Less Getting (In)laid

This is an update on my guitar project, not a statement of the obvious about a certain aspect of my existence. Whenever I take a leak, part of me whines and says "You never take me out anywhere new..."Never mind.

I previously blogged about my adventures in inlay using maple. But I realized it would be too hard to get it accomplished because of the black stain. I needed something impervious to stain.

Pearloid. Also known as Mother of Pearl.I needed 5 pieces, all the same, for this inlay. The best method for this is to work from a pattern that is the exact size of the inlay you want. That way, you're not guessing.I only needed one of these, but I wanted to be sure I covered myself for inevitable mistakes, and figured I may as well print as many as I could fit on the page.

On the left is the image. On the right, I took a single leaf, inverted the color, and put it together in groups so it would fit on the pieces of pearl, which are only 1"x2".But you need special tools for cutting pearl. I know because I tried to do it without them and it got all f@#$ed up.I cut out the piece I needed. No problem.I tried to transfer the image to the piece. It kind of worked.I tried to file the piece to shape. Then I tried to use a drill to cut holes around it and snap off the excess. I snapped the piece.

As my mother would say, "F@#$ this."

So I sent an email order to Athens, Ohio, home of Stewart McDonald Guitar Shop Supply.I also read up a bit on pearl cutting. That helped. Less than 48 hours later (DHL rocks),Christmas in July!!! The saw at the top is for cutting pearl. It works reallywell!I also needed a special kind of table for pearl cutting. StewMac sells one, but it's basically a piece of wood with a groove in it and a hole:You can see the groove and hole in the wood in the photo above. Well, I wasn't gonna drop HK$80 on a piece of wood with a hole in it!

Their fancy version has a metal tube you can hook up to a small electric motor (another $80, and American socket to deal with) that blows air across the work area. It disperses the pearl dust.

While I was tempted to get blown for $HK160, I figured I'd save that splurge (!) for my birthday.

So I made my own table.

Out of flame mapleThe pearl saw made it very easy to cut out the shapes.I went slowly and did it bit by bit so that the pieces were easy to work with.I practiced on the leftover 'mistake' piece:My girlfriend practices with the saw on scrap.Following the advice I found online (because you can always trust the internet), I used wood glue to glue the pattern to the pearl. I also glued two pieces of pearl to one another. The glue is water-soluble, so it would be easy to get the paper off and separate the pieces.My girlfriend's partner holds the pearl (no pun intended). Luckily for me, my girlfriend is bisexual. So, occasionally, is her partner. My failure to achieve a three-way has less to do with a dearth of wine and witty flirtation as it does with poor hand(s)-(third) eye coordination.By stacking pieces and gluing them, when I cut out one shape, I actually got two pieces. You can see that there are two pieces here: I used the extra fine blades to cut the detail line in the leaves, and a small drill bit to make the holes.When I got six pieces, I put them in hot water, which melted the glue. Presto!:Not bad, if I say so myself. And I do.But that's only half the equation. Now I had the pieces I wanted to inlay, but I had to inlay them. So we now move on to part 2: the headstock.I marked out the point which I wanted for the center of the inlay. Using that, I taped the pattern to the headstock and carefully scribed the pattern onto the face with an X-acto knife, using a new blade.Then out comes the Dremel tool! Using it, I cut out the pattern (plus a little) so that I can inlay the pieces so they are flush with the top or even a little lower. I can build up lacquer to make it flat again.Once the hole was large enough, I dyed the wood black so that it would match the headstock and help conceal the gaps between the pearl and wood. I didn't worry about this too much since it is my first attempt. If I was doing it on bare wood, it would be harder and I'd have to be much more careful and go a lot slower.But they fit, and that's the most important thingUsing a small screwdriver, I gently moved the inlays around until they were psoitioned exactly as I wanted them. Then I dropped some super glue in them to hold them in place.After they set, I used more super glue to fill the gaps. I took some more black dye and rubbed it across the inlay, and it ran into the lines and hoiles, accenting them.The top leaf is a little too far to the left; they're not symmetrical in terms of placement. Still, for my first attempt, I am more than happy!

I need to level-sand the glue and put more lacquer on the face.But before I do that, I will also add the "Less Paul" sticker, which I am going to have printed as soon as I can!