68 lost souls Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 Im going to be putting an macasar ebony fingerboard on my guitar and I will be doing some custom inlay on both the fingerboard and the head of the guitar. I dont want to use MOP or any other standard inlay material as I want something different. I was thinking of using a different type of wood to make the inlays out of. What wood do you think would look good? I may use the same wood I inlay the fingerboard with to laminate the headstock and use ebony to inlay that. Any thoughts? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePlague Posted July 25, 2004 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 i like the reverse inlay scheme with the headstock and fretboard. maple and ebony look good together. koa too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68 lost souls Posted July 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 Heres the inlay Im planning on putting on the 11th - 13th frets (stretching across them) What do you think of using bobunga or goncalo alvez with a black ebony? If I use guncalo alvez I wont have to buy much extra wood as I am using that for the neck anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 i think what would make it look really cool would be to use the metallic inlay thats in the main site, that would look extremely cool, but depending on the look of your guitar, im not positive, though the alternate wood look even cooler! ive never really thought about that, its a cool idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePlague Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 yah i dunno how that's gonna look in wood. that's one that i'd picture as a metal inlay too. cool design. i've never heard of guncalo alvez. what does it look like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 I'd go with bloodwood! Red inlay on that is amazingly cool. Anything you do should be colorful. Maple would look nice, but maple and ebony has been done before. Purpleheart, yellowheart, osage orange, padouk, bloodwood, jarrah, pink ivory, juniper (ULTRA bright white), the sky's the limit. One thing to consider: if doing a thin line inlay like that, you might have better luck inlaying a mixture of epoxy and wood dust. That way, you don't have to deal with the ultra thin and fragile wood. You smear the paste in, scrape it smooth, and sand off the excess when it dries. Along that same line, you can color epoxy with chalk dust or metal filings. Goldstone ( a mix of epoxy/glass and copper) would also look great with an ebony board, or use brass or nickel silver to match hardware. If you end up doing a more solid design, I'd go with birdseye maple. The figure in that is smaller than flame or quilt, so it'd probably look better in inlay sizes. Goncalo alves wouldn't work so well if you did wood/epoxy. It might look nice as a matching inlay and neck for pyramids or trapezoids or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jabsco Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 you could dye the inlay wood (if you use goncalo) lighter so that its more of a contrast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 Goncalo Alves btw and you would have to bleach it lighter. or just use maple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 Flame maple veneer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68 lost souls Posted July 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 The inlay has cjanged a little. Its not exactly that but the basic heart is the same. I am changing the things sticking out, dunno what to call them. Ill try and post pics of the inlay ideas once I get a chance. Yeah the wood I said earlier is red aswel thats why I was using it because Im putting the gibson finish on aswel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68 lost souls Posted July 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 Ok I got some sketchs done Heres the headstock or at http://2nesario.us:8600/ximages/public/headstock decal.jpg Heres the fretboard inlays The one at the top is for the 24th fret and it goes down in the regular order 24,1,19,15,17,15,13-11,9,7,5,3) or at http://2nesario.us:8600/ximages/public/frets inlay line.jpg I havent done any proper sketchs yet so the sizes and curves arent done properly but these are the best sketchs Ive got. Any thoughts on what material to use preferably what type of wood to use as an inlay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeli Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 Find a piece of padauk. Sometimes padauk has different tones of reds and pinks in them. So start with the lightest red and proceed to the darkest one in the 12th fret and then lighten again, and at the 24th (or 22th depends on your fretboard) fret,use the same as you used at the 3rd fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68 lost souls Posted July 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Sounds nice Ill have a look. Also I figure I was thinking last night that I should maybe have the 12th fret as a center and hace everything on either side be a mirror image i.e. the 3rd fret inlay will be a mirror image of the 21st fret inlay and so on. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 www.rockler.com sells 1/8" thick wood by the tenth of a board foot; find a whole bunch of wood there and inlay a different type at each fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.