I have a cool Birdseye Maple Fingerboard bound in maple that I want to inlay some nice Paua Dots. My questions is what would be the best method of doing it. I feel as though drilling the holes after radiusing would be the best to retain the color/figure in the dots, however,I am worried about any chip out/tearing in the figured maple. The alternative and easier method would be to inlay them prior to radiusing. I would have them sit just below the surface of the fingerboard. For the two dots at the 12th fret, I would go a little deeper to try and compensate for the drop off. I thought of doing a partial radius at a higher radius, Inlaying them, and then reradius to the correct compound radius. It would be a sufficient halfway point, however, It would b very tedious with the set up of the radiusing jig.
Any suggestions?