cSuttle

WOW, I am awestruck. Great job.

BTW, is that maple a 1-piece top? If so, where can I get something that wide.

No, it was book matched. The inlay is probably hiding that fact a lot. See the other thread for a picture of the finished guitar.

Interesting, I had a near identical experience on Saturday with a couple of my inlay designs. Mark is really gaining a reputation, his father must be so proud.

I didn't do those. I only did the Angel and Sun God. I know those are original art because I helped draw them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to *diss* your post. You did a truly superb job, and clearly you have the talent to do intricate detailed work, and you take well deserved pride in a job well done. I would like to see you get job orders from brands far more reputable than them- is all. just *MY* opinion.

Not to worry, I didn't take any offence by your comments. I was just trying to add what I knew about the situation. I work with a number of other manufacturers as well. One of them is Bishline Banjos, and those guys are some of the nicest guys I have ever met in the music business. I'm not passing judgement on anyone else by saying that, I'm just saying that these guys are super people.

As far as the copy situation, as I said, not sure what is going on there one way or the other, so my comments on that subject are pretty uninformed. I just know that a lot of guitars look like a lot of other guitars. I use to write for Harmony-Central back in the day (when they actually had writers) and I remember PRSH showing me the Single Cut for the first time. The first thing that flashed through my mind was, "Oh, PRS made a Les Paul copy." But, according to the courts, it's not a copy. If I got my shorts in a bunch everytime someone copied one of my inlay designs, I'd be pissed all the time. Let's not forget about all the Strat and Tele makers like Anderson, Suhr, Melicon, etc, etc, etc. Great makers, but a definately ripped off design without question. I'm not familar with Yavcon (do you have a web-site I could check out, I'd really be interested in seeing Ken's work), but if he is making a great guitar he really doesn't have anything to worry about.

PS: What happens to all these "show" guitars they make for Namm. Like the rediculously over the top stuff!? Does it all sit in a warehouse somewhere at the company, or do they actually eventually sell this stuff?

Well Chris, actually most of them sell. I believe the R'n'R Angel sold. Talking to most of the smaller builders, it sounds like most of their guitar sold. Huber sold everything, Rico sold most his stuff, Minarik sold most of there stuff, there was one guitar company there that had wild body shapes (cool too, but wild) and most of them sold. "Over the Top," is a relative term. For some, the more decked out the better. For others a strat with white, plastic dot inlays is the way to go. That's why it is so great that there are so many different makers making so many different kinds of guitar. Sort of like dogs, there is a bred for everyone.

What's up Cliff, this is Mike Marcovis. It was nice meeting you at the TPG breakfast. I made sure to check that one out up close after you told me where to find it. You did one hell of job on that inlay!!! That gutiar was pretty much the centerpiece of their booth.

Yeah, like wise. That was a fun breakfast. There was some really nice guitars there. Fun to look at, and fun to play. Did anyone take any picture. Dang, I should have. I had my camera with me too. Just didn't think of it. Just not thinking sometimes.

Marc told that that the booth was designed around this guitar as the center piece. I was proud of myself for that. They had a really bad booth spot though.

wouldn't it have been cool to have the angel playing that double-neck guitar...& on it is a smaller inlay of the angel playing that double-neck guitar...& on that is a smaller inlay of the angel playing that double-neck guitar...& on that is a smaller inlay of the angel playing that double-neck guitar...& on that is a smaller inlay of the angel playing......etc.

You sound like Marc. He gave us that idea too. We experimented with the double neck guitar, but it covered up too much of the girl (if you know what I mean)

Since we could only go four levels deep on the inlay on the guitar she is playing, we figured we might as well skip it.

"Made in the USA!" are also words that don't exist at Minarik....

They also stole a design from "Yavcon". After Yav confronted them at NAMM, the guitar was pulled from the display, but friends have pictures of it to show they had it...... and some small time emplyee of Minaric got all up in Yav's face about it too, even though Ken was being polite.... Firm, but polite...

Great job on that inlay Cliff- Seriously, it's BADASS! I'm surprised it wasnt done on CNC in china though, and the design stolen from someone else as well.... :D

Needless to say, I have a very low opinion of that brand.....

Actually, that guitar right there is "Made in the USA". I believe they are made by Moonstone in CA. Their lower end line is made over seas, but the custom shop stuff is all made here. Not sure about the Yavcon situation, but I know Marc designs all his own guitar shapes personally, I've seen the sketches. My guess would be that the copied design was more of a coincidence than anything else. I'm sure Marc will work things out there.

As far as the China inlay, I looked at a lot of that at the show, yuck. Boy is that stuff done badly. Half the time there is more filler than inlay. Think of the worse inlay you've seen here on the forum in a thread entitled "This is my first inlay and it's not very good," that would be twice as good as this china stuff. I mean really it's embarrassing it's so bad. Things like the spikes on a dragon's back, the routing will go right across the tips of the spikes and not ever try and get between them. Either that or it was overlay and not inlay at all. The designs are lame at best ... it's pretty bad.

That's a heckuvan inlay! Must be cool to have something of yours on display at NAMM.

Yeah it is. We had a couple of pieces there this year.

Hi Everyone. Well, as promised, here is the finished guitar as it hung in the Minarik Guitars booth last week at the NAMM show. I was very pleased with the way they stained it. I think it really enhanced the inlay. And now I can show the body since it has been officially released.

It's a good design, but a tcover is the wrong application. Move it onto one of the control plates and make it larger. Then you will be able to see your vision.

Those are really nice Clif. I'd love to see you do a large Bald Eagle inlay with some MOP for the head!

Oh, you mean like this one?

Well, I feel enlighted now. But, that wasn't what I was going after. This one just one piece of an owl cover set.

Is the resemblance to the 'o rly' owl thing intentional?

I'm not sure what you are talking about. What is o rly?

No comments, just a fun little inlay I thought you might enjoy looking at.

If you are just looking for a deep red color, how about Bloody Jasper Recon-stone

ok that doesnt sound too difficult... should i drill around the edges of the dot or in the middle?

In the middle. The drill bit should only be a little smaller. The rest of the dot will chip out after than on it's own or with just a little help from you.

Drill them out with a slightly smaller diameter bit. Should just shock/pop/crack them out.

+1

Pearl is really easy to polish. 5 minutes would be WAY TOO MUCH. Get the radius right, than a little 400 grit until the scratches are gone, than extra fine steel wool to shine it up. That's all it needs. It a lot easier than it sounds too. Don't over think it or over polish. The whole thing shouldn't (after the radius) take more than a minute.

My first project was crazy. I was told that there was a inlay teaching company and for the final project you did a butterfly. So I did a butterfly and on flower. 52 pieces of 12 different materials. I found out later that the butterfly the training company did was 6 pieces :-) On well, once the swearing stopped I got a lot of experience from that one project.

Tips? Yep, don't beat yourself up. I have a pretty trained eye for this sort of thing and I see the mistakes. Most people, from a normal viewing distance probably won't notice much. It's better than you are beating yourself up about.

Just keep practicing. Each job will get better.

Pretty cool idea.

Good looking stuff. I love the american flag V.

I just saw some pictures of the stained guitar. They did it in a 4 tone cherry burst going from pretty clear in the center to almost black at the edges. Looks great. This is the only picture I can show right now. I know the picture is small (sorry about that) and cropped out pretty bad (remember, I can't show pictures of the body shape yet), but it gives you some idea. There is no clear coat on this guitar in this picture. I'll post more photos when I can.

i've only made three or four pairs of earrings so far and am holding the abalone in one hand and a dremel with a diamond burr in the other. it hasn't been a major problem or occurence..just happened a couple of times and i was probably rushing things instead of letting the burr do the work.

i've also found for my use that i can do some pretty good rough shaping by usind my stationary belt sander or spindle sander and holding the abalone in my hand.

if i do some detailed inlay i'll definitely use my jewelers saw.

thanks

j

Yes that burr would be the problem. If you want to use a dremel in this manner, try using a sanding drum. If you use the rough sanding drum, this will take down the shell pretty fast and give you a lot more control.

i use a good bit of abalone for jewelry making but have never used it for inlays..which i'm thinking of doing. while cutting and shaping abalone with my diamond bits i have noticed that it will chip a bit..and when i say chip i mean the top layer flaking off a bit and leaving a somewhat duller layer below it.

question..if you inlay a slightly curved piece of abalone and leave it a bit proud and then sand it down flat will it be dull or bring up another layer of the full color and pattern of the top layer?

thanks

unclej

How are you cutting this that it is chipping on the top level? "Diamond bit", so can I assume you are using a router of some sort? I use a router in my CAM machines but that is very different than by hand. If you are using a router, you may not be using enough spindle speed. I have found that faster spindle speed like you would find on a dremel at 2/3 speed is the best for cutting most shells. If you are using a router by hand though, I would suggest that you check out do it with a jeweler's saw instead.

Mate that is beautiful.

How much does somehting like that cost?

Sorry, but I don't like to talk about prices on-line, especially when this would probably be for sale by Minarik at the NAMM show.