cSuttle

Sorry Cliff, i seem a triffle dyxlekxik today

No problem, as long as you don't call me late to dinner

Moon glow at the bottom of the page - only stuff i've seen but perhaps messers Lavin or Scuttle have someone else.

Can't say I know of anyone. You are definately look for some type of plastic. No natural, or natural processed material is going to have a color like that. Try searching for plastic sheets and not neon inlay material. Neon inlay material you are not going to find, but someone must produce plastic sheets for neon stuff. Good luck with your search.

I'm still trying to understand the original question. I use routers to cut shell, but I have a cam machine, way different. By hand, I would never dream of it. Jeweler's saw for sure. Routing out shell already in a board can be a tricky thing. It can be done if you don't try and cut through all it one pass. The real problem is different materials route at different speeds and pressure. When you go from one material to another it is REALLY easy to screw up and make a real mess. If your not really experience at this, I would not advice it.

I just got in my first ever graver today. A normal ol' square graver from stewmac. And I've now tried on scraps of both shell and recon stone. And recon stone is MUCH harder to do! I find that it gives alot easier making the graver dig deeper in each single pass and when that happens, instead of just leaving a nice little line it chips out small bits of stone which ruins it. I'd say it's a lot harder than shell cause with just a couple minutes of practise of scrap I have few qualms about engraving shell in my future, but the recon I'm kinda weery about...

Chris

There is another way. I rarely ever engrave, and I never engrave on fretboards because it wares off. Instead of engraving, you cut through. Saw your lines in and then the colored epoxy will come up though the cuts and become the line. Not only will this work better with recon stone, but the results are better because there are no dips in the surface of the inlay which could could thinner finishes to look funky. Also, on fretboards, the line will never ware off no matter how much the guitar is plays. It can be harder to do than engraving, but I think it's worth it. For instance, there is no engraving on the head of this unicorn.

Cliff

Use a small router bit in a dremel with a router base and just blast it out of there. Trust me, the glue won't hold that well. It's all going to flake out. The just put in a new dot, in the same hole. You don't need a drill bit the same size.

You should be able to drill it out and put in a new one. With something like a dot, that sort of repair should be no big deal.

Well, not have used either company, I refrain from comment other than to say make sure you are comparing the same thickness when pricing. I just went to MOP Supplies and notice that your can see the guys fingers right though the shell on a lot of the pictures. That is very thin. None of what they supply in the abalam would work for me. But, I guess it depends on the application.

I have experimented with wood glue for this type of application. It does work, but I wouldn't recommend it. It does have limitations and drawback. What is it about epoxy that you don't like?

Mostly that I'm not sure I'll get the mix right, so it won't harden properly. I'll think I'll go with superglue instead, since there's no mixing involved.

This is really not hard to do. Just get the 2 tube epoxy and sqeeze evenly. As long as your even close you won't have a problem. My favorite epoxy is some stuff made my superglue corp, and is sold at home depot for about $2.50 a tube. Get the 20 minute kind in the blue container. This is the best stuff I've tried.

I have experimented with wood glue for this type of application. It does work, but I wouldn't recommend it. It does have limitations and drawback. What is it about epoxy that you don't like?

Not sure why your rosewood idea wouldn't work on maple, you just need to change the materials. On rosewood mother of pearl would look great, on maple it dissappears. But if you use Paua, Red Heart, or Green Heart, even Red Abalone, it would look great. Also, that design would be a lot cheaper than a vine concept. As soon as you start crossing frets like that, the price jumps. If you're interested in having something done, just out my site Shark Inlay. There are other guys around here that could do it for you too. Craig comes to mind.

If I understand you correctly, what you want to do is put a thin bar by the frets at 3, 5, 7 ... Is that right?

If so, that doesn't really sound that bad. The bar would be easy enough to cut and route. My suggest would be to use real pearl (not abalam or plastic) and inlay the bar over the fret slot. Then reopen the fret slot with a fret saw or a .024 router bit (which is what I use). This will actually allow the inlay to go under the fret and look really clean. Sounds cool. I'd go for it if I were you.

Sorry for the confusion. I guess your not to impress now

No prob. I am still very impressed, that stuff is amazing. I've never seen truss rod covers this fancy before. I think someday I'll have to do some shopping from you. My personal favorite from the site is this wolf. Great work!

Yeah, that's the Wolf Pack from the "Limited Edition" series of tcovers. That was purchased by a guy who is adding it to a Warmoth project he is working on. I inlaid a wolf head on the body too (that's in the fretboard section). About one of these Wolf Pack covers (made with differrent materials) goes up on ebay each month. If you want to be added to "Limited Edition" update email list, let me know. Whenever I put a cover on eBay I alert the group. There is about 70 people on that list right now. I have one guy in the group who has purchased 14 covers. That's a lot of guitars. A lot of people don't see the "Limited Edition" link at the top of the tcovers page, but if you click on that link, you can see every "Limited Edition" cover ever made. Everyone is made with different materials so each one it unique and a one of a kind. So far, five of the twenty-five Wolf Pack covers have been made. The different materials really give each one there own personality.

Only half an hour to make that thing?! I'm impressed. ...And after all that work you're going to send it off to someone else?

No, it took a 1/2 hour just to assemble the pieces. That was after it was designed, the pieces cut, and the wood routed. After assembly it had to be leveled and finished. The 1/2 hour was just test fitting and glueing. Sorry for the confusion. I guess your not to impress now

Hey what is the smallest cutter you use when you are cutting these things? That truss cover looks great.

On this project the smallest bit I used as 1/32", but I have .024, .015, and .010 bits if I need them. I have to be careful with those really small bits, they break easy and they are not cheap.

Of course he's sending it off!

Excellent work!

Before I sold my work, when I was still practicing, I inlaid just about everything. Every guitar I owned, tables, chairs . . . the driveway . . . I think I drove me family nuts. Now, I rarely ever make a piece for me. Sad isn't it I think the last piece I kept was this one and that was about eight months ago.

what is the MIMForum?

MIMF or the Musical Instrument Makers Forum. Another pretty good site for guitar related info. I use both mimf and PG to learn as much as I can about building guitars.

By the way, that truss rod cover looks really cool. Must've been hard to do.

Hmmm . . . interesting site. I liked some of the posts in the tooling section. I'll have to join up there soon. Thanks for the info about that.

Yeah, this cover was pretty tough. It took like 1/2 hour just to assemble the pieces while glueing. The epoxy almost hardened on me. The entire thing is about the size of a 50 cent piece, so you can image how small those fangs are. The little one on the lower left was a pain in the neck. It kept wanting to flip sideways on me. Worth the trouble though. It's shipping out to a guy in Hawaii and he is thrilled.

That is nice an clean work there. Is the shell really inlayed or is the ebony just like other peices of the inlay? It would be easy to get good joints like you have when doing it that way. Anyways nice inlay i like it!

Yep, it's all inlaid. The backing ebony cover is all one piece.

MIMForum

what is the MIMForum?

It's not often I go nuts over a truss rod cover, I make lots of them, but this one I really love. This picture is way over sized, the actual piece is only 1-1/2" tall. But I wanted you to check out the detail, fit and finish. 22 pieces with no etching, filler or paint. Everything here is shell, stone, and wood. Just thought you guys might like to see it.

Love that spault!!!! Awesome piece. Post pics when the guitar done.

What does the vine of life mean? It means you couldn't think of anything more creative to inlay.

Well, I know that I'm just a lowly inlay guy, but here is my take on it.

I started inlaying all by hand. Did it that way for years. I've done some really cool work that way too. About two years ago I went to CNC and I would NEVER go back. I was really good before, but the accurancy of CNC has set my inlay into a whole other world. I can make very little, very complex pieces that would be almost impossible by hand and they fit perfect. Plus, once everything is done for the prototype, I can repeat the task with ease.

There is still a lot of hand work to do to finish the job, leveling, polishing, etc, but as I said I would NEVER go back.

I my opinion, there are two types of people - those who have CNC machines and those who can't afford it (yet).

A picture my my machine routing a fingerboard.

Very nice Craig. It looks look. If you do it again, you might want to all some reflections to the hear to give the outside of the head a bit more definition. Just my opinion. For whatever that's worth.

Looks good Craig. Nice material choices.

I think everyone is talking about the thin sheet abalam stuff. Unless the guy is lying this is .05" to .06" and that is pretty standard thickness. The color on the bulk pile of MOP is pretty questionable, but on the smaller quantity slabs is look pretty good. For the price tag it's worth a shot.

Let us know if you get some.

You know Chris you can still fix the spot between the leg. Just rerouted that area. cut a piece to fit the hole. Make sure the grain lines up with the rest of the board and now one would ever be able to tell.

Cool. Nice idea.

I also ordered 1 ounce of red abalone from Stew Mac and it is so so but I obviously am no expert. Small pieces with voids. I expected more for the price and am a bit dissapointed.