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Is there a better time to do the inlay work on a slotted steel string headstock? When it’s still just a veneer, or after veneer is glued to headstock, or later after the slots are cut?

How do you plan to cut the inlay material and pocket?

I use the CNC so inlay while it’s still a veneer.

If your cutting the pocket with a dremel + base or a Foredom or similar, I would cut the pocket while it’s still a veneer just in case you make a mistake it’s just starting over with a new veneer.

That being said, if you cut while it’s still a veneer it can be complex to locate it correctly onto the headstock.


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I mostly build slot heads these days. I’ve done the inlay work at different times, but I currently prefer to inlay the pearl while it is just a headstock veneer, for the reasons cited by Brad. Positioning the veneer afterwards is not that bad.

Here is a simple but very useful helper for positioning: make an acrylic template in the shape of your headstock. Inlay two 1/8” drill guide bushings so that the holes land in the slots. Now you can use the template for locating the inlay on the veneer, as well as locating the veneer on the headstock after the inlay is done. 1/8” positioning dowels are easy to make or buy. The positioning holes get routed away when you cut the clots. This cuts down the “piddle around” time by a whole lot.

That's the same way I do it. Since I engrave most of my inlays, pegheads can be very difficult. I use an engraver's ball vise, and the material moves rather than the graver when engraving. Having a big old neck swinging around is a pain, but being able to just chuck up the peghead overlay in the vise works much easier. And yes, I've screwed a few up where I was very happy not to have to remove it from a neck in order to fix the issue.

Dave

I inlay it as a veneer. I use a pin router setup I saw on Charlie Hoffman's website a long time ago. I had Precision Pearl who cuts my inlays do a pin router template that I attach to the back of the headstock with double sided tape.

IMG_7665 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

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I'm another one who does the inlay work on the headstock veneer before gluing it to the headstock. Much easier to work with and if I'm not happy for some reason with the inlay, it's easy to recover and do it over on another veneer or sometimes you can just flip the veneer over and do the inlay on the other side.

I also use 1/8" dowels to locate the veneer on the headstock. No problems getting it located where I want it.

One other part of the sequence of steps for me is that I don't glue the inlay into the pocket until after the headplate veneer is glued to the headstock. I once had an inlay that was already glued into the veneer crack while the veneer was clamped to the headstock for gluing.

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I keep meaning to inlay the veneer before glueing on but am an old luddite and do it the way Benedetto's book originally taught me. If I was making more than 1.5 guitars a year, I'd likely give it more thought.

Thanks to all for comments.

I plan on using a Foredom in a base.