guitar2005 Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I'm working a two projects on which I want to have white MOP inlays. I don't want to spend the time cutting the pearl myself but if I can save a lot of money, I will consider doing this. Stew mac seems a little expensive at $40.00 for a set of gibson block inlays. Question is, Is this a good deal? Could I buy the MOP, cut it myself and save some money or this the difference minimal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyen Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I'm working a two projects on which I want to have white MOP inlays. I don't want to spend the time cutting the pearl myself but if I can save a lot of money, I will consider doing this. Stew mac seems a little expensive at $40.00 for a set of gibson block inlays. Question is, Is this a good deal? Could I buy the MOP, cut it myself and save some money or this the difference minimal? In my experience cutting shapes like squares or perfect circles has been a nightmare,have you cut any shell before? it takes some practice to be accurate and shapes like this really stand out when they are not perfect,i tried maple inlays ,very inexpensive when i used my scrap, maybe u can find cheaper shell online too, keep looking, my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDust_Junkie Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Grizzly tools is a little cheaper on their inlay materials. I don't think they sell a block MOP set though. They do have Abalone block inlays, but the MOP ones are either scalloped or are a combo MOP/ Abalone set of block inlays. Check'em out here: http://www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=235020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Block Inlays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I noticed the canadian flag. Grizzly dosn't ship to canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arseneau Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Don't laugh, but check out those stores and kiosks that are in every mall in the known world where they sell cheap necklaces, earrings, that sort of thing. A lot of their stock contains MOP and abolone shells in various formats which are simlpy coated with a thin clear coat that easily sands off. Voila! The exact same shells that you can get for $20/oz on ebay (or more from other online dealers) you can get for a fraction of the cost. My girlfriend works at one of these stores (hence why I don't mention the name, but I guarantee you that there's at least one in every major town and city in ) and it's where I get a lot of inlay material. Just last week she brought me home three necklaces that each consisted of a full shell of black MOP. Not just a small fragment, but the WHOLE shell. Just those three shells alone would cost at least $20 from an "inlay material" place, or less than $10 from one of these stores (even less if you can convince a staffer to give you their discount). You do the math. Granted, a whole shell still has it's curve and therefore will only be partially useable (the flat parts) but, how can you go wrong for the price? Plus the act of cutting the shells into useable, flat blanks is good practice for when you actually try to cut your pattern out. Laugh if you will, but I've got pearl shell material in black, pink and red heart, gold, white and abalone from this place, not to metion every colour imaginable of coloured plastic that looks like MOP. Rock on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDust_Junkie Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 (edited) I believe you, Arseneau. I have several good size Abalone shells that I had my son pick up at a surf shop at the coast. The shop sells these for around $4.00 to $5.00 each during the season, but at the end of the summer, they sold them all at $1.00 apiece. I will offer this though, cutting the shells and getting usable flat pieces for inlay is quite time consuming and is challenging to say the least. But, "where there's a will, there's a way". I haven't actually used mine on a fretboard yet, but after purchasing a set of MOP scalloped blocks for my current project, I plan to get back to work on trying to shape a set from these shells. Another quick caution. I have read here at PG where the dust from these shells is an irritant at least and toxic at worst. So, lung protection is the order of the day when undertaking this type of project. Edited February 20, 2006 by SawDust_Junkie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 (edited) Block Inlays Hmmm... those blocks don't look right to me. Is it just me? Did you try those? I did find an ebay source for plastic inlays pretty cheap and good quality but I really want MOP. I can't see myself spending all this time and effort and end up using pastic to save 20bucks. Edited February 21, 2006 by guitar2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Hmmm... those blocks don't look right to me. Is it just me? Did you try those? I did find an ebay source for plastic inlays pretty cheap and good quality but I really want MOP. I can't see myself spending all this time and effort and end up using pastic to save 20bucks. No, but you wanted options. That's an option. If it were me, I'd just bite the bullet and order the Stew Mac ones to start. If inlay was something I wanted to mess with again, then I'd cut my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Irizarry Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Block Inlays Hmmm... those blocks don't look right to me. Is it just me? Did you try those? I did find an ebay source for plastic inlays pretty cheap and good quality but I really want MOP. I can't see myself spending all this time and effort and end up using pastic to save 20bucks. They didn't look quite right to me either but as marksound points out you wanted options. This situation reminds me of a post I came across by Ormsby about the decision to make or buy a particular component during a build. You have to weigh the relative pain of making your own vs. paying $40 for what you know will suit your purpose. Don't get me wrong. I can appreciate cost cutting but you also have to factor in frustration factor, long term benefit from doing this yourself, etc. Personally, I would go with marksound's recommendation and buy them from Stew Mac. They're a reputable dealer and their prices may not be the best but I haven't found them to be completely out of line. You also know that you will get a usable product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 frustration factor, long term benefit from doing this yourself, etc. Personally, I would go with marksound's recommendation and buy them from Stew Mac. They're a reputable dealer and their prices may not be the best but I haven't found them to be completely out of line. You also know that you will get a usable product. I think you're right. I just get the stew mac ones. the price doesn't seem so bad no that I see what the options are. Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 More options: Luthier Supply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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