Red (ruby Colored) Inlay?

[BartIbanez]

Hello,

I'm kinda new to these fora, but I have a question:

Do you guys know of any material that can be used for an inlay in the fretboard which looks like a ruby. I asked the guy who is building my guitar if he could use ruby as inlay material, but he said it was impossible.

Now im looking for something to replace it. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Bart

[biliousfrog]

translucent red plastic? Possibly from one of those ruby lights on Fender amps?

[BartIbanez]

I think using plastic would make it ugly, since it has that... non shiny surface.

I was thinking tho. Would it be possible to have some totally transparent material on top of some ruby?

[aidlook]

why was it impossible? getting it even to the fretboard?

[BartIbanez]

why was it impossible? getting it even to the fretboard?

He said he didnt have the equipment to make it flat since its a really hard stone. So yes, getting it even to the fretboard was the problem.

[biliousfrog]

I imagine that a hard plastic polished properly will be almost as shiney as glass or a gem stone.

I also imagine that if you grind a ruby totally flat & place it in a fretboard it will just look like any other translucent red material....glass, plastic..whatever. A ruby gets it's lustre from the cut & the refraction index, much like any gem. If you took some red glass & cut it like a ruby it would look much like a ruby to the naked eye, cut a ruby into a cube & it would look much like any other translucent red cube...unless you had the two to compare maybe.

The reason for this is that when light passes through an object it gets refracted which is why a pencil in a glass of water looks bent. If you're placing a transparent/translucent object (ruby) into another solid object (fretboard) so that only one surface is visible you're blocking the light rays from passing through it & causing refraction...apart from the refraction of the object that it is sitting in (fretboard). Think of how amazing a stain-glass window looks with the sun shining through....now imagine it with a large black sheet behind it.

There will obviously be a difference in sheen from one material to the next but if it is polished well & once the strings are on I doubt that anyone will know what material it is.

...very long winded I know....basically why bother with a ruby?

[BartIbanez]

Well, red glass would be good aswell, but that has the same problem: he cant get it even with the fretboard. I just dont want plastic cus its not translucent (or its ugly when translucent, (plexiglass vs real glass))

Edited January 13, 2007 by BartIbanez

[tirapop]

How about red pearl pickguard material?

[SG3390]

I am wondering, why would you choose ruby as an inlay material, I mean wouldn't that be really expensive? I agree with tirapop's idea. Good luck, be sure to post when done!

[BartIbanez]

I am wondering, why would you choose ruby as an inlay material, I mean wouldn't that be really expensive? I agree with tirapop's idea. Good luck, be sure to post when done!

Synthetic ruby is really cheap, its basically the same price as red glass ithink... I like the look of the pickguard material, but.. its not translucent or that shiny ithink. But Iguess I'll have to use that if I cant find another solution.

[Maiden69]

You can get red acrilic, it is sold at sign making places... after sanding flat you can polish the same as apint and it will be just like glass.

[jer7440]

Check out this place.

rescue pearl

If you click on "reconstituted stone" in their menu, they have a couple of different red stones. These materials are designed for inlay.

[GregP]

What is it being inlaid into? A transparent red material (not all these are transparent, mind you) will look bad when inlaid into a dark wood. It'd probably look neat inlaid into maple, though.

[cSuttle]

If you are just looking for a deep red color, how about Bloody Jasper Recon-stone

[BartIbanez]

Thx all, those look almost perfect. I also found something else which im gonna try first, soaking MOP in red dye making it go red (a "friend" who makes jewelry told me it was possible). That would give an awsome effect. Else im going for one of those stones! thanks alot.

[SG3390]

I was just looking at HuntinDoug's website(parableguitars.com), and he has done a couple of red, ruby-ish inlays. you should definitely PM him to see what he does! Good luck!

Edited January 14, 2007 by SG3390

[Vinny]

I've bought from this guy and he can make custom stuff from your designs too. -Vinny

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBANEZ-TREE-OF-LIFE-IN...1QQcmdZViewItem

[BartIbanez]

thx guys, if my idea doesnt work ill try your suggestions.

Edited January 15, 2007 by BartIbanez

[Guest PoonTangRat]

You can get red acrilic, it is sold at sign making places... after sanding flat you can polish the same as apint and it will be just like glass.

He's right, acrylic I think is your best option, available in absolutely endless colours, cheap and also, which nobody has mentioned, you can buy a different type of acrylic named Light Gathering Acrylic which solve the problem of not seeing the material well against the fingerboard as it takes in light and then reflects it back through itself almost kind of glowing in natural light, can look very impressive and I think will in a fretboard.

[Thorn]

The problem with inlaying any "faceted" precious/semi-precious/faux stone or gem is that they are "cut" to fit into a setting. What the setting does is allow light to refract on the back of the stone giving it it's brilliance.

When you inlay the gem into a hole, you will lose all refraction and the gem will be practically dead looking.

I've inlaid diamonds, rubies, even 35 necks for Fender that had over 60 cubic zirconian gems each. They never look as good as you would hope.

[Maiden69]

The problem with inlaying any "faceted" precious/semi-precious/faux stone or gem is that they are "cut" to fit into a setting. What the setting does is allow light to refract on the back of the stone giving it it's brilliance.

When you inlay the gem into a hole, you will lose all refraction and the gem will be practically dead looking.

I've inlaid diamonds, rubies, even 35 necks for Fender that had over 60 cubic zirconian gems each. They never look as good as you would hope.

Thorn, I think this will be going over the edge, but a few months ago I was in Korea and I was working with fiber optics, not the cheap plastic ones that most guys are using for guitars, but the actual glass fiber, this is very thin, unlike the plastic one, for gems, like you explain they need light from the bottom too in order to reflect all the light on the polished face (top), what about using fibers to light up every stone? In the case of glass fiber optics, there would be minimun routing needed to accomodate all the fibers, and with a set neck on newck thru, there is no chance of the customer taking the neck off and braking the fibers!

I will be back in Korea next summer and I plan to finish a little project that I started while there. Since there is a lot of scrap thrown away with upgrades to existing systems. All that I needed to finish was a nice light source, I was using the laser tester and it was working great, Ihad a light loss of .15-.50 on all the fibers, but only did the regular dots... very tricky with the glass to get the reflection wanted on the dot!