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    Here are just a few images of the inlaid and levelled lion head for the African Guitar. I just have to do a final fill and level of any small gaps and then fret the board.

   I tried to keep an organic feel because of the nature of the inlay in an attempt to indicate fur and shadows.

   The eyes are gold Mother Of Pearl and catch alot of light as the inlay is moved around. I like the fact that they jump out at the viewer from the rest of the inlay.

Thanks for taking a minute to look again,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars



Kevin Gallagher38895.1190972222

That looks awesome!

Congrats dude.

Now I'm feeling really discouraged

Wow... It's so incredible, Kevin. When you finish things like this, what is
it like for you? Do you stand back and enjoy it like we do, only more
fully? What's the accomplishment like for you?James Orr38895.1009375

Woah! That's nice! OK! Now! How many hours did you put into that bad boy?

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

James,
   The most amazing thing about an inlay as it's in progress is that the organic nature of the materials that we use mostly prevent us from really knowing how it will look until we sand it level to the surface we've laid it into and then fill any small gaps that may be present to complete the surface and integrate the two pieces.

   It's really fun and challanging to sift through a huge assortment of woods and shell and swing the pieces over the original drawing trying to imagine how effectively each one could catch the depth or figure of a particular segment of it and contribute to the overal realism of the inlay.

   I'm sure every inlay person goes through the same things as they spin pieces around and flip them over time and time again before they set them aside as possible considerations as part of the project; narrowing down their choices and coming to the final decisions of the pieces that will become the puzzle that conveys the desired effect as an inlay.

    I've always been interested in art and was pushed pretty hard as a kid to pursue and practice it in several formats...pencil drawing, oil painting and sculpture, most commonly, so I've had lots of experiences....both good and bad as projects came to fruition at my hand, but never anything as rewarding as inlay using organic materials.

   They're completely unpredictable and can change with a few strokes of the sanding block or levelling plane to a point where they no longer present the desired effect that was so present before. We just need to cut them back out and cut a new piece taking painstaking care to inlay it very close to flush as to avoid sanding the characteristics that we see away again. It happens to any artist as they view their own work and critique it and ask themselves if it's what the customer receiving it would expect or want.

   Could anyone paint that lion or any other inlay subject with the same depth and drama that is captured by the assembly of shell and wood that end up together in it? I don't think so and that's what makes inlay and the materials we use for it such a cool media for expressing ourselves and trying to capture things that can be very illusive in other media.

   I still look forward to sanding down an inlay to reveal what happens when the cutting guide paper is scraped away and the fruit of the time and effort is seen for the first time. Do I love it every time? No way! But I've gotten a little more patient as I look and imagine what the engraving will add to make it all more believable.

   I do find myself just looking at inlays for a time after they're completed...partly to decide if anything needs to change to maximize its effect and partly to just enjoy something that came from a combination of a little imagination, time and work that will hopefully bring satisfaction to a player that can appreciate the addition of it to their guitar. I love a blank fingerboard for my personal guitars, but have a pretty long list of inlays that I'd like to do just to be able to continue to enjoy them.

   It'll be hard to let this guitar go when auction time comes, but the thought of helping the kids in that orphanage will make it much easier, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to showing it to them when I arrive in Nairobi next month and explaining how it will be sold to bring them a little more joy and comfort.

Thanks for sparking some thoughts that I've never really spent time pondering before. We need to appreciate the things that we do ourselves occasionally. Our world is one where we're so busy trying to get one thing done so we can move on to the next that we rarely get a chance to enjoy them as we finish them.

All the best,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega GuitarsKevin Gallagher38895.1814814815

Billy,
   A total of about twelve hours went into it...not including the original design and drawing refinements.

   I think that if were to go right into doing this inlay again, I could probably complete it, from cutting to final level and engraving in about six hours.

    I do one of my Creation inlays in about three hours, but it is made up of much more simple slabs and most of the detail is achieved through the engraving process.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega GuitarsKevin Gallagher38895.1525694444

Hi Kevin!

Where and when is the auction?

Wow!!!!!!!!!!

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Kevin, for me, just making a guitar is art in itself but making inlays as beautiful as this one is beyond artistery!

Incredible!WOW!

Kevin, thanks for sharing this build with us here at the OLF, its been incredible seeing someone of your abilities work and to see this guitar materialize from concept to reality.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Yes,THanks a lot Kevin for sharing this incredible work.Those eyes are so cool.Very,Very nice!

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Kevin,

A VERY nice inlay. An equally nice inlay around the sound hole.

[QUOTE=Kevin Gallagher]
    I do one of my Creation inlays in about three hours, but it is made up of much more simple slabs and most of the detail is achieved through the engraving process.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars[/QUOTE]

Creation inlays? Oh man, you gotta let us see! Can you post 1 or 2 of your favorites?

_________________
http://www.presnallguitars.com

Beautiful Kevin, simply beautiful

Cheers

Kim

WOW!!! NICELY DONE!

Amazing!!!!

Ron

_________________
OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Stunning...just stunning. From a strictly personal perspective, when I look at something like this, I think "I'm not a good enough player to justify having something like that on my fretboard."

Again, what an amazing work of art. I'd also like to know about the auction when the time comes. I probably cannot bid high enough to acquire the guitar, but I'd like to keep track of the proceedings.

Bill

_________________
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Stunnig inlay and for a great cause as well. Hats off to you.

Kevin

Kevin, when I saw the title of this thread, I didn't even open it until today. Inlay just doesn't float my boat. Blank fingerboards are all I care for.
But then when I saw this my reaction was "HOLY SMOKES" (you can replace "smokes" with what ever explitive might seam appropriate). That is awesome on every level. I LOVE the placement of it and am very glad you didn't put it on the headstock. It's very subtle, yet incredibly complex. Silly things like the black border purfling line really "make" it. The fact that it's framed like that makes all the difference in my eyes.
Congradulations on a wonderful job. You should be quite proud.

Wow Kevin, you truly are a genius with inlays. This is one of THE most beautiful inlays I've seen ever. I'm just glad we at the OLF got to see it first. And for such a great cause, I'm sure there will be one happy person who gets this guitar!
Tracy

Astounding. I'm humbled to have been a small part of this project. Speechless...

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Very, very beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Simply stunning.

Question: is it finished in any way? Impregnated wood?

    This project wouldn't have happened had it not been for the materials and parts that were donated by all of you generous folks here at the OLF. Anyone who builds for a "living" knows that there are very few people getting rich doing so. It's enough of an expense to just work the materials needed for commissioned guitars into a fair price while still hoping to maintain some sort of reasonable profit margin that will feed the family and pay the bills for the house and shop to continue to run.
   
    Vacations are not a regular thing for us, especially since an injury slowed me a few years ago and nearly sent me into bankruptcy and cost me my home. I've worked hard to recover from the setback against the obvious physical obstacles, but I've been happy to be back to completing and delivering guitars consistently again. I'm actually gaining nicely on my backlog and look forward to it being a reasonable depth again.

   I say all that to reveal the true depth of help that was offered by the OLF members who donated woods to the project when other forums mocked the cause, ignored the project or even pulled my post regarding it after commenting that it was an effort in self service or promotion for me.

   Every major publication has ignored it so far. A few people have emailed me saying that they've emailed folks at a few with no reply. it's not about the guitar or about the fact that it's an Omega Guitar, but about trying to raise a little awareness of the project and cause it was conceived and created to benefit....and we need to rememeber that young kids that are AIDS infected are the underlying reason for the existence for the cause.

    One of the people who were on the research trip to select a project that we would work on for this trip to Africa has done loads of similar construction trips to South America as have thousands of others. In light of the fact that young ones stay in the orphanages of South America until a specified age or until they are adopted from outside, he asked how long the children were ble to live in this orphanage in Nairobi.

    The worker there looked at him with a puzzled expression in their face and said, "These children are very ill...They will stay until they die and their little bed will be filled within that same hour by another very ill child." It was then that he truly realized the urgency of the need for the project to be completed and for 50 or more new children to be able to be givin the loving and caring environment that those already ther are given. Onr of the children that they had a chance to meet and get to know during their first visit there has since passed away and another has only a few days to live now. If that doesn't continue to drive home the sense of urgency for a work like this, I don't know what could.

   The goal of those running the orphanage is to give the children a little time in a place as close to Heaven as possible as they approach the doorway between this life and actually going there. The poverty there is unimaginable and unspeakable and few have ever seen it let alone experienced it. Anyone who has seen the film "The Constant Gardener" will have a very slight idea of the conditions in the region. It was filmed just a mile from where we will be working and two miles from where we will be staying while in Kenya. I hadn't seen it until a friend recommend that I do to get a peek at the community that I will visiting.

   They told our trip coordinators during that first visit that the fifty beds in the new building will be filled before the end of the day that we complete the construction for them. It's funny that they cannot receive any government funding to build the structure, but will qualify for a small subsidy to help it operate after it complete.

   The guitar will be donated for auction for after we return from the trip. I'm now making arrangements to get it into the hands of a few artists to play it and be photographed with it in order to offer those photos and a short review of the guitar's tone and playability from each artist along with a series of more than 150 photos of the guitar from its design stages to its completion for the new owner to have.

   Thanks to all here who helped and to all who have been so encouraging and supportive as the guitar has travelled its road of creation. It really is a beautiful guitar...not because I built it by any means, but because the woods and materials are just breathtaking in their quality. My part was just time and energy and I was inspired not only by the cause for its creation, but by the fact that I was a member of a group of people willing to do something unique and special for these kids who have so little now and so little to look forward to. It's really had an impact on my relationship with my kids and I haven;t even gone to meet these children yet.

Thanks again and all the best to you,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars