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I have a commissioned guitar to build and my customer wants me to inlay my company logo on the headstock. I am not a pro at inlay and usually try to avoid it if i can, however my customer has his heart set on it. Any advise on how to tackle this intricate detail? Much appreciated.

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies

Well, several choices I guess. One off, maybe choose an ebony headplate & inlay into a pocket cut the perimeter of the branches, then fill gaps with black epoxy. As it's your logo, consider getting a quantity CNC'd/inlayed to use now & in future. I'm certainly no expert, but there are a few here worth a PM.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Let's see if this works. Also, you can download Adobe Reader in the App Store for free.

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sweat the small stuff.

Talk to someone with a laser. They can do the wood and the shell parts. I believe there are some laser people here. You might also ask in the cnc section.

I would have Custom Luthier make you up an inlayed head plate. It will be a little pricey for one, but it will save you incredible amounts of time and grief.

I would talk to Bob Malda at bobscustominlay.com.

CNC for sure. To me way too busy for a headstock inlay.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

ask Mark Kett ...he could do that by hand .....

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

Since you are asking for advice... If you don't like the idea of that logo on your headstock, don't put it there. You are the maker, trust your own judgement. My opinion is that the scale is wrong, its too intricate and "busy" (as Fred says) for a headstock logo. Just because its possible doesn't mean you should.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Another possibility to consider would be to inlay bigger pieces, one piece shaped like the perimeter of the branches and another piece shaped like the guitar neck, and then engrave the branches/detail. It wouldn't be an exact replica of your logo, but could look very cool if properly executed.

Dave

I appreciate the advise. I never intended on this logo being a headstock logo, it is the paper label on the inside of the guitar.. I usually use a really beautiful headplate veneer and leave it blank.. I think nature makes better art with the wood itself, I would rather not guild lilies.
Chris V, I have given some thought into waterslide decals but I am yet to find a good company that I know for sure does good quality work. Any pointers where to look? I had planned on just a signature decal in case I had need for them at some point.

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies

It is a nice logo, but in my humble opionion not right for a headstock.

But, if you left the 'Fine Handcrafted .........." off it might work.

I'm no expert but I would give it a go using wood for everything in the square, and flat silver cord for the AARON HIX GUITARS. I'd set it all in an ebony headplate.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Does he want the whole thing, text and all, or just the tree? I agree it would be sort of awkward looking with the text, but just the tree would look pretty cool.

How about just carving grooves into the wood for the branches, rather than inlay? So, inlay a square of wood for the background, carve branches, and then inlay the guitar neck/headstock/trunk of the tree in some other wood. The tuners on it could be done by drilling small holes, and sticking dowels into them and then leveling it off.

I'm not sure a fully inlaid version could even be done by CNC, due to all the sharp corners in the branches. The routing would be a perfect job for CNC since it's just a bunch of constant width lines, but cutting the shell to go into it would need some hand work in the corners. Like, get them close by CNC with a small bit, and then take a swipe or two with a fine jeweler's saw blade in each corner.

I guess I should have been more specific, my customer only wants the tree part, no lettering. I was thinking about doing the guitar neck part with MOP and carving the branches out and filling with either green abalone or possibly crushed turquoise, this way I wouldn't need to cut out shell that intricately. Anyone have any experience with crushed turquoise? I assume you just fill the carved out part with the crushed turquoise and saturate with CA glue?

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Guitar Maker and Purveyor of the World's Finest Tonewoods
http://www.aaronhixguitars.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/A-Hix-Tonewood-a ... r-Supplies

I don't think it looks to bad of an inlay. It's mirrored about the vertical center line so you could stack the shell (glued together) and cut them out, then take them apart. It's certainly tedious work but doable. Of course anything to hide errors is good so using a dark wood (African Blackwood would be nice...) is beneficial.

Now, because this isn't your norm, and the customer asked for it, how much did you tell him it would cost him? This would be pretty special and certainly should be paid for regardless of how you get it done. Most would charge $300-$400 just for an inlay like that I think...maybe more...

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There is a another problem to consider. If you go to a lot of trouble or expense to do this and it comes out nice, you will be asked or expected to do it again. Is that something you want? If it were me I would simplify the design to make it easier to inlay and repeat if you wanted to repeat it.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Hence my suggestion to get it professionally CNC'd & inlaid so it would be reproducible down the road. I think an MOP neck/coral coloured branches would look great if well (& consistently) done.

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Dave
Milton, ON

That takes care of the "a lot of trouble" part but probably not the "expense" part.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I would think that a request like this comes with a significant upcharge. Certainly enough to cover any out of pocket costs plus any additional time spent thinking and fiddling. The reason i have my logo inlayed is that my guy does it for FAR less than it would cost me in time to make a truss rod cover, route the channel, cut the inlay and inlay it...and then do all the finish sanding. For less than I charge per hour, I get a truss rod cover ready to go.

Guys who do this sort of stuff for a living have it down to a science and can do it for far less than people like us who specialize in actually building and fixing guitars. It's just a bad use of our time, IMHO. I'd rather be building and doing paying repair work than fiddling around for days with inlay work that a specialist can do for $100 or $200.

With an inlay that elaborate I'd be surprised if $100-200 would do it. I'm also wondering what if any up charge had been discussed. Hence my comment. Also I wonder how much of the guitar can be subbed out and still be thought of as a handcrafted guitar.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I was going to suggest engraving it, as Dave suggested. However, if I were going to do that, I'd engrave the whole logo (not including the type) on a single pearl disk. I would NOT commit to doing this without making a full color paper replica first and placing it on a piece of headstock veneer to see how it looked, to get the size just right, and so on. I actually believe your best approach would be to have several inlayed headstock plates made up in advance by an inlay specialist--but only if you're sure you want them on more guitars. I am also one of those who generally prefers to avoid inlays and let the wood speak for itself. I am currently inlaying a banjo, just because it's such a traditional approach on banjos. It's fun but laborious. I'm not building professionally, so I don't have to worry about the cost effectiveness of my time on that project, and I doubt I'll ever do it on a guitar. You are in a different situation with regard to your time.

By the way, I think your guitars are quite beautiful.
Patrick