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hey guys
Any suggestions on who to go to for making a batch of pearl letters (K's mostly) at reasonable rates. I looked at Andy Depaul and his letters were not exactly what I wanted, mostly not high enough, and I was hoping that someone out there had a CNC setup that could crank out a bunch of custom letters.

John

John, check out Custom Inlay, They do mine for 25 bucks a pop.
There link is in the often over looked, OLF Online Resources page

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

John,
Try custominlay.com. They seem to have reasonable prices and are pleasent to deal with. I think Lance also uses them for his logo.

Man Lance, that's beautiful! Do you hand cut the cavity for the inlay, or do you have a setup?

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

John,

Give Andy a call. I spoke to him a few weeks ago. I bought some letters myself and he said he had some new styles in stock but had not had time to add them to his website.

I also got one of his mustang peg head inlays that I think was designed by Michael Payne. Pretty nice!

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53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

By the way Lance you have a very nice looking headstock shape. And you probably know this but you are missing part of the nut on that guitar. I think I remember you haveing issues with this when you were doing up those pictures a few months ago.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

John, you might call Andy and talk to him directly. He does my whole name logo for $11.00 each in pearl. I just drew it up the way I wanted and sent it to him. He then charges a one-time setup fee (don't remember how much) and has them hand cut in Vietnam.

Andy is a great guy to do business with.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Do you extend your nut under the low e string? Ill have to try that!

Larry, I have a pin router template that I use.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

John,
I might be able to do it for you for around $15 a pop if you want to supply the MOP or Abalone blanks. Send me a private message or email.
Tracy

[QUOTE=LanceK] John, check out Custom Inlay, They do mine for 25 bucks a pop.[/QUOTE]

Whaaat? First the finish and now the logo. All you need to do now is farm out the assembly and set-up and you'll really be able to crank out the guitars.

Seriously, that sounds like a good deal. It takes me several hours to saw out my logo, and when you subtract the cost of the pearl, I'm working for less than minimum wage. Do they accept custom scripts, or just cut using their standard scripts??

I (think) they can use anything, you might want to check with them though.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Bruce
I knew that was coming, but I wasn't sure from what direction.

I know what you mean but I had just rather not do some of the repetitive stuff that others do better and for which I have no real interest. To me its all about the sound and I get inpatient to hear the next one.

John

John,

I was just ribbing Lance, I hope no one took it seriously. That's why I put the smiley in there.

I agree with you that it is all about the sound. After the first logo and the "look what I can do" feeling, I really dislike cutting my logo and inlaying it. I'd rather spend my time building boxes and getting the 'best' sound I could.

Same with finishing. I hate that it takes twice as long to finish as it does to build. I finished and refinished my first three times before it was good enough, and then my wife's great uncle played two songs on it and put literally 40-50 claw marks in it. Now I know why the old timers called it "claw hammer style" ...and to think that I refinished the top because a I had a couple of scratches from glueing the bridge.

My choice would be to rub three coats of Tru-Oil on a guitar, but no one would take me seriously.

Sorry for hijacking this thread.

Bruce
   No worries. I never take anything off the internet seriously. (that's probably an exaggeration but you get my drift)
   I have heard great things about tru-oil and am wondering about using it on necks as a kind of no stick finish.

John

Andy will do any font you want just send it to him, and his price will beat just about anyone.

Sweet! I've been toying with that idea...right now, I'm hand cutting and taking about an hour from turning the dremel on to sanding the logo smooth!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

The pin router I mean...not sure how this didn't end up directly under Lance's reply..

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

John:
I get mine from Andy DePaul, He has them hand cut in Viet Nam and you would think they were cut on a CNC. I purchase a rather large order two years ago and they were less than $6.00 each. Heck, I can't even buy the pearl for that. He can have any thing cut, all you have to do is supply him with the art work in electronic form.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I had mine made by Tom Ellis.
As I remember they were about $10 each.
He has a minimum order.
He can also cut the cavities if you send him the head veneers.

That means the "font" can be my actual signature, only in pearl, like my current logo (my logo right under the "senior member" thing over on the left side of this post)? Out of curiosity; if I could supply it in electronic form with vectorized lines if needed, would the cnc people be able to cut the logo for me or would it need to be a known font?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I sent my logo to Tom Ellis on paper and he did the rest-it was perfect.
I'm sure he could also take it in "digital" form.

Sounds good!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

John,

You really should - in my opinion it's the best playing neck finish by far and so easy to apply and maintain. When you get your home in North Carolina done, check up with Mark Williams who lives in Rocky Mount NC. He has a guitar of mine with a Tru-oil neck finish and only this week sent me an e-mail about how great the neck was to play.

I gather you'll also be living in the same town as John Doyle (ex Solas, and Homespun Tapes "Irish Rythym Guitar")) - you lucky man. He's a fabulous guitarist and I'm sure he'd be interested in the guitars you make. Only slight problem is he's left handed.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Hey Brad,
Does Tom Ellis have a website?

[QUOTE=Tom Dowey] Hey Brad,
Does Tom Ellis have a website?[/QUOTE]

nope