# Build-story: ViK Caprice T Hollowbody (Insane BRW and curly redwood content)



## -Nolly- (Oct 25, 2011)

Hey guys,

I've wanted a hollowbody since I was a young teenager, perhaps since the first time I saw Incubus on TOTP maybe 13 or 14 years ago, seeing Mike Einziger rocking out on his PRS Hollowbody. Since then I've come to love the huge variety of sounds you can get from hollowbodies, and the uniquely intimate experience of playing them (good examples at least). Of course, they are very expensive instruments and I have had other priorities as a guitarist so the dream has stayed on the back-burner until now. So, after the massive success of the Duality 7-string Vik built me, the Duality 7-string Vik built me earlier this year, and seeing some of the truly amazing timber he had at his disposal I knew that he was the guy to go to for an exotic hollowbody build. Fortunately things lined up nicely financially so I was able to commission the build right away.
I'm playing with Periphery on their European tour in support of Dream Theater, so Vik is going to try and have the guitar finished in time to hand it over to me at the Poland show at the end of January. It's not the kind of guitar to be using for that style of music but it means I'll be able to meet the Vikmeister in person and avoid the nailbiting problem of shipping such a precious instrument!

As ever, Vik has a thread on his forum detailing the build process, viewable here: ViK Guitars Caprice T Redwood Twins. I shall copy over some of the info and photos that he has posted so far, but for more details check his thread 

So here is the spec:

strings: 6
scale: 642mm (equivalent of 25.27")
frets: 22
neck/body system: set-in
body wood: Honduran mahogany
top wood: curly redwood (one-piece)
neck wood: Brazilian rosewood (Modern C profile, 20.5-22mm)
fingerboard: Brazilian rosewood (10-16" compound radius)
fretwire type and gauge: NS wide
binding: contour
binding type: golden curly maple with thin black inner stripe
markers: glow-in-the-dark side dots
hardware color: gold
bridge: Gotoh 510UB
tuners: Gotoh SGL510Z-BL5-MG (21:1)
pickups: Bare Knuckle Mule bridge/Manhattan neck
controls layout: vol1/vol2/master tone(push-pull)/3 way toggle switch
strap buttons: Dunlop straplocks
color: transparent
finish: high gloss front / satin back
other: hollow body with F-hole

There one big thing I'm deliberately leaving out of the spec so it is a bit of a surprise 


And here's the timber:

The incredible one-piece curly redwood top






Honduran mahogany body:





Brazilian rosewood neck blank:





Perfectly quartersawn Brazilian rosewood fretboard:





Gold Gotoh hardware (the satin Gold hardware is for a twin build Vik is doing - identical apart from using Indian rosewood instead of Brazilian):










Since the build is fairly advanced, I'll post a selection of pics from the process so far:





























































cont...


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## -Nolly- (Oct 25, 2011)

And then to finish, Vik sent me a droolsome mockup picture today:







So that's the story so far, I can't wait to see how things progress from here and of course, experience the finished article!


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## sk3ks1s (Oct 25, 2011)

Fuck, his builds are legit.


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## IB-studjent- (Oct 25, 2011)

Insanely lovely guitar, I'm so glad i'm getting a Vik


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## Winspear (Oct 25, 2011)

So awesome. Following this build closely, it's giving me even more gas!


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## Jontain (Oct 25, 2011)

Viks work is always stunning, so very .... very classy.


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## loktide (Oct 25, 2011)

wow


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## Mysticlamp (Oct 25, 2011)

very nice, did you design the body yourself?


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## -Nolly- (Oct 25, 2011)

Mysticlamp said:


> very nice, did you design the body yourself?



Nope! It's ViK's own Caprice T shape: ViK Guitars - Caprice T
It does look fairly different with twin humbucker routes and the redesigned f-hole though, to be fair.


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## toiletstand (Oct 25, 2011)

amazing dude. been watching the pics on facebook. this guitar will be special


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## -Nolly- (Oct 25, 2011)

Yay, more pics!


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## IB-studjent- (Oct 25, 2011)

Are you going for natural or stained ?


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## -Nolly- (Oct 25, 2011)

IB-studjent- said:


> Are you going for natural or stained ?



It's going to be natural, possibly with a light stain to bring out the redwood grain a little


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## Stealthdjentstic (Oct 25, 2011)

Looks good, I really love that shape. If I was any good at playing jazz I would totally order a caprice T from Vik.


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## Purelojik (Oct 25, 2011)

sweet jesus nolly....


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## joaocunha (Oct 25, 2011)

Flamed maple neck stripes FTW. Its looking awesome.


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## ROAR (Oct 25, 2011)

Yes to everything on this.
That neck, wow. 
Nothing sexier than some unfinished rosewood.


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## BlackMastodon (Oct 25, 2011)

Fuck me, every time I see one of these I want one. Maybe after I graduate in a couple years.


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## nojyeloot (Oct 25, 2011)

Good grief Vik... GOOD GRIEF!!


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## vampiregenocide (Oct 25, 2011)

So gorgeous. His stuff is so classy. Looking forward to seeing this finished.


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## orakle (Oct 25, 2011)

oh my, that's nasty


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## Xaios (Oct 26, 2011)

Not enough strings bro. 

Awesome guitar all the same.


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## joaocunha (Oct 26, 2011)

This brazilian rosewood neck is against forum rules. Mods, lock it please.


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## Speculum Speculorum (Oct 26, 2011)

Sexy. Pure. Filthy. Sexy.


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## Xifter (Oct 28, 2011)

Sex


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## vansinn (Oct 29, 2011)

Dear oh dear.. Vik, stop doing this, it ain't fair. I have cravings but lack fundings..
Lovely specimen


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## AcousticMinja (Oct 29, 2011)

yum yum yum. That's a hot body shape.
Can't wait to see how this turns out.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 29, 2011)

what made you want a hollowbody? like, what part of it being a hollowbody is it that you want?


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## SirMyghin (Oct 29, 2011)

MF_Kitten said:


> what made you want a hollowbody? like, what part of it being a hollowbody is it that you want?



It is hard to justify more solid bodies when you have every other kind on the market is my guess


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## Grand Moff Tim (Oct 29, 2011)

Make sure you have a certificate or whatever if the tour you pick it up on continues into the US, since I think Brazilian rosewood is on the no-no list for the US unless it's documented. Or look in to it, at least. Just a potential heads up.


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## technomancer (Oct 29, 2011)

Beautiful guitar. I really like the Caprice T design, just works amazingly well as a hollowbody. And the wood choice is of course fantastic 



Grand Moff Tim said:


> Make sure you have a certificate or whatever if the tour you pick it up on continues into the US, since I think Brazilian rosewood is on the no-no list for the US unless it's documented. Or look in to it, at least. Just a potential heads up.



It's not just the US, it's all the CITES nations: Member countries

I was actually wondering how they're planning on getting this to Adam since it's from a pre-CITES stash but you need all the documentation to prove that to move it across borders.


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## Winspear (Oct 30, 2011)

^ Wow, I never knew anything like this was in place 

Some reader-friendly info; http://www.bluegrasswales.org/CITES.htm


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## -Nolly- (Dec 20, 2011)

I haven't updated this in ages, heinous I know!
Here are a few choice shots of the progress so far:






















































hubba hubba....


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 20, 2011)

Tigers eye!


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## JamesM (Dec 20, 2011)

Ridiculous.


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## mphsc (Dec 20, 2011)

Sweet F hole.


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## scherzo1928 (Dec 20, 2011)

I was sure that staining that top was a crime... Glad to be proven very fucking wrong.


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## BlackMastodon (Dec 20, 2011)

That is one sexy tiger.


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## Gitte (Dec 20, 2011)

i fell in love with the shape of the f hole! so good


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## noizfx (Dec 20, 2011)

Personally not a fan of this body shape but I absolutely love Vik's work and Nolly's Duality 7! However it's always awesome to see build stories like this! I love Vik's work (especially the Duality) so much that I'm planning to get a Duality 8FF when I have the money! I've already asked Vik for the quotes... just need to pay off my ONI first...


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## Khoi (Dec 20, 2011)

wow.. once it's finished the wood grain pops like crazy, absolutely amazing. 

you have an impeccable taste in guitars I must say


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## Nautilus (Dec 21, 2011)

Nolly you absolute tease....The quality of builds coming up on this forum just blows me away every time


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## mphsc (Dec 21, 2011)

noizfx said:


> I absolutely love Vik's work! However it's always awesome to see build stories like this! I love Vik's work (especially the Duality) so much that I'm planning to get a Duality 8FF when I have the money! I've already asked Vik for the quotes... just need to pay off my ONI first...



I want a hollow-body Caprice S series after I finish my KxK.

Love the build threads. Thanks Nolly


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## youshy (Dec 22, 2011)

This is too good. And, what is even better, it'll be in Poland! Such a shame that I can't go on periphery gig in poland


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## Xaios (Dec 23, 2011)

Holy bazonkers, Batman!

I'm not generally particularly fond of tiger-eye finishes for 2 reasons: a) they're generally too yellow looking, in a sickly type way, and b) the figuring of the wood is really "tight" looking and busy. That, however, has a nice warm quality to the color, and the figure has space to breath, if you get my drift. VERY sexy!

Still, not enough strings.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 23, 2011)

noizfx said:


> Personally not a fan of this body shape but I absolutely love Vik's work and Nolly's Duality 7! However it's always awesome to see build stories like this! I love Vik's work (especially the Duality) so much that I'm planning to get a Duality 8FF when I have the money! I've already asked Vik for the quotes... just need to pay off my ONI first...



Do it man! He replies to emails super fast and you can reach him every day anyways on Facebook. Super convenient.


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## technomancer (Dec 23, 2011)

That looks ridiculously good 

Vik is on the list for an order if we get our company sold this year


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## Rook (Dec 25, 2011)

Me too^ (though no company sale hahaha) I might just get my deposit in now as I expect the wait is only gunna get longer...


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## Winspear (Dec 25, 2011)

Fun111 said:


> Me too^ (though no company sale hahaha) I might just get my deposit in now as I expect the wait is only gunna get longer...



Yup. So glad I put mine down straight after Nolly received his Duality, the list has grown so insaney fast! Fairly certain I'll be putting down another deposit or two on the day mine arrives, haha.


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## Danukenator (Dec 25, 2011)

I dig the shape. That's also some of the finest redwood I've ever seen, the stain was perfect, shows the goods but doesn't mask its natural beauty. Man, I'm describing this like a girl, it's that smokin'.


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## Poho (Dec 29, 2011)

It's glorious, man! Very stoked for you!


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## synrgy (Dec 29, 2011)

I've been watching this one unfold on FB. It looks fucking amazing, and I'm glad to see it's going to a forum member!


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## -Nolly- (Jan 14, 2012)

Inlay update! Vik has designed and executed a very intricate inlaid cherry blossom around the 12th fret, check it out!


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## TRENCHLORD (Jan 14, 2012)

Looks great, that really must be a pain in the ass to do inlays like that.
Great there's guys out there who can though. Awsome.


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## Connor (Jan 14, 2012)

Thats crazy, do you know if he used a router or if he did it with a chisel/knives?


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jan 14, 2012)

My cap T GAS = so closeee


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## noizfx (Jan 14, 2012)

BEAAAUUTTIFULLL!!


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## maliciousteve (Jan 14, 2012)

You know shit is serious when *NOLLY* thinks a guitar is a bit too expensive........for a while


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## BlackMastodon (Jan 14, 2012)

It always baffles me to see such intricate inlay work like that. Absolutely amazing.


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## JPMike (Jan 14, 2012)

Nolly, you never cease to amaze me!!


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## Hollowway (Jan 14, 2012)

That's a pretty sweet inlay. I  all things Japan, so that's a  in my book.


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## Solodini (Jan 17, 2012)

I imagine a dremel may have been used, no? Beautifully executed. I applaud Mr ViK!


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## Winspear (Jan 17, 2012)

maliciousteve said:


> You know shit is serious when *NOLLY* thinks a guitar is a bit too expensive........for a while



 Roughly what kind of upcharge is there for a hollow?


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## -Nolly- (Jan 21, 2012)

Cheers dudes, no idea what the specific upgrade charge for a hollowbody is, I just told ViK what I wanted ad he gave me an all-inclusive quote 

Anyway, more progress! I'm picking her up in exactly a week!!


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## scherzo1928 (Jan 21, 2012)

This is now my favorite Vik. 

You also happen to own the 2nd one.


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## Alberto7 (Jan 21, 2012)

Now, THAT is a guitar.


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## Winspear (Jan 22, 2012)

Holy fuck!


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