Silver inlays?

[skibum5545]

I may be completely out of my mind, but I seem to remember seeing somewhere on this site a tutorial on how to inlay a fretboard with the kind of silver a dentist uses to fill teeth. Anyone know where it is?

[Reaper]

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/inlay.htm

The third one down.

[skibum5545]

Cool, thanks! 2 more questions:

Any idea where I can get the mercury and copper/tin? Any rules/regs I need to watch out for (in US or Michigan)?

AND

Is it actual silver produced, or just silver-colored metal?

[Elton]

wow this looks really easy to do, i wnat to buy this mecury silver thing to... where do u buy the tools? my shop teacher has an engraving machine he would probably let me use it to make the cavities...

[skibum5545]

It's not the engraving I'm worried about, I'd find a way for that, it's that our school panics and evacuates every time a mercury thermometer breaks, getting enough of the stuff to do a fretboard would be hell!

Still, I'm curious... I have a family friend whos a dentist, maybe they could hook me up...

[skibum5545]

also, can it be routed? Could I rout the fretboard radius after doing the inlay?

[daveq]

also, can it be routed? Could I rout the fretboard radius after doing the inlay?

I've worked with sterling silver inlay before (and am currently doing another). You'd be much better off sanding the radius than trying to rout the silver. I think the results would be quite disasterous. It can be sanded with some patience though. Just remember to change to a finer grit before you get too close to the final shaping - otherwise you won't get the scratches out and it will not look good.