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For all you inlay experts, what types of wood would you say is acceptable for inlay? For now I just want to get started practicing some easy things before ruining a bunch of shell. I'm going to keep the inlay mostly on the headstock and the upper frets (12+) so there won't be a lot of playing on them, but there will be some. I might also practice with some wood inlay on a humidor or something else until my skills improve. Which woods will hold up the best?

Thanks!

John

John...I believe any hardwood will inlay into any other hardwood. I make a bound triangular logo with 3 shell dots for each guitar. My choice of inlay wood is made on the basis of aesthetics and compatibility with other woods in the guitar. Combinations that I've used so far include:
1) maple into ebony
2) mahogany into ebony
3) bloodwood into cherry
4) ebony into eucalyptus
5) Ebony into BRW
6) Etc.

The only challenge is to match a dust fill with the wood if needed. Ebony works best... the lighter the color of the wood, the more difficult to disguise the dust fill. My advice...do the darker stuff first until you perfect your routing technique.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Plenty.

But seriously, shell is not that expensive. Get a couple of ounces from eBay (or MOPsupplies.com in Oz), won't set you back a lot. Or use wood, if you want to use wood. Cutting pearl and cutting wood are pretty different.

Mostly, inlay into ebony, which is lovely and forgiving. Other than that, on a fingerboard, either stick to woods that work well without a finish (not maple, say), or get acrylized wood from someone like Larry Davis.

Mattia, wood gives a nice effect depending on the composition John has in mind.

John one tip in using wood is flood the underside of the piece of thick veneer with CA first. It stiffens it and makes it less prone to chip and easier to cut.

Wood inlay can be really lovely. Our own Bob Cefalu showed me I think it was a Slope D of his with a Buffalo inlayed into the headstock. It was a better effect than shell for that composition.

I've inlayed wood into wood before, you have to watch softwoods into hardwoods, for when you are sanding flush, the softwood tends to wear away quicker than you think...it is possible, it's just an idea to make the inlay a little deeper if you were using something like spruce into rosewood.

Anthony, I really like the CA tip. I'll try that next time.



Sam Price39096.4875925926

Good advice fellas. I'm gonna give it a try and I'll post pics as I go along.

Cheers!

John