cSuttle

I think it's quite unique

Where can I get some 50 year old 2x4's?????

Well, this isn't on the East Coast, but check out www.RescuePearl.com. Prices are fair and great people to work with. Stewmac and places like that offer saws and bits. I would turn you on to my suppliers, but they have minimum order amounts that would be more than you need.

Measure and drill your two screw holes, but don't cut the cover out yet. The screw holes will allow you to line up your inlay on the cover. Then route the hole for the inlay. Now cut the cover out. Glue your inlay piece(s) into the wood and sand flat.

I personally recommend clear coating, mainly because it brings out the color of the shell. Especially Paua which looks great clear coated.

I have had a problem getting ebony from any of my normal supplies lately. I normally get head plates from LMI as suggested above (good suggestion by the way). However, everyone seems to be out of it. As a last resort I bought and entire board and had it sawn to headplate size. It was pretty wet wood so I had to dry it out myself. A real pain in the . . . But, you got to do what you got to do.

Making t-covers is a real fun way to start. That is actually how I started years ago. T-covers are quick, easy and if you mess it up and have to start over, no big deal. You waste only about $10 or less worth of material. Go for it, it can be a real blast.

Here is one of my covers.

bluespresence tribute bass

I might sound stupid here, but what is Bluespresence? I'm assuming a band.

Good Luck. I hope it turns out GREAT!!!

P.S. I have someone else do my fretworks

cSuttle, that was some really nice inlays. Good work.

Thanks!

Ok, so I have never done any inlays before, but I am wanting to put some on the guitar I'm about to build. After searching endlessly on the internet I still have a few questions that are unanswered, and hopefully someone can help me. The main questions I have are: When you are putting inlays on, do you have to route out their shape into the neck? Or are they just glued on? If I do need to route out the fretboard, how deep to I need to make the "incisions"?

Any help is greatly appreciated, and thank you in advance.

Yes, you do have to route a hole in the fretboard the exact (or as close as possible) shape of the inlays. Route to a depth just slighly less then the thickness or your materials. That way if you are a little off it won't matter. I use .06" material and route to .05". That works great. Not not buy that really thin inlay material that you glue on. If you do, when you start to play the guitar the inlay will just flake off. The deeper you can set the material the better as far as durability.

I have a brief overview on my site (and I highlight brief), but maybe it will be a little help. The "Art of Inlay" book by Larry Robinson is a good one to get. Practice first. Do not try your first inlay on an important fretboard/guitar. I can't stress this enough!

Inlay overview

Hmm...ok, for tools specifically needed to do this myself, for the fretwork, binding, and inlays alone, I'm looking at about $300, +/- $50. That's not including the supplies to finish the guitar with my stripe design. I'm starting to wonder if it would be just easier, as well as cheaper, to just send the neck off to a guy I know to have him do the binding, inlay, fretwork, and fretboard install.

Well that depends. You won't get any experience from having him do it. If your just trying to create a one time nice guitar, then by all means have him do it. If your a building nut, like most of us around here then you really should do it yourself just for the experience.

man that is absolutely outstanding...

If you like that, check out my web-site. Lots of fun eye candy around there. I have about 110 projects on the site.

My Webpage

But, it's definately only for people who like inlay.

Same page agreed ....

I LOVE the little reading guy. I never noticed him before. What a perfect use for that.

Yeah the guys selling fretboards like that just tick me off, because they are just ripping people off and it makes the real inlay guys have to work harder to make people understand how much work real inlay takes. The thin inlay is pretty much nothing more than stickers.

The funny thing is that the guys that produce those thin sheets even tell people not to use it on any surface that will be handled. So what do these guys do with it, make fretboards

Or just do this..

Throw that stuff in your parts bin for now, buy some real quality higher grade inlay materials, at least abalam, or real pearl that is .05 or so, the thicker the better. And start out doing things right. You'll never have a real use for that thin stuff unless you use it as overlay. It's not designed for inlay. The oriental stuff they call inlay is actually more like overlay. It's floated in an epoxy route, and shaped by exacto knife cutting. It's a slightly different art. Yes it gives the effect of being inlay, but it's lower quality, faster, and not what you want on a guitar fingerboard.

Craig Lavin

www.handcraftinlay.com

Perfect way to say Craig. You and I was definately on the same page.

I don't think you would need 3 full sheets to do that. One sheet should be more than enough. I could probably pull it off in 1/2, but I'm really good at using material. Stewmac sells 1/4 sheets for 62.50 of the.05". I can do better than that and my sheets are .06". Email me. I don't like talking prices on forums. It's in bad taste.

Don't buy this. I had client that purchased one of these and the inlay was flaking off before he ever had a chance to fret the guitar. It was a total mess for him. He had to pull the fretboard off and replace it.

This is the REALLY thin inlay that is only suppose to be used under a finish. Like on a headstock.

Word to the wise.

Well, I can't help you too much with the paint, but inlay I know.

First practice practice practice. Instead of starting on an expensive finger board, start on on a 2x4 and make your first inlays out of some cheap wood or plastic. To cut the pearl you will need a jewel's saw and at least one package (12 blade) of 02 wire. A dremel will be a necessary tool for the routing, but is also very handy for getting the edges of the numbers smooth. Use the large sanding drum where possible.

A good place to get the pearl is www.RescuePearl.com. They take small orders and their prices are pretty good. Plus, they are one of the few places that will hand selected certain size, color, or figure pieces for you if you request it.

If your inlay are going to be that wide, be sure to get the .06" pearl. you will need the thickness to stop from blowing through the edges when you sand it down. I would suggest getting a radiused sanding block too. Get one the same radius as your fingers. Not sure where to get these since I make mind myself.

Sounds like a fun project. Good Luck!!!

Yeah, I do this all the time. It sort of an issue though. The old dots can be pluged, but they do show up close. If your board is ebony and you align the grain, the plug will be pretty much undetectable. Rosewood will show and maple don't even try. Basically, the darker the wood the better.

The best way is to make the new inlay design cover the holes where the dots use to be. That is what I did on this inlay.

holy damn !!!! that is absolutely the nicest job I ever seen

Wait until you see what be are building for 07' It going to make this look like a 3rd grade art class project. I wish I could get into more detail now, but all I can say is it's going to be a double neck.

Personally, I think your asking for trouble with that stuff. Even if you use it for a headstock, you better be really certain that you don't need to do anymore sanding. A couple of sanding strokes could blow though that. And you better be sure to put on a nice thick clear coat to product it or it will flake right off.

My suggestion would be to chalk this up to experience and just throw it away. If you want to do real inlay work on a fretboard you really need the .06" stuff. Even on a headstock this is adviceable stuff to use. It makes it a lot easier to level if all your pieces are thicker.

How much Paua do you need? I have a few extra sheet in the shop right now and I could give you a good price on a 1/4 or 1/2 sheet.

Doesn't Marshall make something called the Power Brake or something line that, that does this function?

That is quite impressive!

Thanks! On the curved surface of the guitar (is has an arched top) it was a real pain to do. But, it was worth it in the end. The buyer of the guitar was some Japan collector so I've heard.

My question would still be why? If you are doing a one piece inlay, which the epoxy would have to be. It isn't that hard to cut a single piece of inlay and put it in the hole. I guess I don't see the point. But, that's just me. I could be wrong.

Maiden - Warning: Once you start doing your own inlay you'll be hooked! And I don't think they treat that addiction at the Betty Ford Clinic.

If he is building guitars he is already hooked - it's too late

Cool, I want to give inlay a try, but right now I don't have the funds for it. It is present in my to learn list, so hopefuly in a near future.

If you have the patients for it (which I would assume most guitar builders would) it's a lot of fun.

Also I edited your post once for having 2 pics!!! and you deicded to fix it!!! I won't edit it again!

Acutally, I didn't know that. Sorry. Guess I need to pay more attention to the rules I thought I had screw up when the second picture didn't show up so I fixed what I thought was my mistake. Now that I know, won't happen again.

Yes, inlay personal taste varies widely. My bother is a bass player and likes clean fretboard with no inlay at all, not even dots. Whenever he comes over and I'm working on a guitar like this one, he always says the same thing - "You can never have too much inlay on banjo."

Funny thing is, I do work for two banjo companies and they have less inlay than many of the guitar I do

Beautiful guitar!!! To me it it over the top, but well executed!

No question it's over the top, but that is what the manufacturer wanted. The guitar sold at the NAMM show it three days. Different strokes . . .