Vik Custom Black Lotus build pic's

[fretninjadave]

Indeed

Thanks.

 

[ViK-master]

And some progress for today.

First f all I cut frets slots on the fingerboard

Time to set the neck

As I've mentioned before I use for Black Lotus 7 model ViK ISNC-S set-neck system which is a little bit shorter that standard ISNC and goes to the end of neck pickup cavity

This system uses very specific angles for body neck/joint and special "wedge" shape

Ready. The neck fits the cavity very well. But I'll glue it only after gluing the fretboard

And here it is - first time ever! - Black Lotus 7 CS David Oh

 

[fretninjadave]

Freakin beautiful .M y fingers are gettin itchy

 

[ViK-master]

Some progress for today.

Anf route the controls cavity

Angled jack input

Rods for wire from pickups

Bridge

Neck

Strapbuttons holes

Ready

Here's what we have for the moment.

 

[fretninjadave]

Installing the Truss rod and fretboard today so here we go

Slightly angled to compinsate for neck twist

Degrease and prepair wood for glue

clamp it

 

[ViK-master]

So the neck is glued

With help of a plane and sanding paper I profiled compound radius on the fretboard - 12-20"

I cut off the segment under neck pickup

And then glued plastic binding with cement

In a few hours I got back to that neck and made it look pretty

A also planned the headstock to 14mm thick

Here's what we have for today

 

[CrushingAnvil]

Looking good, dude.

 

[ViK-master]

In a usual way of thing we should do inlay work now, but as far as we haven't come up with final layout I decided not to waste time and procced with the neck

The profile - Shredmaster 7 - in progress.

I always do neck profile by hands, with the help of a plane, chisels and sanding paper. Man made neck always feels warm in hands and always (if done well) feels good and comfortable.

I'll make the heal smoothier after glue the neck in

Time to place side markers

The maple part shows some figuring btw

As you can see in the pics the nek is pretty thin - 18.5mm at the 1th fret and 20.5mm at 12.
It's basically a modern D or ellipse shape, very sleak and fast. Dave, you'll have to lock your seat-belts before playing ;D

Say the headstock has been glued here, huh?

And the whole stuff as it's now

 

[ViK-master]

Some preparation

And the neck is set

 

[Sullen]

WOW!!! That's beautiful, really gorgeous...

 

[Wretched]

He does beautiful work!

 

[ViK-master]

Thanks!

So, finally some progress after the shop moving.
The neck is set-in, I worked on he "heal" shape to make it extremely comfortable.

Here it is now:

And then time to work on the inlays came.

These funny guys are gonna be sitting on this fretboard soon

White mop blanks

Some drawing

this is how it's gonna look without "shades"

Nik proposed an idea to make every skull to "bite" the fret which was supposed to cover the thees otherway. Like this:

The second

That is the first stage only. Afterall the skulls are gonna look pretty similar to the way they look on the printed pics. eyeholes etc will be black as well as the contours.

 

[TimSE]

... oh my

 

[fretninjadave]

fuckin sweet.

 

[Customisbetter]

 

[Matt-Hatchett]

I loved it. Then I saw the inlays

 

[ViK-master]

Hi everybody!

Due to the customer's doubts about inlay pattern we basically had no movements within the last two weeks.
I did cut the whole picture of MOP

Then I cut the slash of Black MOP blanks

But then suddently David asked me to do another thing as he'd changed his mind and found smth he did really like. So, it's not so easy to give up that piece of work but my rule is: the best client is happy client, so I draw the layout

Then turned it to black mop

I hope this time we'll do it faster as I'm eager to give that Black Lotus a try asap.

 

[s_k_mullins]

Damn I love these inlays! Awesome work

 

[ILuvPillows]

Really respectable that you were willing to make the change and didnt hold any grudges. Kudos on that.

Love the new inlay (never keen on skulls in general)

 

[MacTown09]

Muchhhh better inlay