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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Inlays on fretboards

My pal Tony is a kind and cheerful man. He asked for the Swedish word for Joy inlaid in his fretboard. Offsetting the uke's reputation of being a happy instrument, I made a design inspired by my favourite band. I routed thin lines with my Proxxon router table, turning the board so I only needed to turn one crank for every line. 


And you have listened to Slayer's new album, right? Repentless is their best in many years, and a bloody good one. Buy it, or... well repent. 


Here it is. Slightly runic too. The diagonal lines will save it from being mauled by the frets. 


And another one, the end result of which will be a secret. I'm carving a piece of maple with one of my new chisels, the "perfect pattern" chisels from Lee Valley. 


Routing the cavity with my miniature router plane (also Lee Valley / Veritas).


And here I'm notching two minuscule pieces of ebony to make a half lapped joint. Finger is included to give a sense of scale. 


The tiny cross is assembled and I shave it down before inlaying it. Stay tuned, folks!







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