Monday 15 June 2015

Sunshine and Inlay Designs

It's always a good moment when the sun comes out and GBG can move the workmate into the garden. Mmmmmm... Jessie's enjoying it too.


I've finished gluing the kerfling and nearly finished the process of chiseling it back to flush with the edge of the rim.


 

I have also finalised the inlay design for the headstock with M (the customer). He initially told me he wanted a fox design so with some trepidation I began researching inlay materials that come in a fox-red colour. I found some very interesting reconstituted rock inlay material from this site: Small Wonder Music After looking through the options M chose the green banded malachite!? I was somewhat surprised but having put together a digital mock-up of the design I think it works very well. 




Groovy!   (⌐■_■)






9 comments:

  1. Variations on a really old joke come to mind.

    Do you like kerfling?

    I don't know - I've never kerfled...

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  2. I'm guessing you have a few trendy gypsies calling in your area?
    Would be interested to know how you'll place the inlay in the headstock.

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    1. The sort of trendy gypsies you see at folk festivals usually.
      I'll do a whole post on how the inlay is done when I get to it. I use a very fine (like 1mm) router bit to remove the wood from where it sits. In the meantime the photos of the stages from the seahorse inlay you see on this page are here. https://www.facebook.com/amy.goddard.543/media_set?set=a.10150454047034436.367941.742344435&type=3

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  3. 1 mm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Does it involve a lot of squinting?
    I love those groovy inlays on fretboards. They're like 'go faster' badges for shredders. And these flashing inlays between frets are cool -'cept the audience needs to be warned of possible health issues from watching the performance.
    So what if you make a mistake when routing? Plastic wood? New neck?

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    1. Any small gaps can be filled with fine saw dust from the right wood mixed with super glue. Yes, really I use super glue! It's the best thing for the non-porous shell used in inlay work. A bigger mistake would mean a new part - a new veneer on the headstock or a new fretboard. :(
      I love inlaid fretboards too, what I am doing is pretty simple stuff really. I'll get there though.

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  4. Here's another stupid question: If you try to fit an inlay, but it's not snug (maybe the depth of hole is wrong in one corner, say) how do you get the inlay out?
    PS You realise that following this blog I''m going to put some really cool (some would say naff) inlays of rock guitarist's heads into the neck of my 'Strat'.
    If it all goes 'pear-shaped', I'm holding YOU responsible!

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  5. Oh no! I forgot to add the small print to the blog. Ahem.. GBG will not be held responsible for any injury, loss or death resulting from trying the techniques described in this blog at home...
    The answer to the question is... very carefully! You pry it out with a tiny screwdriver and hope it doesn't crack. Much better to be sure the hole is level, not too hard on a router. Although you would check before gluing so there will always be an occasion to try it in situ and then remove it again. The other thing to bear in mind is that it's glued in place slightly proud of the wood and then filed back to flush and re-polished. I use an attachment on my Dremel multitool to grind it back to flush as it's more precise and doesn't scratch up the surrounding wood so much.
    Don't forget to post some piccies of your handiwork!

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  6. Here's a photo that of my work (that can be viewed) as I closely followed your instructions.
    http://i61.tinypic.com/eimn7n.jpg
    Thank you very much guitarwreckingirl!

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    Replies
    1. I repeat... GWG... Ahem... I mean GBG accepts no responsibility for any loss as a result of trying this at home!

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