Written By: Jac Harrison
Earlier this month I had the chance to see Guns n Roses, in
my opinion one of the greatest bands of all time, perform in sin city. The
show was amazing and full of great music. As a guitar nut I was more interested
in the guitars that the guys where using than the half naked dancers on stage.
One of the guitars that blew my mind was a double neck Vigier guitar that Ron
“Bumblefoot” Thal was using. This guitar was sick; it had a standard fretted
neck on the bottom and a fretless on top. Knowing that I would be in Philly for
the Bee 3 vintage guitar show in just a few days and that Vigier Guitar would
have a booth there I decided I needed to try one of their
fretless guitars.
At the Bee 3 show DJ Scully, from Vigier Guitars, let
me play the fretless for about an hour and I knew I needed to have it. But with
a price tag of $3,300 I also knew that it was not going to happen right now.
Since fretless is a unique beast I wanted to learn how to play it as well as a
fretted guitar before I put down that kind of cash. I did a little research
online and called Fred, (the head luthier at WD Music Products) to get his
advice on how I could make my own. To my surprise it was very simple. I needed
to remove the frets, backfill the gaps and sand with a radius block.
The guitar I used was a Strat for one reason; if I messed up
-- I could just get another neck. I strongly recommend that anyone
trying this should use a guitar with a bolt on neck just in case. With the
neck removed from the guitar, I heated the frets with a soldering iron and used
my Stew Mac fret puller. The frets came out without any trouble. Next I used a
.010 gauged nut file to even out the fret gaps to insure an even surface for
the wood filler I would use to smooth out the neck. After all of the fret gaps
where evened out and clear of wood shavings and dust, I filled the fret gaps
with indoor/outdoor wood filler. I used a walnut color so I could see the fret
markers. When filling the fret gaps it is best to do one at a time. After all
of the frets where filled and dried for 2 hours I then used a radius block with
300 grit to sand her down, and then 1200 to smooth her out. Once her
fingerboard was smooth I soaked her in lemon oil for 30 minutes and gave her
two coats of carnauba wax to insure that she was protected from the elements.
The entire job took four and a half hours and I was ready to give her a setup.
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| Ron "Boumblefoot" Thal from G-n-R on his Vigier double neck. |
After the longest setup I have ever done, she was playing
like a champ. Please note that you should use flatwound stings on a fretless
guitar so you do not rip up your fingerboard. I am now ready to learn how
to play fretless guitar and as soon as I can play her -- I am buying that
Vigier!!
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| Vigier Fretless Guitar |
