Official Luthiers Forum!

Still being very new to building there are a few things I still buy pre made. One of those things are fingerboards. I’ve just not jumped off to purchase a good system yet, perhaps soon.

That said, my question is:
Should I do an inlay that crosses frets and I do it in a preslotted board, how do I handle this?

It seems like it would be a simple enough to inlay and then use a saw to cut through that section of inlay to reestablish the fret slot.

Am I going to run into issues here I’m not thinking about?


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I've never done it but that seems to me to be the right thing to do. What I would most likely do were I to do this is make the slots very wide. Just wide enough so you can push the fret in with your fingers. That way you can just glue it in. I would think hammering or even pressing in with a fret press might break the shell.

Personally I'd only widen the slot where the shell crosses it, then install the fret as usual.

Best, M

I'd like to hear from someone with more experience, but the one time I inlayed something that crossed over frets I left the slot as is (rather than widen the slot)and left a small space between the inlay and the slot. That way, the fret "overhang" hid the ends of the inlay and it looked like it went through. ...if that makes sense...

_________________
Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

"Personally I'd only widen the slot where the shell crosses it, then install the fret as usual."

"I left the slot as is (rather than widen the slot)and left a small space between the inlay and the slot. "

I suppose with a Dremel and a cut off wheel you could do both.

Yeah, my description wasn't exactly clear (not enough coffee). Nipping the shell back far enough for the fret tangs to clear and leaving the slot alone is what I was thinking.

Right: the shell can't come right up to the slot. Driving in the fret wold compress the shell, and it won't take kindly to that.

Question: Could a person remove the barbs from the part of the fret that touch the pearl, but leave the barbs on the part of the fret that touch the wood? I'm wondering if that would be easier than trying to make the fret slot kerf thicker adjacent to the pearl, but leave it thinner adjacent to the wood.

I've not done an inlay that straddled a fret, so this is pure curiosity, for the future.

I've never had to do it but Steve read my mind and said it just the way I would have:)
No muss, no fuss.

So the consensus is that the inlay should be cut and spread from the slit so that the fret doesn’t lay on the pearl?


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The top of the fret can cover the pearl, but the tang shouldn't touch it. And be careful when seating the fret.

+1