Guitar Inlay making....

[gothycdesigns]

Hello, I have not been to this site in a long time. At the beginning of this year I got into building Cigar Box Guitars. When making my fret markers, I usually have been burning into the wood some design or a screw head.

Recently I thought about making some inlays and thought mixing some resin would do. I am looking to see if any one here has done this and if they had any examples to share I can get a visual reference of how it will look in a finished state.

I would think its a very simple project and creativity endless.

If not no worries. will just tackle and see how it goes.

Thanks for any input anyone can offer/examples.

GD

 

[PaulDoug]

I have used pen blanks to make fret markers. I have used cut off from pen blanks, put them on the lather and turned them down to about 1/4 in. Then cut then to about 1/4" length and after drilling 1/4" holes in the fret board, glued then in. Polish the ends before gluing them in. Works good.

 

[plantman]

Go to your big box lumber department. They should have dowels in many sizes and a varity of woods, or buy the natural wood ones and dye them any color you want. Another thing I have done in the past, is take a 1 inch suqare blank and drill different size holes down the center largest first. Fill the hole with a different color wood and glue. Move down 2=3 drill sizes and drill out the center of the plug you just glued in and insert another color plug. Put you block in the lathe and trim to the size you need. This will give your inserts a bulls eye look. Jim S

 

[gothycdesigns]

Thank guys. I have not done dowels yet for the guitars. I did however try using some 1/8" colored plexi and a dowel plug cutter. Worked nicely and minor cleanup of the plastic too.

As I thought more about it after writing my first post. Using pen blanks as Paul suggested was a good idea too. I may try mixing up some resin and making some thin sheets from the mold boxes for casting blanks. I can then cut to any shape i.e. squares, rectangle or diamond patterns.

I like the sounds of the bullseye effect too. will have to give them all a try.

ThX

Ray