Inlays and inlay material

[Trepan]

Hey all,

I'm getting an Agile that has no inlays on the fretboard. The guitar is red and I recently saw in a jewelry store some mother of pearl that was red. I'm not sure if it actually comes in red, or was dyed red, but I think it would look awesome to get some custom work done in red mother of pearl.

Any ideas where I can get such a material?? I won't be doing the work myself

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I really recommend PMing the member AthenaInlay, she's quite the inlay guru.

 

[AthenaInlay]

You rang?

Shell does not naturally come in red. The closest is pink mother of pearl. There is dyed shell that is red but it has to be used very carefully because the dye doesn't penetrate very far into the shell.

There are some laminate products with a clear coat on top that are easier to use - but I've never used them. I use mostly real, solid shell so I don't have a lot of Abalam or other imitation laminates. Most of the reds I have seen are paua too, not mother of pearl.

Another source of red would be coral recon stone. Check out Masecraft for a list of all the current recon colors.

There is also Corian and lots of red acrylics. My favorite figured red is dyed stabilized wood. That's done under vacuum so the dye goes all the way through.

...Ath

 

[AthenaInlay]

Hey all,

I'm getting an Agile that has no inlays on the fretboard. The guitar is red and I recently saw in a jewelry store some mother of pearl that was red. I'm not sure if it actually comes in red, or was dyed red, but I think it would look awesome to get some custom work done in red mother of pearl.

Any ideas where I can get such a material?? I won't be doing the work myself

If Agile is doing the inlay, then you should ask them what red materials they have available. If they're allowing you to send your own material to them, then that's cool. But you should find out how big a piece they need, how thick they want it, if there's anything they can't or don't want to cut.

InlayUSA has thin shell veneers in dyed red MOP... but, personally, I would never deal with them because their website is full of lies trying to make their cheap product seem better than the real natural stuff. But then that's just me. It's the kind of stuff that irritates inlay artists. The stuff is what it is. Lure makers like it. They shouldn't bash other products and lie about them in order to make theirs seem better.

You often see dyed shell veneers on Ebay. But you should see if Agile is ok with using veneers.

...Ath