Official Luthiers Forum!

Newbie again.
I am looking for what most of you do!!! After routing an ebony fretboard,
do you fill defects around inlay with:
A: ebony dust and CA
B: ebony dust and epoxy
C: Resin dyes and CA
D: Resin dyes and epoxy
E: Something else

What fill better and gets less bubbles. I have noticed more bubbles with
ebony dust
What do all of you pros do?

Andy

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

ebony dust and CA
Pack the void width dust, and place a drop of ca next to it, it will then wick into the dry dust.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Yep,I agree with Lance.On small pinholes I use the black med. CA from Stew Mac.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Andy, another vote for dust/CA...I've done black epoxy and it just shrinks in and look "plastic" next to the real ebony...'course now that I don't make mistakes anymore I have no need for dust so I can send you some if you need it! (That was a J-O-A-K, but I will be glad to send you all my dust!).

Larry

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

I use 5 min. epoxy and powdered black anniline dye.

Just a thought for you....

Even though ebony is a perfect color match ... try to keep your inlay pockets as tight as possible.... Sometimes it is pretty noticable when the grain doesn't match.

On Madagascar ebony (the jet black stuff) it isn't as noticable, but on gaboon and macassar it is more obvious.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Here is a trick I learned from a world class inlay artist.
    Take black magic marker and super glue activator.
Cover the pearl with the magic marker , then spray the activator on it. It will dissapear. You then super glue the pearl and kit it with super glue.
    the super glue will pick up the color and you will have a perfect fill.
try it and see
john hall

Andy, I'm almost embarrassed to say what I do. The one redeeming quality of this method is that it's easy. And cheap. Ok, so there are two redeeming qualities.
When the routing is finished--and like Larry, it will be perfect--I then strike a match and burn it up. The match, not the fretboard. Then you can just grind the charred fibers into the gaps, and hit it with CA. It is amazing how ebony-like this ends up looking. Of course, you could use ebony, but rounding it up after routing, or making a collection of dust is more difficult than burning a match.
Oh yes--use only "Kitchen Chief" matches.   

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Use real ebony dust, as fine as you can make it. I use what I generate with my 1/32 downcut bits. I then as well fill the gap and use CA. The keys are to make sure the wood dust is flush with the surface AFTER the CA shrinks as it dries, and to finish to only 320 or so grit. Anything higher shines it up too much, andthing lower looks O.K, but not for the pearl.

Good luck

Craig

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www.handcraftinlay.com

What???? Craig, YOU make mistakes???? I don't believe it! My foundations have been shaken!!! Seriously, having seen your work, your "mistakes" are either very small, or your technique hiding them is world class!

Larry

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

NOT....






Thanks Larry

Actually all I see when I look at my work is the mistakes. It's depressing after a while, but it makes you want to not see them or make them again, so you keep pushing each time.

I should have new inlays done in the next few weeks. One for an OLFER as well!

Craig

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www.handcraftinlay.com

Thanks to you all for your help.
This is a great forum.
As a newbie that is working on my 2nd guitar, I am so glad all of you pros
out there are so helpful
Andy

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

OK now I know John Hall has lost it

Actually that's a great tip and would work really well, Brock's right about getting close but here's another tip I'm not sure how many know...

If you route any kind of rosewood and have gaps, take a piece of the rosewood and make shavings with a sharp knife, then stick those vertically into the gaps (so they stick up) or if it's a bigger area you can try stuffing them in. Then hit it with CA and sand them down flat...

Because it's not powder it won't darken and if you take your time it's really hard to tell it's even there, wood with lots of grain it works really well on.

Not as cool as Johns trick but it does work..

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

John your not worried at all about the marker fading over time? I know they are "permanent" markers but from what I've seen they can fade/turn brownish over time.. I guess it's got the ebony backing as well, you'd probably never even notice if it did lighten over time.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

HI Craig
    I like vines   :o)
     John Hall
Thanks guys . There are alot of useful techniques here. I am sure I will try a few. What do you guys do with rosewood?

If you keep the dust in big jars like this, you can chuck a phillips screwdriver upside-down in your drill press and grind it (pharmacy style) into extremely fine dust in no time.

John Watkins38578.3198611111

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

For other woods, you can mix a custom color in epoxy. Some combo of brown, yellow, and red will match just about anything. Since you're using so little materials, don't be afraid to chuck it and start over. Too much color and the epoxy will never set.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

Hello everybody,
I also use the thin C.A.(hot stuff) and ebony method.
I,ve had an occasional problem with it, in that after leveling, and probably a little more than just level, I have found small gaps appear.
It seems that the ebony dust just dont want to go into the really small gaps despite my careful efforts. It apears to , but actually only just enters. I use a clean fine mill file to make my dust and finger the best to try and work it in. I,ve also found the C.A. to stop with the ebony dust only and not travel past it.
   I also ,(before hitting it with C.A.) leave a small hill of the dust over the area to be filled and wick in via the little hill. My reasoning being , if the C.A shrinks down the dust in the gap, there is enough surplus dust on top to reach level. My Exacto blade doesn't seem to be any good at getting it in.It really is only noticeable under magnification and only in a couple of spots .
I have filled those couple of little spots with a tiny amount of epoxy and ebony dust. I fear using C.A. again may upset the other areas. Anyhow of course,,, upon leveling those bits of epoxy, , a couple of new little spots have reared there ugly heads.
Any help here? Pleased to see Craig on this thread too!!

   Kind regards to all ,,KiwiCraig

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CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
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[QUOTE=Sprockett]
If you route any kind of rosewood and have gaps, take a piece of the rosewood and make shavings with a sharp knife, then stick those vertically into the gaps (so they stick up) or if it's a bigger area you can try stuffing them in. Then hit it with CA and sand them down flat...

Because it's not powder it won't darken and if you take your time it's really hard to tell it's even there, wood with lots of grain it works really well on.

Not as cool as John's trick but it does work..

Cheers

-Paul-[/QUOTE]

Don't you just love this forum. What a cool tip!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Andy, I'm almost embarrassed to say what I do. The one redeeming quality of this method is that it's easy. And cheap. Ok, so there are two redeeming qualities.
When the routing is finished--and like Larry, it will be perfect--I then strike a match and burn it up. The match, not the fretboard. Then you can just grind the charred fibers into the gaps, and hit it with CA. It is amazing how ebony-like this ends up looking. Of course, you could use ebony, but rounding it up after routing, or making a collection of dust is more difficult than burning a match.
Oh yes--use only "Kitchen Chief" matches.   

Steve[/QUOTE]

Hmmm...I wonder if charcoal would work on ebony? It IS burned wood.