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Well, I'm on #33 and I wanna try shell purling, and its super intimidating, of for no other reason just the up front cost.
This is a small guitar (Gibson L1 1928 body style).

1 - Is it best to buy strait or curved??
2 - What is the best source for the prettiest shell?

3- anything else I need to be aware of ha

B

I did my first paua shell purfling earlier this year.

I used mostly straight sections of shell but used curved in the waist area.

I too was a bit worried about it but it was far easier than I expected and looks great. It turned from scary to fun in the first couple inches.

The most important part IMO is establishing an accurate slot for the shell pieces.

I used teflon strips available from StuMac and LMII.

The hard part for me was finding the right sized teflon strips for the shell I had. None of which matched claimed width very well.

You want the slot slightly larger than the shell strips by a couple thou.

I was REALLY glad I experimented and checked widths of spacers and shell. I came very close to using teflon based on advertised width that would have been too tight and would have really ruined my day.

You finally work up to build an all out guitar and you don't want to ruin it in the final phases.

edit -- I got my shell from StuMac and was very happy with it. Shell prices gone crazy in price, well, like everything else.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

I think you will find that it's a lot easier to do then you think. Australian Mother Of Pearl Co. has the best deals on shell that I have found and the quality is good. I also like J&N Pearl on eBay, very good quality but a bit more expensive. Polly strips and purflings I got from John Hall at Blues Creek guitars.

I like the look of broken shell pieces rather than perfectly cut lengths of say 1in or so placed in piece by piece. So I use straight pieces and only very slightly curved ones. The curved ones are nice in the waist area, they still don't fit perfectly and have to be broken but it's a bit easier than straight. Break them as you fit them in place. Duco Cement is your friend here.

If you are doing a rosette then get curved ones that are close to fit.

Straight strips for sure. Very easy to break into the channel for a nice, clean look. The cracks disappear.

Are you familiar with ZipFlex strips? Those you literally just lay in place. They’re small bits of broken shell fixed to a very flexible strip.


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This video has a bunch of useful installation tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3bQQ4Xs8hI

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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

I have used zip flex before…, I’m not sure I like the look of it, but I do remember the black rubber was a PAIN, because it kept tearing and getting bunched up. That was a long while ago though and I may be able to be more precise now


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You will want to carefully cut a very precise depth for your shell; would rather the shell be a couple of thous lower, and sand to it. If you make the shell proud, its much harder than the surrounding wood and not fun to level if its proud. The shell might also chip if you hit it with a metal scraper.

When installing it be conscious to press it down firmly into your channel, you don't want any pieces to be proud. I use both straight and curved on the waist but all straight would also work.

I also have bought a fair amount of pearl from J&N Pearl on eBay as @jfmckenna mentioned. Thier pearl is well packaged and well labeled on the outside of the container. I like real pearl strips much more than the ZipFlex style as its more forgiving in installation (try it and you'll see what I mean).

On my current build, I used wood bindings and glued my binding/ purfling with Titebond, then installed the pearl with Fish glue. Fish glue bonds very well to titebond, and there will likely be some residual titebond in your channel. My second build had $480 in purfling (ZipFlex) and $90 in rosette and Headstock. THe sting of that is gone, and the pearl is stunning. I'm sure this wont be the last one you bling with pearl....

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

http://www.mopsupplies.com best prices in town

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I cut my own strips out of large pieces of Ablam. I made up a dummy, miniature table saw out of a dremel and a 1" diamond coated cut-off disc. This will zip through the shell almost as fast as you can push it.

THats awesome!

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

Go for it. It's not difficult at all, just expensive As others have said, use mostly straight strips but do buy some curved for the waist and any other tight curves. I used .047" green heart abalam and teflon strips from Duke of Pearl.

Zipflex is pretty easy to install. I do it in stages.

The basic process involves gluing the inner BWB purfling and zipflex abalone purfling using thin CA glue. This is done all the way around the guitar, one side at a time. Then, the outer BWB purfling is glued to the zipflex purfling.

First step is to locate the center line of the guitar. The inner BWB purfling and zipflex are tack-glued about an inch at a time to the purfling channel in the top.

I use a capillary tube on the end of the glue nozzle to wick a small amount of the CA under the Zipflex and the BWB purfling. This keeps the glue from wicking into the wood grain inside the BWB purfling.



The process continues all the way around the top.



The Zipflex comes in 15" sections. When you get to the end of the section, you glue right up to the end, but leave the last inch or so free so it can be glued at the same time as the new section.



The next section is pushed into place so the end is flush with the end of the previous section, then both are tack-glued into place. Then, you just continue gluing.



Bass side is done. This took about 30 minutes to do. Time to move onto the treble side.





The treble side BWB purfling is matched up to the bass side and a new section of zipflex is butt-glued into place.



Both sides are done. Now, it's time to glue the outer BWB.



Outer BWB is glued on both sides.



The inner and outer BWB purfling needs to be scraped down so it's close to the surface of the top. I like to do this to get a tight glue joint between the binding and the purfling.



Inner and outer BWB purfling has been scraped close to the surface of the top and I'm ready to start bending the rosewood binding. I'll do the final scraping of the purfling/binding once the binding is glued to the top.



Final product.