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I just received some custom inlay designs from stew-mac. They are much thinner than I thought they would be. I was planning on giving this fretboard a 16" radius, and the planned design would put the inlays in both the treble and bass side of the fretboard.

I'm assuming that since the pieces are so thin that I should radius the fretboard first, then glue and sand, yes?
And if so, what is the preferred method of doing so?
If not, what do y'all recommend?

I've drilled for dots before but this is my first custom inlay attempt, and I'm finding out it's no where near as simple as I thought it would be.

I'll have more questions after I get this first part figured out.
Any links would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Most inlay material is 0.050 (not sure about StewMac, I buy most of mine from Andy DePaule). Most inlay material can be sanded so you can either do the inlay before the f/b is radiused or you can radius first and let the inlay stand a little proud towards the sides of the board, then sand it down flush. I assume you are talking about something like the Gibson blocks - I've had no problems placing them in 12 or 16 inch radius boards and sanding them flat.

If they are something like tree of life that wanders back and forth I would definitely radius the board first, then index the depth of your route off the curvature of the board.

Btw, DePaule does have a pretty good tutorial for doing complex work

http://www.luthiersupply.com/howto_page.html

and I think StewMac must also. One little trick you probably know is to mix a little powered ebony or rosewood or whatever your f/b is with the epoxy that you are setting them in - that will fill all the little gaps around the edges (doesn't work as well with light colored wood - tends to leave a dark line)

There are some pictures of doing both a fretboard and headstock inlay here

http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/for ... 633-/page5

I used this inlay set from DePaule a few years ago on a 16" radius. I glued the inlays then radiused the fretboard. With a single inlay such as these, you really don't have much choice since the shell won't flex over the radius. If the inlays are multi-piece, I'd radius first then glue them in. I like to set them nearly flush to avoid sanding through the top color/pattern as much as possible.

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It will probably be alright.

Could you please explain what you mean by indexing the depth of the route off the curvature? Are you aiming for the bottom of the routed recess to be flat? If so, how do you do that using a Dremel? I can see myself doing some complicated inlays in the future so I'm trying to picture how to get a flat bottom while routing on a radiused surface. Thanks.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter