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Biggest Inlay I've Ever Done


cSuttle

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Well ... she is done at last. More than 16" wide. 141 pieces Whew ... that was a lot of work. It took me 55 minutes just to glue it up. Boy, I sure wish I was keeping this one. I might see about making for of these for me. If you want to see the piece being built, check out my site Shark Inlay and go to the "In The Workshop" section. I documented this from artwork to final project.

bodyinlay1.jpg

Edited by cSuttle
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That looks great! I must say though, she looks alot better against a dark background, I feel that that maple is too close/light a color and doesn't give the shell's their ability to shine in contrast.... HOWEVER I don't imagine that that maple is staying that plain color, so I'm gunna hazard a guess, and make a request to see it in all it's glory once stained.

Chris

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That looks great! I must say though, she looks alot better against a dark background, I feel that that maple is too close/light a color and doesn't give the shell's their ability to shine in contrast.... HOWEVER I don't imagine that that maple is staying that plain color, so I'm gunna hazard a guess, and make a request to see it in all it's glory once stained.

Chris

Well Chris, the actually color will be picked out by the manufacturer - Minarik Guitars. They ask for my input, but do whatever they want. I'm just responsible for the inlay.

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I never thought i'd say this about a guitar but that inlay is breathtaking. :D

Is that a double neck guitar?

Yep, it's a double neck. This guitar is even big for one of those. The body is 23" wide. Cool looking design though, which I can't show you yet because it won't be unveiled until the NAMM show. But, if you're familar with Minarik guitar, you probably have some idea of what this guitar looks like.

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How do you even mask something like that for painting?

I won't be doing the masking on this one since the manufacture would be doing the rest of the process, but if it were me, I would use a product call Frisket that is like the stuff you find on clock faces when you first buy it. Then it has to be careful cut to the design with an xato blade.

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Breathtaking is the correct word inDEED. B):DB)

That is absolutely spectacular, I wouldn't change a thing.

I like the way the inlay incorporates itself into the overall design of the doubleneck hardware, it's beautiful, well thought out, and perfectly executed.

BRAVO!

:D:D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just saw some pictures of the stained guitar. They did it in a 4 tone cherry burst going from pretty clear in the center to almost black at the edges. Looks great. This is the only picture I can show right now. I know the picture is small (sorry about that) and cropped out pretty bad (remember, I can't show pictures of the body shape yet), but it gives you some idea. There is no clear coat on this guitar in this picture. I'll post more photos when I can.

withcolor.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
WOW, I am awestruck. Great job.

BTW, is that maple a 1-piece top? If so, where can I get something that wide.

No, it was book matched. The inlay is probably hiding that fact a lot. See the other thread for a picture of the finished guitar.

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that is a really nice inlay love the contrast in color of the differnt materials!

p.s. could u tell me the program you used to see how the inlay would look with the differnt materials?

Sure, always willing to share. I use Corel Draw. I have all the materials scan into to fill files. Once the drawing is vectorized and can fix and match materials all day long. Really makes things easier.

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OUTSTANDING, REALLY NICE. YOU SEEM LIKE A YOUNG GUY TOO how you get into this?

Well ... two out of three ain't bad. Actually I'm in my 40's.

How I got started ... I use to be one of the main writter for Harmony Central, back when they actually had writters and not just an endless string of press releases. I use to do an series of articles from the NAMM show called the "Golden Axe Awards," where we would rate the top 10 guitars in different categories at the show. One of the categories, and my favor, was the "Unlimited" section. Price was no object, the more ornate the better. The very first year we did these award one of the PRS dragons won. While writing these articles I really fell in love with inlay and the art that went into it.

I had taken art classes in college and was a pretty good drawer/painter, but those 2d forms of art never really seemed to keep by interest for long. I had also babbled in wood working. So, I started inlaying as a hobbit. I purchased a small collection of tools and materials and had at it. My first attempt was on an old table that use to belong to my grandmother. There was a company out there that offered a class you could take on-line on inlaying. But, I was a cheap a$%, and didn't take it. However, I noticed that for their final project they inlaid a butterfly. I do a butterfly. So, I set off on my first project, a butterfly on my Grandmother's table. It was a 52 piece design made out of 11 different materials. I found out later that the butterfly assignment in that on-line class was 6 pieces :-)

Well, I swore a lot and made a lot of mistakes both big and small on that first project. The routing was so bad in one spot that I actually added to the design to cover it up. Took me like a month to finish it. After that, I said never again. Three weeks later I took a belt sander to one of my Grandmother's other old tables :-) I guess at that point I was hooked. When I had driven my family nuts inlaying just about everything wood in the house, I turned to my guitar collection (small though it my be). Tcovers, fret inlays, whatever. A friend asked me if I would do a small project for him. GREAT! another job to do, what fun. When he picked it up he said, "So how much do I owe you?" Bing!!! Money!!!

It took a lot of marketing work to get things going and I was lucky with a couple of really good breaks early on (chance meetings with people who help me get started), but the rest is history as they say, plus I'm getting tire of typing :-)

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