Kevin Chilcott
Luthier
MAKING AN 'ANGEL'
Inlay
Planning and Preparation
This is probably going to be the most time consuming part of the whole process and needs to be taken a stage at a time, done slowly and carefully and hopefully the results you want can be achieved.
I should perhaps point out at this stage that cutting and filing geometrical and symmetrical shaped inlays by hand is far more difficult than doing 'fancy' leaves, flowers and grapevines etc, because getting endless straight lines and patterns that will look symmetrical is actually far more tricky that it would initially seem.
For starters we'll go back to the 'Likeness' of the Guitar, below, to see exactly what's needed.
There are single Mother-of-Pearl 'V' inlays at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 21st fret spaces with a smaller pair of 'Vs' at the 12th. The 'Royale' headstock logo for this particular guitar is a more pointed crown than the original 'Royal' crown and will be made from Brass.
Initially the fingerboard has to be drawn out to full scale with the frets and centre-line marked.
The design gradually gets
modified to the Final Stage which is the 'blacked
in' set at the bottom of this picture.
Most important to remember is that the Pearl is
only about 1/16th" thick..... so if the
fingerboard is going to be quite contoured (
radiused ) the inlays cannot
span too far across the fingerboard if used in one piece..... or the Pearl-ends
will be 'sanded out' and the shape will be lost.
Alternatively, the 'Vs' can each be made in two pieces joined on the
centre-line. I personally prefer to have less width to the inlays and keep them
in one piece.
MORE DETAIL
Above is a
slightly clearer set of pictures. 'Blacking-in'
the 'Vs' helps you see how they're going to look,
however when marking and cutting the Pearl,
it's best to revert to the 'V' drawings with the outside
line only visible as it's a lot easier to copy and
transfer onto tracing paper again and then
the Pearl itself before cutting.
Now that this point has been reached..... we can go on to the Next Stage which is Organizing the Tools for 'Laying-out' and 'Cutting' the Pearl for the Fingerboard 'V's and the Brass for the Headstock Logo.
So now it's back to..... MAKING AN ANGEL in the Cutting and Inlaying Section.