Official Luthiers Forum!

I am looking at the idea of building a guitar for a fund raiser....In St Johns (Newfoundland) they are building a place called" Daffodil House". Its is a place where cancer patients can go and live while undergoing cancer treatments. The building is being built completely on donations and fundraisers....I am toying with the idea of building an OM and donating it to the cause. I want to somehow put an inlay of Daffodils in the lower bout on the trebel side.....Can someone give me some idea how to go about this inlay....Should I try and get a decal? What material is the best to use ?Will a wood inlay,or any inlay, affect the sound....Any advice will be greatly helpful....Larry

A rosette is an inlay.Does it effect the sound? It probably does,but how much,i can't tell ya.It's probably a good thing as it might strengthen the sound hole area from being cut.I would think a pick guard would have an effect as well.If you want an inlay on the top for looks,i say go for it.It can't effect it all that much as perfling is an inlay as well.Just my 2 cents . Mark

I do my own inlays by drawing the design on a self stick label thats put on the shell. Then i cut it out and transfer the cut label from the shell to the object i'm inlaying .That gives me the correct outline to rout out for the inlay.You will have to be more careful on the top as the inlay material will most likely be harder to sand level without undercutting the top.I would try to keep it as close as i could from the start.To lessen this effect. Mark

Others will be much more able to comment but I think putting it in the upper bout would be far less detrimental to tone. Doesn't the MIMF main page have a violin that's violently inlaid front & back? Maybe the builder could advise you.

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Dave
Milton, ON

I'd worry more about cracking if it's right in the middle of thin spruce. You could inlay on the bridge, or on a pickguard safely.

If question is can it be done? Answer, yes. Can it affect things? Probably, guess depends where, what and how much. If this is a benefit thing and not worried about sound or other aspects in some respects and looking at it as a one off build for some art and fund raisere thing and what you want to do, then do it. One thing about inlay in the top and light colored woods is same concerns in light colored neck woods(maple) can look bad if not done well.

I have built several guitars for fund raising, but made it more like my other guitars, one off "Presentation" model. Maybe inlay in headstock, or 12th fret. But kept them, kept like normal normal build. Will get more money in raffle or auction ( I have found more in raffle than auction) as more folks pay $1.00 to $5.00 for tickets to try get one rather than having to bid money from a few. To much can look cheap in my opinion.

Stan.....Thanks ....your thoughts make a lot of sense....I think I will just build a guitar and not worry about the bells and whistles......Larry

I've seen some of William Laskin's work where he has done some rather large inlays on the sound board. He makes a comment that he tries to not go too deep, and uses outlines to suggest shape rather than routing out large cavities and filling when working on a sound board. A much different approach to when he's working on fret boards and peg heads.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

you could always paint the dafodils on the top , ( or have an artist donate the painting) ,then finish over the painting , seems it would be less detrimental to the top,sound, and intergrity of the instrument .

It can be done and probably not effect the sound to where you would notice I think. Look at that Martin Willie Nelson plays with the termite holes in it. The hardest part is inlaying in the spruce and making it look good as was mentioned. So if you had to ask this question then I'm assuming your inlay skills might not be up to the task for this. I don't mean that to be an insult so please don't take it that way. I'm not too bad at inlaying but would be concerned about attempting that in spruce.

Hi

If worried about the spruce inlay, why not do something similar to Gerald Sheppards 'wildrose' and inlay on the fingerboard near the sound hole - which I have to say looks stunning and I'm not really a 'bling' lover - but this actually looks subtle despite the amount of inlay work...would work with your daffodils etc - maybe gold MOP etc

http://www.sheppardguitars.com/available_1.htm