The Odin Guitar

Where ever you see this symbol Video images of Guitar Inlay click on it to see video of the building process. And here is your first chance. Click the TV to see me introduce this project and get a chance to get involved on the design

I'm working with Ryan Josal of Seattle, WA on an exciting new project called "Odin," based on the norse mythogy god of the same name. The guitar is being built by John Thayer of J Thayer Guitars. As some people know, I work with a lot of luthiers both large and small. It's always great to work with a builders like John who is as passionate about his guitars as I am about my inlay work.

There are many challenges with this job. First was the subject matter. Did you know Odin rides an eight legged horse? Yeah, I didn't know that either. Try designing a horse with an extra set of legs, it's not easy. Plus, Odin travels with two ravens and two wolves, so there is a lot of elements that had to be combined into one flowing design.

The next challenge was the design of the guitar. It has a lot of angles and points as well as the pick ups and bridge take up a lot of room on the body. Getting all the elements of the design in place was tricky, but I did it. My orginal concept was to have the horse take up most of the body of the guitar, but I soon found this was impossible. The pick up holes and the bridge route did not allow for a design like that to look good. So I had to change the entire design to focus more on the area behind the bridge. Came out looking great though.

Artwork Begins

Shark Inlay,Guitar Inlay,Guitar Body Inlay,Odin,Thayer Guitars

The guitar has arrived and I have to say it is one quality piece of work. When the guitar showed up, but problems began. There was a tone control hole right though the head of the lower wolf and the design had to be modified. But, those types of things are expected. Altogether there will be 189 pieces of inlay when I'm not, not including the headstock.