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Greetings All

Whilst attending my guitar building course on Vancouver Island
in late 2007, my brother and sister-in-law were very kind to me
in their hospitality. Also during this time my sister in laws mother
succumbed to cancer.

I recently purchased the OLF/Michael Payne Small Jumbo plans from
Stew Mac with the intention of building it for Barb. I also wanted to make
it a kind of memorial to her mom. Any kind of actual image or cameo-like
inlay seemed too morbid, so I asked my brother what thing,flower,animal,
etc. would remind her of her mom. His first response was that when her
mom finally passed, there was a beautiful rainbow that could be seen from
through the window and it's what she connects to her mom.

Well I've been thinkin' on this for awhile and I can't get it. How does one add
red,yellow,orange,indigo and violet to a lutz/IRW guitar without it looking
gawdy?

My wife thought that half a rosette might work.
Fretmarkers of rainbowish mop in rainbow shapes?
A rainbow inlayed in the headstock?
All wood would be cool, but some of the colours?

Thanks for listening!
Bob Hames

Bob, take a look at Craig Lavin's website. His inlays are unbelievable and certainly colorful. I think it could certainly be done without being gaudy. I think a rainbow on the headstock or fingerboard disappearing into a mother of pearl cloud with some gold bursts of light would be very nice. This is a great idea with true inspiration and I'm sure you will pull it off and that she will love the effort and thought you put into it.

Darrin

I would do the rainbow in the inner part of the rosette. Perhaps with the reverse on the outer rosette for framing. Perhaps thin veneers separated by black or white veneers between the colors.

_________________
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I was designing out a night scene for one of my friend's customer, and I've always had an issue with the sharp lines of an inlay for the stars (just me). Solution? Airbrush - fortunately, I just got my son an Iwata for Christmas (of course, I get to use it instead of my Paasche, now).

Since the colored lines of a rainbow are soft, and blended, I can see it being airbrushed in. Just a different perspective (and different set of skills, but fun nevertheless).

To get an idea of how colour can look on a guitar, take a look at Grit Laskin's site

This website gives an example of the type of materials you can use in constructing the rainbow.

http://www.smallwonder-music.co.uk/shop ... y/c-1-116/

It would be good if someone could post a US equivelent of this site- I am not sure which suppliers would offer such a variety across the pond.

All the best, and be sure to post the inlay when you are done!

Thanks for all the great ideas and leads fellas.

Darrin
Had a look at Craigs site. Very impressive indeed. The vision
you have sounds like the first thought I had.

Stephen
I like what you're suggesting, but haven't formed a mental image
yet.

Aaron
Really like this idea, because I saw the sharp division between
colours as undesirable as well. I have no experience at airbrushing (and
precious little at inlay) but we have to start somewhere. If I was
to go the airbrush route and my finishing schedule was
System 3 Mirror Coat Epoxy, as filler, followed by 9 coats
of Target USL (waterbased lacquer) at what point do you do the airbrushing?
What would be the bare minimum in an airbrush for a starving guitarmaker?
(have a 5HP compressor)
Any good instructive media you could suggest?

Sam
Thanks for the links. I have had a look Grit's site many times and I know
I've been on a site in the US or Canada that has similar products but it seems
I didn't bookmark it and I haven't found it yet.

Thanks Again

My go to airbrush for years has been a Paasche VL. As any artist will tell you, this is a cheapo brush (less than $70). The Iwata Eclipse, at double the cost, is still cheap, but not, really. Either way, the dual action is key, and the gravity feed on the Iwata, well, lets just say I like gravity feeds (on the Sata minijet as well).

For a starving builder, $70 for an airbrush that you haven't used, and probably won't, is not cheap. At least you got the compressor for it. http://www.airheadairbrush.com/ may be of interest.

As for when to spray, depends on what material you use. Lets say you use enamel - I would spray it first, then epoxy. You could tint the finish, but I'm not sure it would be opaque enough (it'll probably be transparent enough) to see the colors.

After thinking about this, I did do an inlay of a sunbursted archtop, on the fretboard. Maybe this is the way to go? Its basically maple, that is brushed with extremely thinned out enamel. Why enamel? Cheaper than aniline dyes for the different colors I needed, and its what I had. Never did it before, but its lasting so far in the player's hands. I used a scrimshaw scribe to poke holes to catch the color. If I had to do this again, I would just use sandpaper (which would work well for a rainbow - its all one direction). Looks better from far away, than up close (isn't that how it always is?).

Hi Aaron

Thanks for all the great info.
Nice job on the inlay.
Gonna chew on this for awhile.
Got a vision of maybe doing something on the top left
upper bout area. Very transparent & unobtrusive.

Cheers
Bob