Obsidian Inlays.

[Guitars by Jake]

I was just wondering if anyone has tried using obsidian, or anything of that nature forr inlay material. I have a potential client that would like something like that. Maybe block inlays, or something fairly simple. Also, how hard would it be to get it to the right shape? I may have to talk him into black pearl, but I thought I would ask anyway.

[AccidentalChef]

I've seen pictures of PRS Private Stock guitars that used black onyx for inlay material. You'd probably have a much easier time working with that than obsidian, which is black glass. I was actually looking around earlier and came across a source for it: http://www.neweragems.com/details.asp?productid=790

I've never ordered from that company or worked with onyx, but if you give it a shot, I'd love to hear about it.

[ihocky2]

As chef said, obsidian is essentially black glass. So it is very very hard. I would search the net to see if there are any tutorials on using it for jewelery, and get an idea how it is to work with. If you get it in chunks you will need a diamond coated grinding wheels to grind it thin and flat enough. A probably a water cooled wheel at that.

[Sand Paper]

Anthracite coal was cut and polished like gem stones back in the olden days. It was called Jet, which is where "Jet Black" comes from. I found a pic of a necklace on wikipedia with jet stones cut and polished and that looked amazing. You might look into that as well. Plus it's free if you live by railroad tracks, which is a bonus.

[erikbojerik]

Daytime geologist here.

Obsidian is easy to get but not so easy to work - as the others have said, it is black volcanic glass. You need a diamond-studded wafering saw just to cut it to proper shape. Thicknessing is not easy - best again to wafer saw it to required thickness.

http://www.buehler.com/productinfo/Printer.../IsoMetLSPF.pdf

Regular sandpaper will still wear it down once you inlay it, but you want to get it as close to shape as possible before you glue it in - if you sand too much after its glued in, the wood will erode much faster than the obsidian and the inlays will stand up above the level of the fretboard.

Black MOP is WAY easier to deal with.

[Guitars by Jake]

Thanks guys. Has any one seen black pearl that is really black in color? Thats kinda the thing at this point. I had a long conversation with the client the other night, discussing different options, and so far its either recon stone, ebony, or onyx. Of course I am still researching for ideas. I completely gave up on obsidian at this point, seeing as now the inlay got a little more creative. I really like the idea of black pearl as it is readily available, and I have some experience with mop, and abalone. I just couldnt sell him on any that I found, because it wasnt dark enough.

[cSuttle]

What about recon onxy? That's about as black as you can get. That stuff is pretty much void of light. It's easy to cut, easy to sand and it won't change the wieght of your neck. Real stone will have an adverse effect on the tonal qualities of your neck. And, will make the guitar neck heavy. Real stone would probably be the fastest way to destroy the tone of a good guitar.