Inlays (1/2) ~ Luthiery Laboratories

Inlays (1/2)

I have done a lot of experimenting with CA/glitter inlays. I am only going to post the successes. I have tried a number of other materials besides CA, none of which were satisfactory.

Always wear safety glasses when working with CA !!! Those little tubes and bottles spurt just when you don't expect. You can un-stick your fingers with acetone, but that's not a good choice for your eye. That's a trip to the ER, and I'm not sure what even they can do for you. I don't even want to think about it.

Test Fills

Above are 21 tests of potential inlay materials. All of them are dirt-cheap glitter available pretty much anywhere. All the glitters are plastic except silver & gold, which are glass. Except as noted, all fills are clear Loctite CA.

The board has been rough-sanded flat and finished with two coats of UV-poly, no polishing. The poly did a pretty good job of filling the scratches, but not perfect. If this was a real fretboard, I would sand the scratches out before finishing. I was curious what the worst case would be.

Starting at the upper left (1-1) going to the lower right (7-3):

1-1 copper/black - glittort
1-2 red - strawberry jewel
1-3 copper/black/silver - glittort

2-1 copper - nice
2-2 copper/red/black/silver - glittort
2-3 black - best way to make black

3-1 fine gunmetal - nice
3-2 gold (glass) - MOP
3-3 silver (glass) - MOP

4-1 pure black CA - not great
4-2 red/black - glittort
4-3 spackle - not useful

5-1 red over black CA - nice
5-2 jumbo diamond over black CA - not useful
5-3 red/silver - glittort

6-1 spackle 2 - not useful
6-2 crystal over white paint - pearl
6-3 jumbo diamond/black - jade

7-1 jumbo diamond over white paint - best MOP
7-2 jumbo diamond - not useful
7-3 crystal - not useful

The CA did not penetrate the spackle as hoped. Therefore this has no strength. The black CA has a very long drying time, and also issues with "heave", where it throws up a wall around itself.

Jumbo diamond has filling issues, but mixing it with regular diamond would help with the edges and corners. Most of these are also available in extra-fine versions, similar to the gunmetal.

Cross-section through a black CA inlay in a neck that I ruined.

Some gorgeous still-wet glitter CA inlays - copper on the right, "tort" on the left - copper + black.

Filling a routed inlay with black glitter and clear CA.

A test piece in the final stages, with a thick coat of polyurethane.

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Fretboards

Here is an assortment of woods that would be hard to put together. All of these are radiused to 12", sanded to 100, and liberally coated in Minwax Natural stain to make the grain and colors pop. They are all 2-1/2" wide, and started out 1/4" thick. These are:

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Fretboard Inlay Jig

This is the initial layout. The material is 24" x 18" x 0.22" acrylic from Home Depot, about $25. I cut it in thirds lengthwise on the bandsaw, enough for three generously wide neck templates. The bandsaw cut this stuff well, the big blade makes a good heat sink, and as long as you keep moving along in a straight line at the right speed, no melting.

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Working Metals

Bending steel is not that difficult. You can make a pretty tight bend up to 90 degrees in up to 1/8″ material simply by clamping it in a vise and hammering it over. To go beyond 90 degrees, say 180 degrees for a truss rod, first bend it to 90 degrees, then heat the elbow and finish the bend. Heat the bend point until it glows orange. For smaller (guitar-sized) materials, a common hand-held propane torch should be adequate. After bending, quench the part quick in water, like a blacksmith in a western movie. You can hold a small part under the faucet. That will restore the strength of the material.

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