Mother Of Pearl Substitutes

[DrummerDude]

I want to make some cool position marking inlays for my project's fingerboard (triangles or other "heavy metal" shapes)

I can't get mother of pearl where I am and I can't order stuff online.

I am looking for materials that can emulate the look of mother of pearl. Are there any of those or eventually how could I make my own?

Out of what?

I used plastic buttons that emulate mother of pearl on my previous project (dot inlays). But now I need bigger pieces of similar material for the triangles.

Anyone with an idea?

Thanks guys!

[Southpa]

You can try using formica counter top material. Look around at your local building supply store and you might find some interesting patterns. But you might be forced to buy a big sheet of the stuff, doesn't hurt to ask if they have any sample pieces or scraps laying around. Another place to look is a shop that caters to rockhounds, geology type people, etc. they might carry pieces of abalone, MOP etc.

[frank falbo]

My daughter came home from my father's one day with a shell that they found in the back yard. He's got a river back there. Anyway, I got kind of excited when I saw the inside of it. Now, I wasn't about to take my daughter's shell, but I asked my dad if he could find more, and he brought me over a mother load (no pun intended) of them. I'll be able to harvest MOP from them until my hands can't build guitars anymore. It's not the most spectacular shell in the world, but so what? It's as good as any factory guitar will use. If you live anywhere where you can find the shell, it's not hard to cut and beltsand flat sections yourself.

[JohnJohn]

Have you tried local seafood restaurants and markets?Just buy the oysters or get their shells,it's a lot more work cutting and levelling from shell but it may give you some nice options.

[dash]

could you use an old pickguard??

[BlackKnight]

There are loads of people on e bay that sell them fairly cheap.

[DrummerDude]

I will try to find that Formica stuff.

I read about it and it appeared to be a brand name. I doubt that they import it where I live, but still, I will search for it.

I have seen a synthetic material that emulates mother of pearl on pocket knife handles. I'll try to find such a knife and ruin it in the name of guitar building.

Thanks guys!

[Mr.Churchyard]

I will try to find that Formica stuff.

I read about it and it appeared to be a brand name. I doubt that they import it where I live, but still, I will search for it.

I have seen a synthetic material that emulates mother of pearl on pocket knife handles. I'll try to find such a knife and ruin it in the name of guitar building.

Thanks guys!

←

The notorious "mother of toilet seat"

May I ask why you cannot buy it online?

[jer7440]

The problem with Formica is the color is only on the surface. If you inlay and then try to sand on a fretboard radius, you may well sand through the color.

I'm not sure where you live but you might try looking for a product called Corian. It's a material used mostly for solid surface countertops. The color goes all the way through it.

[DrummerDude]

The problem with Formica is the color is only on the surface.  If you inlay and then try to sand on a fretboard radius, you may well sand through the color.

I'm not sure where you live but you might try looking for a product called Corian.  It's a material used mostly for solid surface countertops.  The color goes all the way through it.

←

That's exactly what happened with those plastic buttons I used on my previous project - when I sanded them to the level of the fretboard, they lost their cover layer and it was the thing that holded the mother of pearl effect. Now it's gone and they look just transparent.

I will try to find that Corian material but we import stuff mostly from Greece and Greek stuff is crap.

No one ships stuff to my country because we are not yet members of the EU and traders are afraid of fraudulent credit card orders and stuff.

I live in Bulgaria, by the way.

Thanks, man.

[marksound]

Try this: DuPont's Distributor Locator

[Mr.Churchyard]

No one ships stuff to my country because we are not yet members of the EU and traders are afraid of fraudulent credit card orders and stuff.

I live in Bulgaria, by the way.

Thanks, man.

←

I could order it for you and send it to you if you pay for it... I live in Germany.

Last resort though. Cannot believe there is no mother of pearl to be had in Bulgaria...

But I think PayPal should work if you don't pay with credit cards.

Edited May 12, 2005 by Mr.Churchyard

[DrummerDude]

Try this: DuPont's Distributor Locator

←

They don't have distributors in Bulgaria (not surprised )

No one ships stuff to my country because we are not yet members of the EU and traders are afraid of fraudulent credit card orders and stuff.

I live in Bulgaria, by the way.

Thanks, man.

←

I could order it for you and send it to you if you pay for it... I live in Germany.

Last resort though. Cannot believe there is no mother of pearl to be had in Bulgaria...

But I think PayPal should work if you don't pay with credit cards.

←

Mr.Churchyard, there sure is mother of pearl in Bulgaria, but I don't know where to get it from. Actually my question should be: what kinds of stores offer mother of pearl? Groceries? Pharmacies? OK, bad joke, still, good question...

PayPal does not work with Bulgarian residents (not surprised N2 )

Thank you for your offer, man.

I may order some natural mother of pearl in near future. I hope you will be that kind again to help me.

Edited May 12, 2005 by DrummerDude

[DrummerDude]

So, where do you get your mother of pearl from, guys?

As I mentioned, I have no ability to order from online stores or auctions like e-bay.

What kinds of stores offer mother of pearl or its substitutes?

[LGM Guitars]

I don't mean to sound rude, but if you can post on an internet forum, why can't you order from online stores? No credit card I presume?

You can use the fender pickguards, cut them into squares or whatever, and sand them down thinner, the top layer of the pearloid guards is usually about .050" thick, you can sand it down and not lose the pearl look to it.

[67gretsch]

The pickguard idea is excellent.

Additional ideas:

#1) You can also buy guitar picks made from the same material as the pickguard which looks like MOP. Those might be cheaper and easier for you to get. experiment on one to make sure they can sand down and keep the look.

#2) I have an excellent supply of real asian elephant ivory(pre-ban) from the far east. This stuff is exotic,beautiful and impossible to find.

I could send you a piece.You could slice off blanks. It can be sanded,carved,and etched upon (scrimshaw)

[DrummerDude]

I don't mean to sound rude, but if you can post on an internet forum, why can't you order from online stores?  No credit card I presume? 

You can use the fender pickguards, cut them into squares or whatever, and sand them down thinner, the top layer of the pearloid guards is usually about .050" thick, you can sand it down and not lose the pearl look to it.

←

You don't sound rude.

I suppose you just didn't read my previous post.

No one ships anything to Bulgaria, because of the high percentage of fraudilent "hacker" orders. I am using an internationally recognized MasterCard-Maestro debit card (one of those that hold your own money, not loaned ones like credit cards do) and still no online store cares to accept it and ship the goods to Bulgaria.

That's all. I've tried everything but online traders simply do not deal with suspicious East European countries.

The pikguard idea is good but I need something that looks like mother of pearl all the way through the material.

67gretsch, thanks, my grandma has some ivory at home herself but I don't think it looks good for fingerboard triangle markers.

[LGM Guitars]

I did read your previous posts, but have you tried Depaule supply? Andy is really good to deal with.

http://www.luthiersupply.com/

[Rendisha]

DrummerDude,

I'm from Serbia and StewMac sends goodies here with no problems. Have you tried it?

[DrummerDude]

DrummerDude,

I'm from Serbia and StewMac sends goodies here with no problems. Have you tried it?

←

Rendisha, hvala, batko

I will give StewMac a try.

Hope they ship the goods immediately after they've been oredered because I don't want to wait forever

[Rendisha]

You have option of DHL (expensive) and USPS (inexpensive) shipping. Of course, USPS is my choice. When you place your order and choose shipping, it's cost will be imediately calculated ( for thruss rod, tunomatic, fretwire & tuners it was some $17), it arrived in 7 days, and I was quite pleased.

With LMII it was different story. They asked me to provide some credit card statement, which I didn't know what it was, in my bank they printed me some document saying that I am owner of that credit card ... blah blah (and they charged me for that) ... but at LMII it was declined because it haven't been written on official bank letterhead... Since I lost my nerves already and didn't want to loose more money and time trying to get appropriate papers, I tried with StewMac and it was perfect.

Also you (and others in Europe too) might check http://www.madinter.com from Spain. They have quite cheap mahogany neck blanks and ebony & rosewood fingerboards. Actually, almost all wood is quite cheap. Shipping is a bit expensive, but if you choose Correos (Spanish national postal service), and wait a bit longer, it will be much cheaper than ordering from U.S.

Hope it helped a bit. I'm also looking for places with decent prices, ready to deal with our countries.

[DrummerDude]

Rendisha, thanks man, you've been in great help.

Zvezda or Partizan?

[Rendisha]

Zvezda. Have you ordered already?

[DrummerDude]

Not yet.

But your tips helped me alot.

I will order MOP and some crowning files as soon as possible.

Thank you.

[DrummerDude]

My daughter came home from my father's one day with a shell that they found in the back yard. He's got a river back there. Anyway, I got kind of excited when I saw the inside of it. Now, I wasn't about to take my daughter's shell, but I asked my dad if he could find more, and he brought me over a mother load (no pun intended) of them. I'll be able to harvest MOP from them until my hands can't build guitars anymore. It's not the most spectacular shell in the world, but so what? It's as good as any factory guitar will use. If you live anywhere where you can find the shell, it's not hard to cut and beltsand flat sections yourself.

←

I'd like to try this too. Actually it sounds quite cool.

But how do you "harvest" the MOP out from the shells?

Yesterday, I was fishing at the river and I found several cool looking shells but they were all curved (of course) and the layer of MOP inside of them tends to be quite thin.

frank falbo, how do you use the shells for your inlay work? Do you scrape off the inner layer of MOP and then stick the flakes together using epoxy or any other transparent glue? I suppose that this is how the commercial MOP (the one that comes in plates) is being made.

Thanks!