Clavin

Check out Masecraft Supply.

They are a knife and woodworking company, and they have shell and abalam, and dozens and dozens of plastics, acrylics, casiens, and other synthetics. Bone and other natural things as well. Too many to list. I get many things from them all of the time.

C. Lavin

Your welcome.

Lets see what it looks like after it's done!

Good luck!

Craig

I get all my sheet silver in .06 sterling sheet. It's available in many differerent thicknesses in many sizes. Sheet, wire, etc.. it's as easy to work as any shell blank, actually easier because it doesn't ever crack.

I get mine from a jewelry supply, not a jeweler. That's where they get thier stuff from and that's the most inexpensive way. Any metal will tarnish under a finish (it's just much much slower to) but with good quality metals all you need to do is buff it out a litle and everything will be fine. I'm at the near end of inlaying some solid sheet silver "throwing stars" into a maple fingerboard now.

My supplier is Starr gems of Arizona. They are really good. You can also try Thunderbird supply, and a slew of others. Cut it the same as any pearl. With a jewelers saw and the associated blades.

Thanks

Craig L

I use only .06 for almost everything. The depth helps keep things right under any potential curves and radii. For headstocks you can go as thin as .04. In the orient they go as thin as .02 for flat areas. It's harder to work though. I recommend staying at least .05 and higher for almost any quality inlay work.

You can use plastics. They work easier than shell, but need a little more in the polishing stages. I use about 50 or so materials in my work. Plastics, stone, shell, metals, fossil ivories, woods. Keep your mind open. As long as it's relatively hard, but cut-able, and sand-able, go for it!

Craig L

The face and yellow swirl on the beak are corian, and the shading is just the picture, although there is feather "lines" down near the bottom engraved in red.

I use the carbide downcut stew-mac bits. They cost a bit more but they are very much worth it. Go to www.stew-mac.com and you'll find them there.

If your going to do inlay or any other project more than a few times, or wether your selling the final project, or just trying to please yourself (I personally am never happy unless the client is first- luckily this one was total freedom for my materials and image choice- the instructions were soley "do a toucan") then it pays to get the

best tools you can afford. It will show in the quality of your work.

Oh, and the wood type is normal Taylor grade rosewood. Indian I believe.

Thanks again-

coming up soon- sea turtles, a jellyfish knife, a lighning bolt truss cover, and sterling silver Japanese throwing stars in maple (ouch)

Rouiting that should be fun

Craig

truerussian558,

You can get router bits down to 1/32, which is more than adequate for the job.

The hard part is working with the materials so they actually inlay cleanly into something so relatively thin, without going through the back. Sometimes that does happen, but at least it's tha back!

I still used .06 or thicker materials in this piece. I would think most others may use .04 or even .03'. The stone was actually over an 8th in some cases. I had to cut clean to make the joints work.

Craig

Thanks guys for all your as always wonderful comments!

An oops fix! Dave's name is MYKA with a Y.

My apologies for the typo!

That's about the only flaw related to his guitars at all that I have seen!

:o)

Hi everybody.

This is a commision I recieved while at the First World Guitar Congress.

I also got to meet and hang out a little while with Dave from Myka Guitars (who had an incredible display) and even a few project guitar guys stopped in. Scott R for one.

It was a great week. Dave's guitars are absolutely beautiful, and sound great wether it's jazz or rock or anything. He produces a full range of guitars from solidbody to archtop to acoustic. It was an impressive display.

This truss inlay is made of onyx, gaspeit, yellow corian, turquoise, and light and dark red coral. Thanks for looking as always

Craig Lavin

The headstock PRS signature isn't inlay. It's a decale, or other application I believe. You can inlay metals that thin, even shell with CNC, or a very patient artist could do it as well. It just takes longer.

There's been a few people on this forum using the word inlay very very loosly around here the past few days.

Just like those stickers are stick on "inlays"

If it sticks on the surface it's a sticker. If the wood is routed, the material inset, then glued in, and then leveled, then it's inlay. Sorry to be sticky about this but I don't think the confusion of term helps the newer people.

Craig L

If you want an idea for materials that would suggest masculinity, or at least non- sexual orientation (nuetral), if someone were asking me to do this inlay for a male I would make the petals out of white river pearl, the stem out of gaspeit, and the leaves out of red abalone heart.

Lots of color, but no colors that derive any girl or boy theme.

Just throwing out ideas

Craig

I guess I assumed a wrong approach to my response. Yes of course it's fine to ask others opinions, In any forum. It was the "would it look too ( fill in the blank)" that threw me off a tad bit! I was hesitant to post on it, but I feel pretty strongly about doing what you like, and really not worrying about what others think when it comes to something soley personal like inlay, which won't reall effect the other attributes of the guitar.

Regarding flowers as masculine, the traditional vine is a flower based inlay, and that has been one of the most repeated inlays in the world.

Hopefully no harm done to anyone, that wasn't my goal!

Craig.

Is it your guitar? If so then why are you worrying about what others think?

I have seen dozens and dozens of fretboards with roses and or variations of roses and flowers on them. Many were acoustic, many electric. None looked overly feminin, and who cares if they did? Inlay is about beauty, eye candy, and self expression. If it floats your boat then act as captain.

Sorry to sound a little rough, but art is about ideas. Not others opinions

Fire at will..

Craig Lavin

Thanks Dave.

I plan on having hopefully three guitars, two boxes, and of course tons of photos.

I look forward to meeting you to.

I don't know about you but 20,000 visitors to my booth would be a potentially good thing . I am just hoping either Les Paul or Andy Summers stops by. That would be a highlite .

Craig

Some more on art-

classic inlay was originally done as ornamentation. To "pretty up" an instrument or object. This in my opinion is still the main focus of a lot of inlay work on electric and acoustic guitars.

I can't say my work is all real art, but in portraying the natural world I try to be as realistic looking as possible with my imagery. I try my best to capture a moment in a garden, such as here, or in the sea, as in my other works.

I still have a long way to go.

Craig

I'm going to let the art speak for itself here. Some people like that look, some don't. I like to let an image breath a little. I could fill up every inch of space with inlay, but I don't personally like that look. Some may like it. It's a personal call.

I am privilaged to be soley an inlayer. I don't take time bulding guitars, I only do inlays, so I can advance my skills quickly. I would like to build a full guitar one day though.

Craig

I spend my time drawing up concepts based mostly on client requests. The first thing I do is lay out the guitar pattern outline, headstock shape, etc.. that is my "drawing board".

Then I decide what positions are unique, etc.. I don't ever do color drawing beforehand because they will never really match the materials correctly. It's all done with a pencil and paper in black and white. I keep color photos and books nearby, and then after it's drawn spend a few hours looking at my materials, and thier figure and tones and do my best to match the patterns and colors to the actual image. It's one of the fun parts. I have a supply of over 100 materials on hand, and special order what I need for special projects.

This particular inlay has (materials):

yellow corian

black pearl

light pipestone

mother of pearl

sugalite stone

gold pearl

gaspeit stone

obsidion stone

silver dust

pink coral stone

red abalone heart

spiny oyster stone

pink mussel shell

paua shell

Too many people go about inlay with a design first then try to "make it fit" the guitar. I start with the guitar first, and see what falls naturally into position with the art based upon the woods and guitar itself. I try to blend the whole thing together. A good inlay shouldn't seperate itself out from the guitar, it should be a part of it. After tone of course. It doesn't mater what it looks like if it sounds like crap!

Craig

Funny you mention that hotrock. If you throw a spyhopping orca into the mix then I am doing something very very close to that soon. A calm sea with an orca.

I'll post it when it's done, the art is all drawn up, no parts yet. It may be a while.

Thanks.

Craig.

Regarding fretting- With large amounts of inlay passing through fret spaces it's best to either sand away the fret tangs and glue them in, or cut the inlay so it stops at each fret just ahead of the fret slot. The latter takes a lot more time, and since I normally don't know what size frets are being installed it's risky for me to do that. I really don't want the image looking like it ends before the fret gets to cover it.

I have the luthiers prep the frets and glue them.

Craig

Thanks Guys.

This one took about a week and a half, and was challenging at times. The spider was a first for me, but it turned out O.K. I was a little flustered at first. Every now and then you do the concept art without regard for the execution. Then you look at it during the execution stage and go "oh S*&t" how am I going to actually DO that??

Yes I do have a website.

My website is :

www.handcraftinlay.com

All of my works are viewable there. These and a few more are not up yet, but will be soon.

I assure you they are all done by hand, no CNC. All done completely by me. Now and then I have added input during the design stages from owners, players, luthiers, etc.. or constraints I need to adhere to, but it's all just one guy doing it.

Thanks. I have more coming soon!

Hi everyone.

Here is the fretboard that goes with the orchids headstock I posted a while back. Again the edges are not fit yet, so once it is installed it will look normal, with the scene originating from the very edge.

This inlay totalled around 140-ish or so pieces when it was done, including the 41 pieces for the headstock.

The hummingbird is about 35 or more pieces with the feathers being seperate cut, and the orbweaver spider web is engraved, and filled with silver dust.

I'll try to get finished guitar pics from John Kinnaird (luthier) when it's done.

Thanks for looking, and for your always wonderful support!

I'll see whoever is going to the World Guitar Congress this coming week.

Westhemann,

if you are going to use that for inlay you'll need a lapidarist to cut it and shape it. Normal jeweler's saws won't work- too hard, also when sanding it, it will take forever, so the wood around it will sand away while the stone just sits there.

In other words- I really, really, really doubt it will work.

I know of no synthetic hematite, like a recon stone version.

You may try inlaying it sub-wood, and using a clear filler over it, but that can get messy, and will look off.

Craig Lavin

Yes you can. It's called piercing. It's a common way of getting pieces into other pieces in inlay, such as the ladybug. It's a piece pf coral inset into a cut out hole in the gaspeit. I drilled the gaspeit with a tiny bit, and put the blade through and inside cut the hole, then filtted the coral piece from the existing pattern.

Craig Lavin

Thanks so much for your comments.

I don't know if I could write a book, I just don't have the time. Has the forum suggested a symposium, with actual classes? I know it would be a lot to organize, and that this is really the goal of the site, however a Project Guitar week long get together with different classes and speakers would be as big a draw I believe as any other guitar builders show, especially since the others ( ASIA, as well as others) cater almost exclusively to acoustic builders.

I would be willing to teach a class on inlay, if sponsored.

Craig Lavin

I really forget the name, sorry. Its an acryilic availabe at Masecraft Supply, and it's blue swirl, more of a teal green in it as well. Any material can be used for inlay as long as the hardness is around 3 on the Mohs scale.

I also only use the softer or more scratch prone materials high on the fingerboard, where on an acousticnormaly there is not the mopst playing time. For electrics I try to stay with shells, metals, and stone. On headstocks you can use almost anything workable. No wear there normally..

Craig L

Try this part of the site guys..

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial4.htm

Make sure you read them ALL, and then see if you still have any questions. There is a lot there, and most of it's very usefull.

Were here to help!

C. Lavin