MAJ Meadows SF
on a tone quest
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2011
- Messages
- 2,903
- Reaction score
- 1,068
I've decided while waiting for this build to finish to consolidate all the pictures and information into a build thread. I figured it would be good for reference of the first Valkenbyrd VII in existence, the detailed concept behind it, and the general experience in dealing with Dylan for future prospective customers. Plus, this will cut down on my ranting and raving during the NGD itself! 
I'm going to spread the pictures over a few posts in chronological order. I placed a deposit in late 2011/early 2012 (I really don't remember if it was December or January) while deployed in Afghanistan's historic and highly kinetic Kunar Province in the east on the Pakistan border. Many of the big movies, documentaries and valor stories of OEF come from this region (Lone Survivor, The Hornet's Nest, Restrepo, Korengal, among countless individual experiences). Fighting in the east and south is fierce, and it was an amazing experience to be at the steps of the historic Hindu Kush Mountains and Khyber Pass. Dylan and I had many conversations about the history and deployment in general, which was a cool way to connect with him outside of the guitar realm. The original idea was for a Cimmerian VII with a deep space, cosmic horror theme, with a stain based on the colors on The Faceless' "Planetary Duality" cover. It took a while to design an inlay concept, and I thought up something involving some entity ripping through the fretboard showing countless ominous eyes showing through. Dylan shot me this pic from a fantastic collection of art to serve as a baseline:
At the time the wait list was upward of 18 months, which eventually would extend to 24 exactly for the start of the build. Knowing what kind of build I was getting into, I had no issue with this. I already was learning the eventual futility of impatience in dealing with BRJ, which for many of us has sadly evaporated. So, skip ahead a year, and I dug into my H.P. Lovecraft for more inspiration to make this take more shape. I decided instead of going with the much thought of Cthulhu mythos, and wanting to avoid deep sea creatures, to go with one of the nastier and chaotic deities. Enter Yog-Sothoth. The omnipresent deity of the gateway into our universe that drives those who witness him to insanity would make for a killer metal guitar. I started rethinking the overall shape and decided this build required a more extreme form to pay proper homage to the theme. Dylan was ecstatic to take this on, honored actually, as not too many orders are for anything but the Cimmerian shape (which is utterly stunning in it's own right). I love the Valkenbyrd shape and said lets go for it.
Last year I was fortunate enough to buy the Jormungandr Atlantean VII, which was a beast of a guitar and another shape I really like. I bonded well with the instrument and was about to swap pickups, but then a Cimmerian VII went up for sale. I sold the Atlantean (still regret that I had to) and satiated my Cimmerian VII GAS. I had both instruments briefly while waiting for payment to clear, so I took the opportunity to blast away on some amps at the local GC.
On to spring 2014. I received the fatefully epic email from Dylan, among the other fine chaps of impeccable taste in this batch, announcing the time was nigh! Soon after Dylan posted template photos of the body design for the Valkenbyrd, which needed to be larger for a seven string version. Although I am getting a fixed bridge, I agree with him the "ultimate" metal guitar may be a stealth black Valkenbyrd VII with an Edge tremolo and BKP pickups. Here's the templates and body.
Final specs:
Body: aged Swamp Ash
Neck: 5 piece Wenge with Bloodwood fillets, Shredator profile
Fretboard: ebony, black as space
Top: high grade quilted maple
Bridge: Schaller Hannes 7
Pickups: TBD
Hipshot locking tuners, all black hardware
Single Volume, three way toggle
I'm going to spread the pictures over a few posts in chronological order. I placed a deposit in late 2011/early 2012 (I really don't remember if it was December or January) while deployed in Afghanistan's historic and highly kinetic Kunar Province in the east on the Pakistan border. Many of the big movies, documentaries and valor stories of OEF come from this region (Lone Survivor, The Hornet's Nest, Restrepo, Korengal, among countless individual experiences). Fighting in the east and south is fierce, and it was an amazing experience to be at the steps of the historic Hindu Kush Mountains and Khyber Pass. Dylan and I had many conversations about the history and deployment in general, which was a cool way to connect with him outside of the guitar realm. The original idea was for a Cimmerian VII with a deep space, cosmic horror theme, with a stain based on the colors on The Faceless' "Planetary Duality" cover. It took a while to design an inlay concept, and I thought up something involving some entity ripping through the fretboard showing countless ominous eyes showing through. Dylan shot me this pic from a fantastic collection of art to serve as a baseline:
At the time the wait list was upward of 18 months, which eventually would extend to 24 exactly for the start of the build. Knowing what kind of build I was getting into, I had no issue with this. I already was learning the eventual futility of impatience in dealing with BRJ, which for many of us has sadly evaporated. So, skip ahead a year, and I dug into my H.P. Lovecraft for more inspiration to make this take more shape. I decided instead of going with the much thought of Cthulhu mythos, and wanting to avoid deep sea creatures, to go with one of the nastier and chaotic deities. Enter Yog-Sothoth. The omnipresent deity of the gateway into our universe that drives those who witness him to insanity would make for a killer metal guitar. I started rethinking the overall shape and decided this build required a more extreme form to pay proper homage to the theme. Dylan was ecstatic to take this on, honored actually, as not too many orders are for anything but the Cimmerian shape (which is utterly stunning in it's own right). I love the Valkenbyrd shape and said lets go for it.
Last year I was fortunate enough to buy the Jormungandr Atlantean VII, which was a beast of a guitar and another shape I really like. I bonded well with the instrument and was about to swap pickups, but then a Cimmerian VII went up for sale. I sold the Atlantean (still regret that I had to) and satiated my Cimmerian VII GAS. I had both instruments briefly while waiting for payment to clear, so I took the opportunity to blast away on some amps at the local GC.
On to spring 2014. I received the fatefully epic email from Dylan, among the other fine chaps of impeccable taste in this batch, announcing the time was nigh! Soon after Dylan posted template photos of the body design for the Valkenbyrd, which needed to be larger for a seven string version. Although I am getting a fixed bridge, I agree with him the "ultimate" metal guitar may be a stealth black Valkenbyrd VII with an Edge tremolo and BKP pickups. Here's the templates and body.
Final specs:
Body: aged Swamp Ash
Neck: 5 piece Wenge with Bloodwood fillets, Shredator profile
Fretboard: ebony, black as space
Top: high grade quilted maple
Bridge: Schaller Hannes 7
Pickups: TBD
Hipshot locking tuners, all black hardware
Single Volume, three way toggle
Last edited:
