Its been a while so I thought I'd update on some of my progress. I've completed an inlay on the headstock in white mother of pearl. First I came up with a simple little script logo on my computer, printed it out and cut out a paper template. I tried it out in this pic to see if it would look good. Personally, I liked it!
I covered the mother of pearl with masking tape, then taped my paper template to it. The idea of the masking tape was to minimize any chips or breaking of the pearl when I started cutting it out.
Have I mentioned before that I don't have the proper tools? I don't have a jeweler's saw or any special bits for cutting out pearl. I used the smallest drill bit I had for my Dremel to drill holes all around the logo to roughly cut out the logo.
Once I had the inlay roughly cut out, I used needle files to shape it best I could. It came out ok, but not perfect. Next time I do an inlay, I'll try to set myself up with the proper tools!
I used a small router bit in my Dremel and an exacto knife to cut out the cavity in the headstock in which I would put the inlay. It was really hard to get a good fit. As you can see, the cavity could definitely be cut cleaner.
I used a small router bit in my Dremel and an exacto knife to cut out the cavity in the headstock in which I would put the inlay. It was really hard to get a good fit. As you can see, the cavity could definitely be cut cleaner.
During the process, I cracked my inlay. At this point I was hoping it wouldn't be visible. I placed a small amount of CA glue into the cavity, pressed the inlay into place, then filled any gaps with rosewood sawdust.
I brushed away any loose sawdust, then flooded the inlay with thin CA glue. You'll notice a little bit of glue near the right tuner hole.... I was fixing a small tear-out chip I got when drilling the tuner holes.
Once the glue was dried, I sanded the headstock. You can see around some of the edges where I had gaps, and if you look closely, you can see the crack in my inlay where the J meets the O. I sanded the headstock with 100 grit, then 150 grit, and 220 grit sandpapers. The inlay looks a little better now then when I took this pic, but you can still detect my errors. Next time I do a headstock inlay, I think I want to do an ebony headstock veneer.... ebony seems to be more forgiving when filling gaps (my fretboard inlays turned out nicer I think).
Here's a pic of the whole headstock, including the white bone nut that I filed to fit after completing the inlays.
After this step, I filled the gaps in the fret ends with CA glue, and began finish sanding the body and neck. More pics to come soon!
After this step, I filled the gaps in the fret ends with CA glue, and began finish sanding the body and neck. More pics to come soon!