cSuttle

Suttle, you are a MASTER. It blows me away every time.

I love everything you did except for the viking letters on the headstock. Comes off as a little self-explanatory to me. One big rune would have been plenty for me, but hey.

Just those three purpleheart inserts are enough to hold the headstock on again?

Nah, you don't get it. The body inlay is for right brained people and the headstock is for left brained people

I did glue the headstock first, but the purpleheart strips really make it strong. It will never break again.

Awesome.

Those can't be string ferules just past the bridge sitting next to him, because it'd mean he super really tiny! Can you say what they are and how big he is?

edit: Never mind, went to your site, he's actually pretty big. Nice.

Best,

Todd

6 3/4" tall. Those are the stop tail mounts. It those were string ferles that would be really tiny. I would have to be a tibetin monk :-)

That is some fine inlay work, at first i thought it was just a picture of the net, but then i realized that was the inlay - i'm impressed

Thanks. I'm really happy with it.

Hi gang,

Just posted the video to go along with the pic. Check out the progress at My Workshop

Well, not to be disagreeable, but I have found that there is a lot of difference between epoxy brands. Some I've liked, some I've hated, but my favorite is made by Super Glue Corp. The 20 minute stuff is the best of what they make. I buy this stuff by the crate and won't use anything else now. Because I'm and inlay artist, I use a lot of this stuff. It's common for me to use three tubes in a day. Interesting part is it's one of the cheaper brands. Highly recommended.

Another good coloring system is recon-stone dust. So if you use recon-stone keep your scapes.

Hi again,

Just updated the progress. I inlaid the headstock, videoed and photoed the event. I'm working on the body inlay now, but it will be probably at least a week before I have the video for that. Check out the update on the headstock, it's interesting.

Viking Guitar

Looks like they took a blow torch to it and them sanded it back down. We use to make top shields to play with when I was a kid and that what we did to make them look cool. Look a lot like that.

Just added a rosewood pick guard. Progress is slow on this project, but steady. Also, this is where the inlay of the viking will go.

Cliff that's looking pretty awesome.

I've been looking through the reference images that I have saved on my computer in relation to what you were specifically looking for, and there wasn't much there that would be much use to you. Most of the images I have on the computer for the project I'm working on I'm using for individual pieces of reference, ie., helmet designs, chain mail detail, weaponry, clothing, etc. I have however, got a few pictures in reference books I looked out yesterday that might be of some use to you, but I'm having a problem with my scanner at the moment so I haven't been able scan them. The scanner came very close to being the first flying scanner sighted in Orkney airspace yesterday evening! I'll get 'wifey' to get the relevant piccies scanned at her work tomorrow though and then, (finally) get them emailed to you......................probably too late judging by what you have on show here already, but better late than never.

One thing I would say, is that the Vikings apparently didn't ever actually have the horns on their helmets as portrayed in many of the films and much Viking artwork. They did however sometimes embelish their helmets with birds wings (ala 'Ogri'), but then again, unless you're looking for absolute historical realism I really don't think it's an issue here.

Anyway, really looking forward to seeing this guitar and I'll try and email those images through to you tomorrow

Hi Jim,

Thanks for all your efforts, but I'm pretty set now. I made a few tweaks to the above drawing and after getting some feedback from a number of people have decided to use this image. It fits the space really well and looks great positioned on the guitar. So don't bother with the scans, although I do appreciate all your efforts on my behave.

To whom it may concern, Foggy (a.k.a. Jim) is a great guy for anyone what hasn't had the fortune to meet him yet. Jim, post picture of your jet ski when it's done. Jim is a great airbursh artist. You guys have got to check out his web-site. Cool guitar eye candy there. Jim, what is the URL again?

I know that this drawing is in no way historically accurate, but that wasn't what I was after. There are a number of problems historically with this photo. The horns on a helmet would be the stupidiest thing to put on a battle helmet probably ever. The idea of a helmet is to deflect the blow from a sword or axe. If a heavy weapon caught one of those horns it would break the neck of the wearer or at least drag him to the ground. And, the metal shin plates are Roman design. But, since the Viking clashed with the Romans and occasion, maybe they were carried away from a battle field Then of course the vikings didn't expose their legs like this in battle. Inaccurate, but I was going for cool, and I think I acheived that. Plus, the horns were really important to me since it's going on a SG and that is a "horned" guitar. I have actually seen photos of ceremonial viking helmets with horns (and wings) before, but not battle helmet. All-in-all I'm pretty happy with the way this project is progressing. It's moving a long a little slow for me, but then it's a back burner project being that it's for me.

THANKS AGAIN JIM !

Lookin' good. Just so ya know, the pictures of the new headstock aren't working.

Yeah, I caught that problem today and fixed it. Thanks for the heads up.

AND.... What do you guys thing of the body art?

You could just do inlays of Zakk Wylde's head

You know, that could work

Just updated the link last night. I decided to retop the headstock and took video of the project.

Also a shout out to Foggy for being so helpful. That's what this forum is about.

...........so if you need any reference material or good sources for information on the subject, I'd be more than happy to share them with you.

Jim

YES!!!! I've been looking around for inspiration and I'm coming up with very little. Whatever you got I would love to take a look.

This project started out as just a t-cover I made and that got me thinking. For me thinking is a dangerous thing.

Hey Gang,

I know you're use to only seeing inlay work from me, and there will be plenty of that, but I'm documenting the total guitar transformation on this one. So, I thought you would like to see it.

I'm turning a Gibson SG into "THE VIKING" guitar. For the first time I'm doing video and pictures. If you want to follow my progress, check it out.

The Viking Guitar

This is going to be a fun project. I think I'm keeping it.

That is big, but it looks cool !

not sure if you have done this yet or not but i would steer well clear of the silicone, its asking for trouble

carefully cut masking tape followed by a little tidy up with scrapers afterwards would be my approach

Tried the 'frisket' product from art supply stores? Someone on another forum mentioned it.

Yes, this is the way to do it. You done good!

How hard is the recon stone to cut?

As mentioned above it pretty easy to work with. Most slab about about .15" thick and it does crumble if you cut it too thin, but beside that if pretty nice stuff to work with.

To be honest, not worth the trouble. Let someone else do that nasty parts and you do the fun parts.

Use Bloody Jasper recon stone. It's very dark red with black lines. Against ebony it almost disappears. That would be perfect for what you are discribing. Just on the rob on this piece I made.

Padouk works great for inlays. Check out this board I did for a client.

What about recon onxy? That's about as black as you can get. That stuff is pretty much void of light. It's easy to cut, easy to sand and it won't change the wieght of your neck. Real stone will have an adverse effect on the tonal qualities of your neck. And, will make the guitar neck heavy. Real stone would probably be the fastest way to destroy the tone of a good guitar.

That was either done with a metal stamp or an engraving machine. No way was the done by hand.

Headstock is ready.

Beautiful work Cliff. Can you do inlays in boards that are already radius'd?

Yes, I can do radiused board. I do it all the time. I even do the Warmoth compound radius.

oh man that is nasty! i saw the dancing bear and the lightning bolts too. I already want this guitar, bad

Well, I don't think Alan would be very happy about that. :-)

I've seen pictures of the guitar's design and the body woods and stuff. It's going to be a great looking guitar for sure. Neck through, multi-piece neck. Quilt maple top. Yowza!!! Plus, it's being built by a pretty talented guy. I'm looking forward to seeing this guitar myself. Too bad I'll only be seeing pictures and not the guitar live. Oh well, such is the world of the internet.

WOW, that's incredible. And I see you're from michigan, where at if I may ask?

Thanks. I'm in Novi, which is 20 west of Detroit.