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So I did a poor job of inlaying fretmarkers (snowflake pattern) on an ebony fretboard - too deep. I've set them with black tinted epoxy and have leveled (16 inch radius) the board. Rather than bring the fretboard WAY down, I've etched away the black epoxy over the paua fretmarkers so that they are visible. Deepest are about 30 - 40 thousandths below the surface of the fretboard.

If I lay some clear epoxy (system three or zpoxy) in the "trenches" will this harden clear so that I can see those beautiful fret markers? Is flooding with CA an option (worried that it might take too much volume of CA - if so, how to keep the CA from bleeding into the fretboard?) Thanks!

I say you are going to have to level the FB down - thats the only way IMO that you will get the real look .... next time, when you check the depth before gluing, if some are too deep, you need to bring them up by putting a littel ebony dust underneath the inlay piece - i do it all the time when required (not all inlaypieces end up being the same thickness sometimes)

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks, Todd and Tony,

Aah - the epoxy/ebony dust mixture, to manage the height of the inlay. Yep - did that on the last one - forgot this time. I guess that's the downside to doing one guitar every six months - I always forget something.

I think I'll reroute the deeper/more screwed up ones, and use some epoxy/dust mixture

Looks like I need another snowflake fretboard pattern - good for Andy Depaule

One more question - I never have quite figured out the approach to precisely measure the appropriate depth for an inlay on a radiused FB. Do you measure from the center of the inlay, and assume you'll be sanding the corners of the inlay down (to match the radius), thereby potentially sanding through the nice color on the paua? Or some other method?

Thanks again.

Corky,
Route them out and replace them.
Just make sure when you install the new ones you add some ebony dust behind them to lift them up over the surface enough. In an ebony board as well you can mix some dust with a good black epoxy and that might blend it perfectly.


As for inlaying over a radiused board, that's all we get unless it's a classical.
You need to either plan around it (watch for shell depth VS. color) use .04 thickness pearl and BEND it without cracking, clamp it, then glue it (it works- it's true).
Or in a multi-piece inlay, you need to check your bottom edge height off the board and design the inlay around the maximum "flatness to curve". Just meaning if it looks deeper then the pearl is thick around the edges, it ain't gonna work.

Honestly in the beginning for me it was always an issue, nowadays I don't even think about it anymore. Rarely does an inlay sand through, just use either thin slightly bendy pearl, or thick enough materials to compensate for the depth.
If it sands through I just go in and replace the piece.

Good luck.
Craig

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www.handcraftinlay.com

Craig - thanks for your insight! I really appreciate it.

I've rerouted, been a lot more careful about depth, added some nice ebony dust to the black epoxy to thicken as a base, and reglued. About to scrape it back and sand, to see what I've got.

After stumbling through these very simple inlays, my respect for you guys who create art with a router and shell is greater than ever.

God, I love building guitars - there's nothing boring about this...