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I'm about to inlay a player's name on an ebony fret board. I am reasonably accomplished at head plate inlay but have not yet attempted a complex inlay on a fret board. I have the board slotted but not radiused and was about to begin when I second guessed myself. The letters will be about 1.5" tall and cover approx. 10" of the length of the board. I plan to cut the letters from .060" abalam and then cut the pockets on the flat board with a Dremel on router base.
Will I run into problems at the edge of the letters when I radius (16") the board?
Do I just resaw the slots with a fret saw where pearl has been inlayed across the slot?
Do the fret tangs want to chip the shell at the edge of the slots when frets are set.

Any advice is welcome - thanks.

Dean

I've never done a complex, large inlay on a FB (or anywhere else) but I think that you're right to worry about sanding through on the outer part of the fingerboard.

I've done simple dots, and diamonds and squares, and I always make them really thick, like .200". that way, when I radius the fb, I'm sure not to sand through.

Obviously, I inlay on a flat fb, then radius after. I go after the fret slots to ensure they're deep enough.

In your case, with a .060" inlay, you may want to do the rough radiusing of the fingerboard first. Just to ensure no sand through. How to accomplish that? Beats me, some sort of elevated lever bed for the dremel base to rest on?

As I understand it abalam is a matrix of layers of shell in a resin. If you sand it very much new layers will be revealed which may appear different than the original surface. I would radius the board first, then inlay the abalam carefully to minimize sanding.
After the inlay is in place you can carefully saw through the shell to restore the fret slots. Use a file to bevel back the top of the shell to reduce chipping ( similar to what is done to prepare the board for fretting).

I've done fairly wide "block" inlays with .060" MOP, then radiusing to 12" with no problems, so 16" would be even better. Draw it out oversized scale to assure yourself. BUT Clay may have a good point re abalam ...I just don't know.

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Dave
Milton, ON

With letters that big you may be in trouble with Ablam even if you radius first. It does not look that great if you hit a bad layer. You could do a trial on a scrap fretboard to see but I'd probably go with solid shell.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Solid shell would be the way to go with a radius on the board. My inlays are 1/16" thick to allow for any radiused board. Any inlay near the side of the board using ablam would be risky.

On my larger inlays which are about 1.5 " wide I have not run into any problems until I get down to about a 10" radius. At that point the edges can get quite thin. Something like 0.015" or so, I have had MOP become translucent on one and had to pull it out and re-cut the pocket and replace it.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

My two cents: solid pearl on the fretboard. Ablam under finish.

m.

What I have done on larger shapes is to radius the inlay before I rout the shape. I place 220 grit on my radius block and gently scuff a bit of a radius and that reduces the amount of sanding after the inlay is installed. I can't say if this is practical for ablam or for individual letters but it works fine for solid shell.

Excellent advice from everyone - thanks very much! Based on your feedback and since I have already cut the abalam, I may just replace the upper and lower portions of the 3 letters that extend nearest to the edge of the board with slab shell to minimize the risk of sanding through. If this doesn't work, I'll chalk it up to experience and start again.

I appreciate your time.
Dean

Getting solid shell and abalam to be a visual match will most likely be difficult.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

How thick are individual wafers on abalam.......that'll tell ya!
If it was me, I'd probably radius first, then pocket, then fit/shim/glue abalam as close to flush as possible to absolutely minimize sanding (I'm sure sanding a bit is ok, although I have no experience). If hideous, chaulk it up to experience & toss it .......the abalam money is already spent since you've cut it.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Radius the board and cut the fret slots first. Cut the pockets for the inlay a little deeper than the thickness of the abalam, install the shell, and fill the pocket with thin CA. It's better to do several coats of CA to get enough thickness to fill the pocket. Your final sanding will be the CA, the abalam shouldn't be touched, so it's appearance will not change.
I always work with raw shell, but the technique should work with abalam. If you do it right, the CA is completely invisible.

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