A unique and tasteful headstock inlay is a really nice way to finish a guitar. If you are building an instrument for a friend -- inlaying their first name or surname in a tasteful font is a nice touch. Google "free fonts" some sites will let you write the name or brand and give you a visual. Download the font and play with it in WORD and size to the pitch that works on your headstock.

Cutting mother-of-pearl isn't all that hard and requires a minimum investment in equipment. (Good ventilation is a must as the dust can do nasty things to your lungs). If you search the archives -- look for Craig Lavin. Years ago I bought Larry Robinson's inlay book and bought the VHS tapes (yeah that long ago) and learned from there.

A surname like "Bear" is a great one to brand a guitar. Try working with mine, not exactly inspirational

A surname like "Bear" is a great one to brand a guitar. Try working with mine, not exactly inspirational

I too have naked pegheads. I tell myself it is because I like the simple yet elegant look. In truth, it is some combination of 1) I like the look, 2) my I lay chops are not up to an acceptable level and 3) I have yet to find the inspiration for what I would I lay on them.

Come on, your initials are perfect for wordplay... A to Z Guitars. And the headstock logo could be a big A-Z. Or replace the dash with whatever shape you like, to make it more personal and recognizable. Or even if you don't like that name, just a single Z would still look cool.

Mine is a fancy looking D, so it doesn't look too plain, but doesn't take very long to do either, and because I sometimes get the nickname "Big D". I thought about going with all 3 initials, which is how I sign paintings, but it just doesn't have the same impact.


If I had your name, I'd do a bear paw print, with no further explanation other than your full name on the inside label. Recognizable enough alone, and easy enough to inlay. Make a shaped stick to cut slices off of for the toes.

You can get a nice branding iron from Rockler and put it in the back of the headstock . I use them on my builds. Martin used them for years and decals.
Be careful of stickers. Also you can get a nice custom head inlay in pearl for less than you may think. Call Custom Pearl Inlay or Andy Depaulle

Yeah I got a lot out of that challenge. I kinda wish there was another one. It really forced me to work quickly. I lack confidence in my chops and tend to procrastinate; With the deadline, I couldn't really spend much time worrying and just had to get to it.

Following everyone's threads in real time was inspirational too.

Back on topic. . . does anyone have any tips on turning a picture into an inlay? I see pictures I like but my brain just can't figure out how to make it work in sections and limited colors/lines. Then I see really cool inlays that started from photos. . .

Typically Artists use the squinting eye technique to simplify information. It works well. Another option is to use a computer to simplify it. Years ago I consulted on a video game where the designers wanted to use photographs of characters and each frame (think cartoon animation) had to be small enough to be fluid enough for internet speed. I suggested using the Trace Bitmap function of Adobe Flash to do it. The idea worked very well. Trace Bitmap reduces the number of colors and lines to a specified average. Since then there have been many commercials and the movie _A Scanner Darkly_ that have used this technique. Google a screen shot of that movie for an example.

Assuming you don't have a copy of Flash, just send the pic to a web designer and have him play with the pic. It shouldn't take more than five minutes of experimentation. Or I suspect Photoshop has a similar feature but I don't know what it's called.

-j

Whaat!! Thats genius - it works perfectly! I've been trying to figure out a way of doing that for ages. I'm afraid I'm not artistic enough to do it by eye, but this does it all for you. Now I just need to work out where to get all the different coloured materials from!