Inlays, Scalloping And Re Finish Question

[Dylanwad]

Generally speaking, how deep are bog standard black dot inlays? I was playing with the idea of scalloping the last four frets on my project but I'm afraid to go too deep.

The neck is maple with a maple fretboard finished in some sort of satin finish. I am finishing the body with tru oil, would I be able to re finish just the four frets with tru oil and get a similar finish to the satin spary job or is it a case of re finishing the whole neck?

[jaycee]

I think the inlays are about 2mm thick. If you were to do a full fret scallop you would probably sand the dot away, have you thought of a partial fret scallop? where only the top 3 strings have it.

[Dylanwad]

Inetersting, a partial scallop. Didn't Billy Sheehan have something like that on his sig bass? Cool idea, I'll keep that in mind.

[CainMD]

i scalloped frets 21-24 on my ibanez rg. it had those triangle inlays, i did a full scallop and they were still there. I'd say scallop it and if it looks like it's going to go through just stop. It doesn't take that much to get that effect.

[Dylanwad]

Thanks CainMD. Which RG have you got? I have a 1990 desert yellow with matching headstock I bought in '91. I'll never sell it, it's been battered by too many gigs but I still love it.

Can any one help with the tru oil part of the question. If I re finish the scallopes with tru oil can I match it to the sprayed satin effect of the rest of the neck?

Edited February 10, 2009 by Dylanwad

[CainMD]

i just got a beater rg270(from 1997) for 100 bucks and made it a jem. don't relly know about the second part. what i can say is when i scalloped the frets afterwards the neck looked dull. To remedy that i just sanded it with 1200 grit and threw some lem oil on it. i'll throw a pic of the inlays up later.

Edited February 10, 2009 by CainMD

[dpm99]

Thanks CainMD. Which RG have you got? I have a 1990 desert yellow with matching headstock I bought in '91. I'll never sell it, it's been battered by too many gigs but I still love it.

Can any one help with the tru oil part of the question. If I re finish the scallopes with tru oil can I match it to the sprayed satin effect of the rest of the neck?

The best way to figure that out is to test it on something and compare. You can create sort of a satin finish with TruOil, if you don't use too many coats.

[CainMD]

http://s481.photobucket.com/albums/rr176/c...0092127EDIT.jpg

[Dylanwad]

Sweet job dude!

[Six String Theory]

I scalloped all my strat's frets a while back. The only dot I had trouble with was the bottom 12th fret dot.

[Ad_Astra]

My scallops on RG neck:

[Narcissism]

I scalloped my rg250DX all the way to the 12th fret with just a little way before the fingerboard met the maple.

As you can see, the inlays are perfectly in tact. So I think this concludes that Ibanez RGs have pretty thick inlays. However, on my GRX20 (the test guitar) when I did the same job, I found the bottom of the dot inlays about half way through the fretboard. I personally don't go past the side post position markers when I do this job for anyone else, just as a rule of thumb.

[Dylanwad]

I think I'll give it a go, you've inspired me guys. Thank you.

[Pestvic]

just to seal the deal i did mine from 12 up and it came out great. i think ibanez has thick dots/ fret markers. good luck! (unless this is old then my bad haha but lets see pics?)