Official Luthiers Forum!

hi,
one aesthetic question.
How do you inlay this white (plastic) strip or vener or what is this in FB
regards

Most likely this is a purfling laid up along with the fingerboard binding.

Easiest way is a .010 or .020 x 1/4" strip of white followed by binding.

I use maple, anigre, or dyed veneers and fibre .. you bind the FB with that first, then add the outer thicker binding. If you have a CNC like John Watkins does, then you could route the groove and inlay it ... I have done three layer FB purf the same way, one layer at a time - no mitres, the joints are lapped, and from 2 ft away, you cant tell, its too fine.

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

I guess we do it the hard way.
We cut the f/board to the width we want (excluding the outer binding) then rout a shallow groove for the black/white purfling. We get that .020" stuff from LMI, 1/4" tall, then cut it in half (1/8" tall strips). Glue that in place, then glue on the outer binding.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Another hardway to do it would be perfling the way violin makers do it. cut a channel then glue 'stuff' into it and sand/scrape to level.

Personally, I don't see a 'best' way to do it. However you are able to get a fine appearance and is either fun, satisfying or easy for you...go for it.

I looked close at the photo using my graphics software. The example you showed has miters that can be just barley seen. These miter all align up almost exactly from inside edge to out side edge. This would lead me to believe that the binding and purfling were mitered as laminated together prior to the miters being cut then laminated to an undersized fretboard. This is the most common process used

Not meaning to hijack this thread but somewhat related is the fact of why purfling is the standard practice on the outside of the top. Here again I was taught that the purfling acted as an expansion joint. While decorative, like most thing in wood joinery, the practice comes from a need to solve issues presented by woods reaction to its environment.

Ever noticed that guitars that have no binding also have no purfling. the tops joint is trimmed and glued to the outside of the sides. As the top contracts the sides and lining resist allowing the outer edge of the top to pull in and or move with the top to a small degree. However a bound top is routed back from the edge of the side and is glued mostly to the lining and the binding. This creates the opportunity for the top pull away from the binding. Therefore an expansion joint of purfling aids in reducing this problem. Now purfling is not a 100% fix for this issue. If allowed to dry out enough the top can still pull away from the purfling but it does the job pretty well.

the picture appears to be that of a Somogyi guitar...

his method is to leave the bound (on the sides) FB long, temporarily attach it to the neck after it has been installed on the guitar, and then using a jig which fits into the sound hole use a router to cut the curve on the end...he then carefully uses a chisel to cut the miters on the purfling line and binding....he then affixes the curved binding and purfling to the FB and after final working attaches it to the guitar....

its covered in chapter 23 of his Making the Responsive Guitar book...

All the custumers I do it for use a CNC-cut channel and just put some veneer in on edge and trim/scrape it flush. You can make a jig to do anything the CNC can do, though, so you could cut a channel with a 0.025" end mill (fret slot size, actually) in a lam trimmer if you made a good guide jig.

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

How about this for the straight part?
http://www.pem.org/sites/luxury/inlay.html

Hey Chris, that video was so cool.
Quite informative...thanks for posting!

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com