar some more tonight - this all has not quite sunk in yet.

Here's some more pics of the finals:



Grounding wires to connect the conductive shielding paint in the pup cavities:

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

Whhhooooooaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the suspense was worth it...at least for me. Hearty congratulations to you, Virgil! You should be incredibly proud. That's a remarkable first guitar!

So...what's planned for your second?

Yeah, the question now is - how do you top that?

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks so much Gabby - There were quite a few "awesome moments" during the build - The first one being the tails being inlaid into the fretboard... I have been mainly a computer artist for the past several years, but last year I had a ""moment of clarity" and heard the voice in my head to "work with some wood"... I have only worked with wood a few times in my 47 years, but each time I felt at peace, so I knew I was about to embark on a new, cool journey, but had no idea I would wind up here a year later. For playing guitar since I was 13, I guess it would be an obvious thing to do. I did SO many work-ups in Illustrator & Photoshop that I had clear visions for what I was looking for, but had NO idea what I was getting myself into. Taking the time with each phase to make certain(As much as a rookie could be!) that I didn't screw anything up (too much!) With any screw-ups I did, I decided to turn it into a design aspect somehow and make it look (ahem) intentional.

Years ago, I saw a PRS dragon for sale in a local music store with a price tag of 20k and about fell over (by the looks AND the price) A local brain surgeon bought any that showed up in the store. I wanted one, but could never justify that kind of money for a guitar. When I decided to build my own guitar, I knew that I would want to put some elaborate inlay on it, but didn't want to put a dragon on there because it was already done by PRS and others..... as time passed, I thought of a tiger, gargoyle and some other things, but my mind kept going back to the dragons and well, you know the rest of the story.

One thing that HAS happened during this incredibly long build is that I have become addicted to this new art form that DOESN'T let you do a CTRL-Z and not only did I start thinking out my second build, but also a few more guitars as well. My plans are to make templates, but use them only once. (just in case?)

The "Silver Willow" is already in the works... I will post pics soon - it has a cocobolo body/ Zebrawood center and a highly figured Padauk bookmatched top. The neck is cocobolo with Zebrawood/Padauk skunk stripes. I will be doing some "unheard of" things to the body & inlay that will probably raise some eyebrows. Guitar number 3 will be a grafted Franquette & Claro walnut carved top Afric. Mahogany bod and Walnut neck. And Number 4 will be a Myrtlewood drop-top, redwood soundboard, afric. Mahog body and maple neck. I have the wood for the next 3 builds as well as plenty of inlay materials, but no $ for hardware, etc. It's also very hard to work in the heat here in Florida for the next couple of months..... I should go to Disney!

Originally, I had no intention to sell my first guitar, but then thought that if it could finance some more builds, well, why not? I have heard some outrageous prices from several people as to what I should sell it for... but now since it came back from the painter, not sure if I would be actually able to part with it. I guess I'm just preachin' to the choir now eh?

Thanks, Virgil

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

LMAO Chris - the painter guy "Moe" said a few luthiers had seen the guitar at his shop and he said when he told them that it was my first guitar, they said "What the (insert word here) is he gonna for the second guitar?!!!!"

Actually, the second guitar, named the "Silver Willow" is in the works already and is gonna make the Dueling Dragons look like a K-Mart special. I'm guessing it will take twice as long as the last build, but I should be done in half the time.

Ed. note: Pay no attention to Virgil's last sentence - he is convinced that since he snuck in a triple-flux capacitor on the 500k pot of his last build he thinks he can do some outrageous time/space travel.

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

Awesome work!