mikhailgtrski

"Just as I suspected-- buying more stuff. It never seems to end. "

The bits are about $16 US, but they're carbide so they cut real clean and they last.

"Also need to find some CA. At what point in time does the ebony dust come into the picture, BTW?"

$8 US for a 2 oz. bottle from Stewmac. I've only read about the dust trick. The CA looks pretty good by itself, it just shows as a thin (if you were really careful) dark line around the inlay. I would think you would barely see it on ebony. You can also get black CA, but the clear looks good to me. I'm inlaying in rosewood, so it's pretty much impossible to hide any big gaps.

Mike

PS - while you're at it, get "The Art of Inlay" by Larry Robinson. Lots of good info.

The carbide spiral downcut router bits that stewmac sells work really well for this stuff. They go down as small 1/32". The trick is to be very careful and take it very slow. Avoid caffeine And definitely practice practice practice on scrap... I inlaid three pieces in a scrap of rosewood before I was able to start keeping the gap to a minimum. And I'm going to do a couple more practice pieces before I start carving on the real thing.

CA glue (the water-thin stuff) works great for filling the gaps. After you glue the inlay in place, fill the gap with the CA and let it dry (those whip tip nozzle extensions will help keep it under control). It will shrink some. Then fill it again and let it dry overnight... if you start sanding too soon you can get little gooey spots that didn't dry all the way, and you'll just have to dig them out and re-fill. So might as well patient.

And keep at it, I say.

Make sure the part of the thorn that touches the stem will butt all the way up to the stem. If the cavities have different angles, the part on the bottom of the rout will touch, but there will be a gap at the visible part.

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Thanks, yeah, I thought of that and I'll bevel the cut end slightly so it butts up flush with the vine.

Thanks for the input.

Mike

Hi Mike.

This has been addressed.

You just need to make sure the shell is thick enough to not sand through, or use multiple small pices around the curves in the inlay. Look in the pinned area for a previose thread post on this.

C. Lavin

No special jigs or rigs are needed at all.

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Ah, there it is... I did read that one before, but got sidetracked with all the different opinions. As always, gotta read the entire thread.

The only affected pieces are those where I have long thorns attached to the vine. I'll cut them off and inlay them separate from the vine.

Thanks for the reminder, Craig. I think I'm good to go now

Mike

Hi guys,

I've practiced inlaying on some "scrap" rosewood and I feel good about moving on to the real thing. However, the scrap piece is flat and now I'm going to start routing on a 10" to 16" compound radius fingerboard.

A few of the inlay pieces will span 1/2 to 2/3 the width of the board. Do I need to route for these differently to get them to sit flush in the pocket, or do I need to cut them into sections to better match the radius?

Or is it a non-issue? I haven't found any posts where this has been addressed.

Thanks for your input,

Mike

to bookmatch all you need it 7x19, (normaly) I just got a piece that was 21" wide bookmatched because I needed 16".  The most important part is how thich it is in order to get it bookmatched. 

You are in WA USA, you can get nice scraps (to test finishes) over there to test from the ones that are left after ripping the big planks, just ask the guy is they have any small scrap pieces next time you go buy.  That way he sill see that you are still buying and will give you the scraps.

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It's from the outer part of the tree and still has the bark on the edge. I can just get a 7" x 19" x 1 1/2" slab out of it, but only the top end has the quilt, and the bottom end has a small knot or two. Probably why it had been passed over.

Does Gotoh make a 3x3 locking tuner in gold? I can only find them 6 in-line mini or Kluson type. I was going to use the Schallers because they have 3x3 in gold plus removable buttons (I want to make my own) but then I saw the Grovers, which look nicer without the knob on the back. Are the Grovers really that awful?

Mike

$53 on scrap???? Holy moly, the local place here got a 10'X10" 4/4 flamed maple blank for $50.  some places are really nice figured, some are not.  I wanted to buy it, but ran out of money real quick, (wife got a few presents), And this piece will yiels quite a lort of scraps after cuting and slicing it for bookmatched tops.

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It was $20 for the western maple, about 12" x 36" with about 1/2 of it quilted. Not sure if it's big enough to bookmatch. $25 for the rosewood...

Spent $53 today on "scraps" for testing my dye techniques

The guy at the hardwood shop told me I was the 14th guitar builder he had coming in to look for figured western maple... I got the last piece he had. Wow.

Also got some bolivian rosewood to practice inlay routing before I carve up my nice brazilian board. Now what to do with all the nice leftover wood and abalone? I think some relatives are getting inlaid jewelry boxes this Christmas

It's not a hobby, it's a disease

Mike

Hmmm... how would white stain look on flame? Seems like it would mask the flame rather than enhance it.

I prefer something with more color to it, like tiger eye or deep red stain. But that's just me.

Mike

I realize there is nothing new under the sun, i don't claim to be 100% original   but there are so many les paul and tele copies out there, breaking up the curves was one of the easiest way I could draw attention away from that and give it it's own personality.

Thanks for the input so far.

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Coming up with a "new" guitar shape that doesn't look like you were trying too hard to be "original" is one of the hardest things to do... except maybe getting more cowbell

Gene lives!

I agree... it kinda looks like you took my old Washburn A20 (a sort of stubby Explorer) and spliced it onto the tail end of a Les Paul.

I'd say either make the horn/cutaway areas more rounded, or make the tail more angular. But it really only matters what your friend thinks.

Mike

In my (limited) experience, I've found that Andy DePaule - Luthier Supply - has excellent shell products and selection. I purchased a couple of ounces of paua blanks and some assorted MOP from him recently, and it was all top-grade, really nice stuff. You might find it a little cheaper elsewhere, but I doubt you'll find better quality. His advice and personal service is a plus, and he's a great guy to talk to.

Sometimes you get what you pay for...

"Wierd, I never got the green tint even though I have used yellow over black. It is probably because I have never used just yellow and black. There was always a bit of brown in the mix.

EDIT: This method will not generally produce the clean PRS style tops. I wanted to do something a bit different so be warned: you won't get standard results."

Hmmm... what do you mean by "clean" tops? Yours don't look muddy to me.

I think I might try the sand back with black or tobacco brown with some black mixed in. Then the brown, a little red, and finally amber or yellow. And possibly tinting the first layers of clear with a little amber. Mainly I want a lot of contrast to pop out the flame, like the PRS in the pic.

Found a shop close to my workplace that sells all kinds of exotic hardwoods, including figured maple, so I'll have some pieces to experiment with.

David, do I understand correctly that you dyed the mahogany back with the wipe-on method? I wasn't sure what method would work - seems like most guys seal it and spray the dye over that. If I can wipe on the tobacco brown and get it nice and even I'd prefer that method. Better get some mahogany scraps too.

Thanks again for all the help.

Mike

But... onto what base material did you dab the epoxy? Inquiring minds...

1. Sand your black back -pretty thoroughly-. Sand it back a LOT, until you can clearly see the original color of the wood itself reappearing in the 'normal' areas.

When doing this, you ALSO want to make your first 2-4 coats of finish DRY coats, you are trying to keep the dyes from blending with each other, very wet initial finish coats will give the dyes a few minutes to interact and bleed.

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Hmm... this brings a couple of questions to mind:

1. With the sand back method, do you prep the wood to 320 grit, or is 220 ok, since you're sanding it again after the first dye application anyway?

2. Will a water-based sanding sealer interact too much with the dye? I'm hoping to use KTM-9 for the clearcoat. Would it be safer to use a clear epoxy sealer/grain filler, i.e. System 3 Epoxy?

LMII - KTM page

Thanks for the help

Suggestions?

Yeah. Practice on a piece of cutoff from your top wood, and try out your color combos a LOT if you really want to achieve what some other guitar looks like.

A LOT.

PS, Rodney is right, it's dark brown, not black. And the fact that you have to ask us tells me you better do a lot of practice runs first, or you will be way off target and will have to settle for whatever happens if you don't.

I have a weird feeling that there is a really light shader coat over top of the basic colors on the wood, something about the way it looks, but I'm not 6 inches from it looking at it in real life either...

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Yes, I will definitely try it out on first on something other than my flame top - no cutoff scraps 'cause it's a Warmoth body, but there are some specialty hardwood places in Seattle... This will be my second dye finish - the first one turned out great, but it was a simple scarlet red on quilt. I agree with you on the black - basic color theory says black & yellow makes green. Ugh.

Thanks to everyone for the input.

Mike

Hi guys,

My PRS clone will be ready to finish in a few weeks and I'd like to achieve a finish similar to this one:

PRS Private Stock #61

I'm thinking stain black/sand back, then tobacco brown and amber dyes...

Suggestions?

Thanks.

I dunno... faux marble with a blowtorch treatment?

Very nice work! Thanks for posting your stuff - it's inspirational for us newbie inlay artists

Mike

  Best sketch ever..

Back on topic.. Anything you have that fits the shape.. i've used odd sized pieces of PVC as blocks before.. Some folks use bondo and custom form their own sanding blocks.. For a gentle curve though, foam or ruber sanding blocks are the best.. will keep it even without making "facets" on the surface..

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Maybe a gold diaper would do the trick

Thanks for the tip - I figured hand sanding without some kind of backing is a recipe for disaster.

What have you guys found works best? Obviously you can't use a flat sanding block...

Thanks.

Just scrape it off carefully with a razor blade. I do that to all my pieces before gluing anyway. Flash angle means everything. Most people don't pay attention to it enough, or at all.

Best of luck.

Craig L.

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Tried the acetone last night. Soak for 10-20 minutes and you can peel the paper & CA right off. My flash angles are pretty good for the most part, just a few sections that I want to recut. Some of pieces have heart material and they don't flash the same as the rest.

Thanks for the tip, Craig.

Would soaking in acetone work? I can't imagine that it would damage the shell.

Thanks Craig.

I got started cutting the abalone over the weekend and discovered pretty much what you described. So far it's going well.

Re: the flash angle - I didn't pay enough attention to it as I cut the pieces, but I think you're right, it makes a difference and I'd like to double-check it before I'm fully committed. Problem is, now I've got all these pieces with the tracing superglued to the top side. Is there a way to remove the paper & CA without sanding it off?

Thanks again for your help.

Hi,

I'm doing a fairly simple vine w/ thorns inlay in paua abalone.

Anybody have tips on laying out the shell blanks so the vine looks continuous, with no obvious joints?

Any other general suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks for your help.