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PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 10:14 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2013 9:06 am
Posts: 102
First name: Mark
Last Name: Gammell
State: NE
Country: USA
I'm doing a couple guitars and putting in thumbnail inlays ala Gretsch. Is there a trick to cutting perfectly round circles? The inlays appear to be "pairs". That is, the inlays at frets 1 and 3 are the same size, 5 and 7, and so on. So I can get away with 4 circles (or 4 1/2), each cut in half. I got some nice looking ebony boards, and I want to show them off.

So anyway, I need to cut circles in the 7/8" to 1 1/4" range.

Thanks

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:40 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:06 pm
Posts: 2739
Location: Magnolia DE
First name: Brian
Last Name: Howard
City: Magnolia
State: Delaware
Zip/Postal Code: 19962
Country: United States
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Cut them slightly oversize and CA them to the end of a short piece of dowel the size you want to finish at. Put it in the drill press on a low speed and use a hard sanding block to bring it down to size.....when you are flush to the dowel you are done. Soak in acetone to remove. You can glue several dots together and make batches. For the sizes you need your dowel will need an arbor on the end to chuck into the drill.

This is how I do all dot markers on my custom builds.....the client can select the exact pieces of shell he likes.

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These users thanked the author B. Howard for the post: Bill Braske (Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:18 am)
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:44 am 
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Contributing Member
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Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
Posts: 5743
First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
City: Wichita
State: Kansas
Country: Good old US of A
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Great idea, Brian... You are DA MAN.

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 12:35 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 1:46 pm
Posts: 2124
First name: Freeman
Last Name: Keller
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I'm lazy. I would just call Andy DePaule and order these

Image


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2018 12:49 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2005 4:02 am
Posts: 3227
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
First name: Barry
Last Name: Daniels
On a recent fretboard replacement project I just cut the inlays by hand and did final shaping with sanding sticks and files. It wasn't that difficult. My measurements of the original Gretsch's plastic inlays showed that they were each of different radii.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:23 am 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2013 9:06 am
Posts: 102
First name: Mark
Last Name: Gammell
State: NE
Country: USA
Freeman wrote:
I'm lazy. I would just call Andy DePaule and order these

Image

Done. Thanks for the heads up. Brian, your idea is great, and I know I'll use it on other things, but the pre-made ones are about the same price as I'd get blanks for (less if I factor in all of them being different radii), so...


Thanks, fellers!

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Eric Cartman


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