Official Luthiers Forum!

Didn't want to name the topic "first build". Too much of that topic going around these days
Well here are a few pictures of my first build: the "Orca".

Just inlaid my first whale today which was horribly stressful. How the hell did Virgil do it ?

A lot more to do, probably gonna finish the guitar somewhere around march since I only get to it once a week.

Enjoy the poor quality Iphone pics

_________________

Hehehe - looks great Hillel!
Nice inlay too - I ended up inlaying 250+ pieces on my first fretboard, so that makes the next one I'm about to do with 10 pieces coming up seem like a walk in the park
Like the looks of this axe - keep things rolling and ya might end up catching the "bug" like the rest of us!

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

Lookin' good!
Congrats on the inlay. I have not gotten up the courage to attempt them as yet.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Lookin' good!
Yes, inlay work is hard to do for me too.
My main problem is looking at my bad work after I'm done!

That about sums it up for me as well, LOL.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Looking like a great start Hillel.

Have to say these guys have me scratchin' my head....what inlay?
Has a picture been removed?

I see only what you may inlay...guess I'm high and to the left again.
Maybe the one that isn't wider than the neck is inlayed and the fret
slots haven't been cut..?...if so it looks very well done.
I think perspective may be confusing me too....are they placed for the
player to see upright? I would think they'd be placed for the viewer to see...


Anyway- looking forward to seeing your project progress and thanks
for sharing it.

(corrected some spelling error I noticed)

No, your eyes have not deceived you. There is no picture of a completed inlay. The first pic shows the guitar before being inlaid. But the OP mentions in his post that he just completed his first whale inlay. This is what we were talking about.
And my congrats and kudos to anyone who would attempt to inlay anything other than dots. i have not reached that point as yet. One day....

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thank you Mike. I too offer congrats and kudos. I've yet to acquire the tools or attempt it. My limit has been dots too.
It's an art in itself and I fully appreciate ones talent such as Virgils and others I've seen here.

To all the inlayophobics, it's the scariest thing I've done in my life (including a riksha drive in New Delhi) but it wasn't so hard in the end.
Just takes a lot of patience and a good router.
I did three practice attempts and when I was satisfied with the result I just went extra slowly and carefully for the fretboard.

P.S
My neck has been stiff since.
Again, really scarey poop.

_________________

I think my main problem with doing inlay work is,
well, at 57 3/4 years old,
I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING anymore,
close up anyway.

Inlay IS scary - that's why I think I like it - roller coasters make me vomit, but inlay don't, so I think I'll continue with inlay - there is NO way I could have done any of the inlay I have done without my $11 magnifiers.

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

Alan, I know exactly what you mean.

Virgil, I've got the exact same set, except I think i paid $8 for mine, LOL. Does the job just fine, and I wouldn't be without them. They come in handy for a lot of things. I couldn't do setup work without them.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Yeah, a few months after ordering them on Ebay, I noticed they sell them cheaper at Harbor Freight down the street - I definitely got my money's worth!

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

Well worth twice what I paid.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Some new pictures, I've got a month or two left 'till I finish

_________________

That is one SICK trussrod cover! Awesome!

_________________
"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, so I ended up getting a pair at Harbor freight and they are REALLLLLLY bad - somehow, when they did the glasses part, it's all warped - both sets come from China - wonder if the set I bought off of eBay came from Central China, as opposed to the Northwestern China where the Harbor Freight ones were made?

_________________
"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 like whales and dolphins,
so I like yer build.
Yes, that truss cover is quite lovely.
Very creative.
Plus, I'm happy it's FRIDAY!!!
Not WEDNESDAY.
Sorry!

Actually Virgil, there is a way you could have done it. No less stressful and possibly no less time. Cadcam and cnc would have allowed you to do your inlay without the magnifiers!

Mike

Real inlay isn't done with CNC - just like buying a rug

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

[quote=

[/quote]


this makes me never want to visit a dentist again! or watch Little Shop of Horrors.

The more inlay you do, the more you actually look like this:

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

Let that be a warning to you all !

_________________

Some new photos.
Gonna finish her soon.

The last few (Colored photos), are computer simulations by my brother to help me decide about the colors.
The back and some of the sides of the guitar have some dings which aren't pretty.
The backs wood (white corina) also does not have a nice pattern or color.
For those reasons I've decide the back and sides (as well as probably the neck) will be a sealed color and not transparent.
Any suggestions for other colors will gladly be simulated and I'd love some input about the colors already simulated.

_________________

Simulations:

_________________