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I’ve been asked to inlay a ramp (a wild onion that grows in WV) on the 12th fret of a guitar I’m building. If I go ahead with this, I’ll likely use a piece of bone for the bulb of the onion. Looking for suggestions for non pearl material to use for the green leaves and purplish stalk of the plant. What kind of stuff are y’all using for inlays like this?

Here’s a drawing I found online that I’m basing my concept sketch on. Thanks in advance for any help you can send my way!




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Tasty, tasty ramps.

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You could go the recon stone route? You could smash up some purple and white and create the gradient of the stalk. I don’t know any suppliers though. I know Jeff Jewitt and Beau Hannam have both posted about using it on Instagram, you might message them.


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Zac--

This looks like fun, and I love the attention paid to the humble ramp! I think you might be able to find some very green abalone for the leaves, and maybe some dark abalone for the stalk? Then engrave a few vein lines in the leaves, filled with black? I'm talking about things way beyond my skill level, but I have seen some amazing work by Larry Robinson along these lines. Good luck!

EDIT--

I now see that you want non-pearl material. Like Brad, my mind goes to recon stone. Any sort of wood is going to get grimy. Maybe a dark color of antler for the stalk? Jade for the leaves?

Rescue Pearl carries a lot of different recon stone products.

Dave

There's great inlay out there with wood as the inlay material.

When I've wanted "colors" and couldn't find wood of the right color, I've had success with lighter wood and dyed them for the color I want. It can be a little tricky because you have to inlay the wood (I'd recommend maple), sand it flush, and then dye the wood so there's some fine brush art work involved. Practice on scrap wood till you get what you want.

I found a picture of a 6 string (banjo) banjitar head I made several years back. I was shooting for northern lights/big dipper (silver wire), and an over the lake (lake Superior) view. Ya, kinda surrealistic but it was what I was looking for. The curly maple in this case did a good job of representing the way northern lights actually look.



Cheers

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Since it is going at the 12th fret of the fingerboard, I would worry about any sort of light color wood getting dirty, but maybe that is an overblown fear of mine.

Green is always a hard color to find for inlays. I usually use green abalone, but I don't think it would work for this. It would be great if you could get the natural black lines in the shell to function as shading/outlines, but that's not really possible on a radiused surface, and having them in random locations will make it hard to tell what it's supposed to be.

Doesn't koa turn green when bending under certain conditions? Seems like it was having it wrapped with aluminum foil or something. Maybe you could make use of that...

I agree bone is good for the bulb. Purpleheart for the stalk.

Excellent point Don.

I was thinking I seen haven't a lot of fingerboard wear or grime that far up the neck on most acoustics. The frets getting closer together providing some protection helps and/or there isn't that much play going on up there.

Electrics with maple fingerboards can get pretty bad but sometimes you can retire on that "mojo"!

Grime is kinda subjective too, and some folks seem to love it by the looks of their instruments. No offense anyone!

I worked on an old Martin that came to my shop wrapped in a tanned deer hide, tied on with old boot laces (looked like a lifetime collection). Part of my payment was the deer hide, still have it, true story. The guitar was pretty clean though by comparison to the hide and shoe laces.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

If you can source some scraps of Corian you should be able to find the colors you need. "Cilantro" might be good for the leaves, and you may be able to find someone to give you a free sample if you can find a local fabricator (cabinet shop or kitchen supply).

Maybe email Judy Threet and ask her what she uses for greens? This one looks like abalone and maybe dyed wood?

Torres used green dyed veneer for some of his rosettes. Here is an article on dying veneers using modern dyes from someone making a Torres replica and the process he used:
https://www.torresreplica.com/?page_id=98
It's not the way Torres did it, but it does dye the wood green.

Insta-pot anyone?

I've bought a lot of materials from Rothco and Frost
The also sell cellulose sheet and binding with no "extra" special shipping fees.
https://rothkoandfrost.com/search?searc ... ix%5D=last

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

Thank you all for your replies, there’s a lot of good options to consider here.

Dennis, that’s a great idea you suggested with the purpleheart. I’ve never used it for anything before…I know it will fade in time, but it might still work for this. Don, I like your idea of using antler as well. The right piece, with a little color in it, could fit right into the aesthetic I’m aiming for.

Does anyone have any experience working with acrylic for inlays? I stumbled across this guitar from Tyler Robbins and Tom Dalia earlier this evening, and the green in these inlays is almost exactly what I had in mind for the leaves of the ramp. Rothko and Frost sells a sheet that looks very similar for a couple bucks. I’ve seen a lot of acrylic fret dots for sale and it seems fairly common, but I’m wondering about leveling it on the curved surface of the fretboard. Seems like it might be very hard to get sanding scratches out, but I don’t know.



Here’s the link with a few more pictures of the guitar.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Luthier/commen ... /#lightbox


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I recently turned a trigger knob for a trombone on a lathe out of an acrylic blank for making pens or pencils. It sanded and polished up easily.

I reached out to Tom on Instagram yesterday and he said pretty much the same. I think I’ll order a sheet and give it a try.


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Is the plastic used in 3D printers strong enough? You could find someone with a 3D printer and have him print the whole thing.

I've used acrylic pen blank material before. It was easy to work with. I have only used it on pegheads though; I can't speak to how it might hold up on a fingerboard.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I’ve placed an order for a couple of acrylic sheets from Rothko and Frost and I’m gonna give this inlay a try. I told the guy who asked for this that it’s ultimately my call whether or not it goes on the guitar. I like to challenge myself with something new on every build, so I’ll practice this a few times on some scrap and if I’m liking the results I’ll go ahead with it on the real fretboard. Thanks again to everyone for your input! I’ll post an update once the inlay material shows up and I get a chance to try my hand at this.