What with my surgeries and life and everything else, I just realized I have done just about zilch on my little size 5 koa since mid-October, with the exception of a few build sessions with FP. I've been scratching my head trying to come up with the right "look" for the bamboo inlay I want for the fretboard. I want a certain amount of Japanese look to it, like their traditional woodblock prints from around 100 years ago. I even bought some books on Japanese motifs used for printmaking for ideas on the aesthetics. But I didn't want too much of the Japanese look in it, just "some". So here's what I came up with. This is by no means done. About 2/3 of the leaves in the Photoshop mockup have actually been cut. None of the stem or trunk pieces are cut. They're shown sittin on the actual fretboard I'll be using. I'm planning on using this on 3rd to 5th frets, with little or no other inlays on the fb.
I am a little concerned about the fine cuts I'll be making in EIR and am thinking that I might have more success with such cuts being made in ebony. I really like the look of EIR over ebony on this guitar. But being based on the Martin size 5 scale length (so it's not so easy to have a new one cut and I'm without that capability), plus having bought the neck and fb already glued, I wonder if I'm too attached to the EIR. Any opinions or ideas on the wood selection, design, whatever?
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