Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks for your kind words Alan (And awesome emoticonication)
Yeah, the vids were a "must" for the build - 'specially on the marketing side of things

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

As Randy Jackson would say, "That's just aight for me dog."
I'm honestly not very impressed Virgil. There are some major flaws I just can not over look. Allow me to list the major flaws:
In several of the pictures, I noticed one or two specks of dust. Unforgivable!!
One of your frets is not as shiny as the rest. Disgraceful!!
It appears that you were a little aggressive with the screws for the tuners, or you used the wrong sized screw driver to install the screws, which is an even more egregious error! Laziness!!
You lazily snapped these pictures as well. Its pretty obvious. You should have taken much more artsy fartsy pics. Perhaps with the guitar whimsically perched in a tree or a flower bed, like an actual dragon fly might do. Anti-Artistic!!


Just messing Virgil! That is some kind of purty! The finish is flawless and shiny and your pics are really good too! Dd you take them yourself? Excellent work! Another winner for sure!

Tony

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

LMFAO TONY!
OMG, it hurts dude!
1. I actually screwed all of the screws in with pliers, this way I could save money from buying a lousy screwdriver (and other "non-essential" tools) to buy more inlay material.
2. That's NOT dust you see in the pictures - they're actually crumbs (We had dinner over the guitar the other night in celebration to the build)
3. Randy Jackson is a UKULELE connoisseur, NOT a guitar connoisseur.
4. I took the photos with a cellphone (that has sauce smears on the lens, it might add) while I was shaking from the excitement of the whole thing.
5. The "worn down" fret you mentioned, is actually disguised as a twig to attract other dragonflies.

Back in my Navy days (1981 to 1985) I started getting into photography... I have jumped in and out of it for years, but now see a great purpose for it... my friend Kent did the photo shoot on the dueling dragons and I figured I would give a crack at it, went to Joanne fabrics the other day and bought some dropcloth backgrounds (1/2 the price of real ones, but ALSO half the width!) and since the guitar is narrow standing up, I figured it would work. One of the cloths is beige with splotches of brown, but I changed it to grey in PhotoShop.... thanks bro!

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

Brought the Silver Willow to the local Sam Ash music store this afternoon - it got rave reviews at the guitar department, by the sales staff and some customers freaked out too!

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

Gorgeous and flawlessly done, as per usual Virgil standards.

Hey, thanks Jimmy - I guess it's hard to surprise anyone now - wasn't sure if anyone caught the photo shoot/vids on the last page, but you did! - thanks bro!

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

This thing is gorgeous; just really, really spectacular work. I love every detail.

Ok, well I would actually really prefer the pick up rings to be glossy finish to match the rest of the guitar- but that's it! I swear! Other than that I think it's perfect!!

Great work!

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-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Mike Hoenerhoff
Elderly Instruments

Thanks Mike - I WILL have a hard time parting with this ax!

_________________
"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 sold my first guitar today... "The Silver Willow" - to a collector in Indiana. In December, I was picked up by Rebel Guitars - a high-end custom guitar dealer and they actually sold it via their web site. I will miss this guitar, but I sold it for a substantial amount of money that will pay off all of the credit cards that I went mental on buying tools, parts etc. as well as getting myself a new planer, drill press & some other tools and enough supplies to build a few more guitars. It took two or so months to sell, but probably being such a high price.... I'm able to afford to finish up the 2 other guitars I have been working on as well - this is pretty 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

Very cool, really liked your video.

Thanks man! It's all euphoric right now - it may take a few days for this to sink in!

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

Just browsed through this thread. Really impressive stuff here. Was real fun to watch the progress. I'd never heard of Rebel Guitars before, checking them out now.

Thanks Irving - hope you took a break for food & water whilst browsing the thread!

So excited I sold this guitar, but will be equally sad to let it go...

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

Congrats Virgil!

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Thanks Tony!
BTW - Like your new web site man! Although, I thought the whole "mystery" thing a while back was a bit more intriguing!

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

Nice!
Congratulations!

Thanks Alan!
I will be doing the "Happy Dance" as soon as the check arrives 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

Virgil,
That is just great, nothing like being able to buy tools with money from the product as opposed to money from elsewhere. The guitar is stunning and I am sure the customer will treasure it. When does the next guitar start?
Rob

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http://shastaguitar.com/
http://www.kalimbakit.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/comfyfootgr ... ature=mhee
http://www.facebook.com/robert.renick.7

That's AWESOME, V! You're definitely an artist, and you put a lot of yourself into your guitars. Really happy for you, man.

Here's to big things on the horizon for you. It's gonna be awesome to tell people that I'm friends with the Virgil of Virgil Guitars... you are still going to talk to me, right?

Haha, well I didn't read it all, just browsed and looked at your pictures mostly.

It is hard to sell a guitar you've put so much time into. And that's why I think it's very important to have a decent camera and know how to take some good pictures to document your work. And it seems like you got some good shots there.

Hi Rob,
Thanks man - I have moved into this strange "spending habit" over the course of the past couple years - it's ALL about tools & supplies to make these guitars now! I have builds 3 & 4 posted on this forum as well as on my web site - 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

Stop it Roger! Your'e making me blush!

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

Yeah, tell me about it - if this was all about selling these things from the beginning, I think i would have quit by month 2! I have acquired some sort of obsession with woodworking that keeps me interested, whether I sold or not, so it was "damned if i do, damned if I don't", but I even worked a bit more on the final photo shoot to make the guitar look good - a couple people have told me the pictures look pretty bad compared to seeing it in person, which is phenomenal news for the guy who just bought it!

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

My first customer rec'd the Silver Willow today and was ""Ecstatic" in receiving it... wound up in a nice 'burb near Indianapolis... glad it got a new home, I paid off quite a chunk of the cc debt, bought a new planer & drill press and am currently shopping down woods for builds 5 to 7.

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

Now that's funny you mention that stuff... rumor has it that there are a few people around these parts that are "slightly" obsessed with that wood...

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