Swamp Thing has been in the works since I built my second guitar and has a very cool story! When I was inlaying the dragonfly on "Silver Willow" (VG 0002) I imagined inlaying a frog at the other end of the fingerboard with a really long tongue catching the dragonfly and Swamp Thing has the thoughts from many years ago into the actual fingerboard. A few years ago, when I ordered the body wood (Black Limba) for the "Dogwood" guitar (VG 0009), I was blown away when I opened the box and discovered the "eye" that was in the wood and it really looked like an alligator! I saved this pioece for all of these years as I started creating this guitar in my mind. During my journeys, I discovered a woodworking technique called "Intarsia" and decided that I wanted to do this to a guitar top but faced many challenges including the whole part of winding up with a "carved top" at the end of the day. I can go on and on to explain as to how I figured this all out on my own, but I would rather put it into this following concept: all of the pieces of wood that make up the top of the guitar started out at 1/2" thick (from the gator's head to the pupil on the eye of the bird!) Cutting tiny pieces of wood at that thickness is pretty insane in itself, but to make the whole puzzle together was a challenge within itself. The next part of the process was to carve the top of the guitar like most guitars that have carved-tops, but leave certain elements thick in the beginning, but then gradually have them mix in with the theme. So at the end, we have a 3-dimensional inlay really. The tops of the cattails protrude from the guitar, but are not invasive on your arm when you play the guitar (although it looks that way) The guitar is ergonomically pleasing, but really, the whole theme is painted and shaped by mother nature - no dyes were used. And yes, those a real gator's teeth!

Name: Swamp Thing
Series: KT Series Carved-top
Serial# 0031
Top: Several species of wood gathered together and grooving with a pick.
Body: Sapele
Neck: Sapele
Weight: 7.8 lbs
Fingerboard: Ziricote, 22 frets, 25" scale, 12" radius
Headstock style: Seahorse w/ Padauk & Ebony laminate
Tuners: 6-in line Schaller Black Locking Tuners
Nut: Tusq
Pickups: Custom Lickup Pickups personally hand-wound by Virgil
Electronics: Custom Vol & Tone knobs 3-way Toggle 2 mini DP switches w/ 3-way (Total of 15 tonal combinations)
Bridge: TonePros Black AVT2 Wraparound
Finish: Isolator only (satin finish) by Moe Colors
Extras:
"V" cut headstock, intarsia/hybrid body carve, Padauk pup rings, padauk electronics cavity cover, camo control knobs, comes with hardshell case.

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