My quilted maple project

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteStrat
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true-eurt said:
I have a question for Muttley or Light or anyone else who knows...could the tortoise shell plastic Strat used on the back plate covers, be used for inlay?

That would look most excellent and be quite unusual as I have never seen it before on a neck...of course, maybe it is lousy to use and THAT is why I've never seen it used before!!!:D
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It could but there are easy, tougher and purpose made options available cheaply. You always have to be careful using plastics and acrylics on fingerboards. You need to be sure that they are wear resistant and in this case that the finish will take to it. Teat on scrap.

http://www.marquetry.co.uk/main/acatalog/Acrylic_Shells.html
 
muttley600 said:
It could but there are easy, tougher and purpose made options available cheaply. You always have to be careful using plastics and acrylics on fingerboards. You need to be sure that they are wear resistant and in this case that the finish will take to it. Teat on scrap.

http://www.marquetry.co.uk/main/acatalog/Acrylic_Shells.html
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Thanks Muttley. Are the ones you linked me to, wear resistant then?

How about some of that authentic tortoise shell you have...would that work?;)
 
true-eurt said:
Thanks Muttley. Are the ones you linked me to, wear resistant then?

How about some of that authentic tortoise shell you have...would that work?;)
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You can't use or get hold or real tortoise shell any more. Even if you can you can't use it. It's a major one of the Cites agreements.

I have used the ones in the link for inlay but never on fingerboards. It is a lot tougher than the regular plastic that is used for cavity covers. I wouldn't really like fingerboard inlay in tortoise shell but that is just me.

I don't know what shell it is and have never bothered to investigate but the stuff Red Bear uses for their picks is apparently legal and available.
 
muttley600 said:
You can't use or get hold or real tortoise shell any more. Even if you can you can't use it. It's a major one of the Cites agreements.

I have used the ones in the link for inlay but never on fingerboards. It is a lot tougher than the regular plastic that is used for cavity covers. I wouldn't really like fingerboard inlay in tortoise shell but that is just me.

I don't know what shell it is and have never bothered to investigate but the stuff Red Bear uses for their picks is apparently legal and available.
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Thanks again Muttley. All I could find on material it is made from, is natural animal protein. They have several dealers, two of which are in Missouri, where I live..one near St. Louis and one near the Lake of the Ozarks. Of course they can be ordered online too straight from Red Bear.

They even offer seconds at 25% off, those which the etching was offset. There is a lot of testimonials on these picks from Professional players for their performance as picks.

They don't offer material to anyone for any reason, so that shoots down the idea of buying some decent sized scrap. I suppose one could use picks themselves to cut dots from??...although rather expensive.

Sorry for the hi-jack Strat!!!
 
muttley600 said:
I don't know what shell it is and have never bothered to investigate but the stuff Red Bear uses for their picks is apparently legal and available.
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It may not even be a shell - Allparts is selling cow horn and cow hoof picks. They actually feel pretty good (quite close to real tortoise), but they snap in two far too easily for me (but only because I like to carry a handful of picks around in my pockets).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
It may not even be a shell - Allparts is selling cow horn and cow hoof picks. They actually feel pretty good (quite close to real tortoise), but they snap in two far too easily for me (but only because I like to carry a handful of picks around in my pockets).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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One of the things they stress in the Red Bear info on the picks, is that you shouldn't carry them in your pocket or billfold...because of the hardness(brittleness)they could break...they say to keep them in your guitar case pick holder or use one of their pick holders that go on a key chain...so maybe they wouldn't make could inlay material on a fretboard. You can't get them wet either(no accidental washings in a jean pocket).. and yah, they most likely are made of cow horn and hoofs,since they say animal protein as the material. They don't mention shell at all....anyway, I just thought the tortoise shell would look really nice on Strat's guitar neck.
 
true-eurt said:
One of the things they stress in the Red Bear info on the picks, is that you shouldn't carry them in your pocket or billfold...because of the hardness(brittleness)they could break...they say to keep them in your guitar case pick holder or use one of their pick holders that go on a key chain...so maybe they wouldn't make could inlay material on a fretboard. You can't get them wet either(no accidental washings in a jean pocket).. and yah, they most likely are made of cow horn and hoofs,since they say animal protein as the material. They don't mention shell at all....anyway, I just thought the tortoise shell would look really nice on Strat's guitar neck.
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Whatever it is and I was lead to believe it was a genuine turtle shell of some kind, I'm not sure though, I would doubt that it is more brash or brittle than MOP or other similar shell used all the time for inlay. It's wear resistance I'm interested in for fingerboard inlay. Somewhere in my notes I have a list of shell suppliers that do substitute turtle shell that is legal. As I recall it's not easily available though. I'll look it up if I remember,
 
WhiteStrat said:
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Okay...so a year and a half later (geez...I'm either really busy or really lazy!) it's gonna get finished. Today I got this in my email:

UPS Ship Notification, Tracking Number 1Z97................

That's my neck. Well my neck is between my head and body, but it's the neck for my guitar. Thanks to everyone who followed along and encouraged me in this thread--not to mention helped me along the way.

It's scheduled to arrive next Friday, and I'm gonna clear the deck next weekend to put it all together. I've got to make a jig and drill the pocket, then put on the neck with these super-duper neck-bolt-inserts with inset-collar dealies--just a (hopefully) clever way to make the neck nice and secure without a neck plate (funky shaped contour heel gets in the way of a neck plate.)

Oh...and I have to do one serious piece of reworking before I can call it done. I had another neck to mess with when I built a Tele earlier this year, and I set it in the heel pocket of this one just to imagine it "done."

I realized I had done something dumb--the bridge pickup (in this case, the only pickup) is too tall! It's mounted right to the body, but I put the gold pickup ring on just 'cause I like that finished look. Anyway I did all that with Les Paul specs--lower pickup in front (which I don't have) and taller one in the back. But that set up is of course predicated on the neck being at a Les Paul angle. This one's not made that way. The neck is straight relative to the body. So if it had two pickups, they'd both need to be as low as the front one.

Which means I have to lower the one pickup in the back. I've got to rout it a bit deeper, and fortunately, when I bought the pickup ring, it was part of a Les Paul spec'd set, so I've got the short one that would be for the front. I'll just use that instead of the tall one that's on there now.

Oh, and the neck? 24 frets (standard length, just 3 fret on the overhang instead of one), gold fret wire (yes, it will be completely pimped out), compound 10-16" radius, black marker dots (figured it would play nicely with the black screws in the bridge and locking nut) all on "highly figured" quilted maple. That last one is what I'm nervous about. After I spec'd it out and placed the order, I got busy and forgot about it. I never asked to see and approve the piece of wood. I wish I had. Oh well--let's hope they picked a pretty plank.

I'll see in a week...stay tuned.
 
Looking good there whitey. Ain't it good when it all come together.:D
 
Thanks for bumping this, man, I can't WAIT to see the thing finished. :D
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Thanks for bumping this, man, I can't WAIT to see the thing finished. :D
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You and me both, Drew! The neck arrives in two days--and AAACKK!!!--I've got a "function" to attend Friday night. So at best, I get to rip open the package and drool on it for a minute, then wait 'til Saturday to put it all together. I guess after a year and a half I can wait one evening, huh?

I'm using my impatience for good though. I re-routed that pickup cavity and took care of that--looks perfect. Made a bunch of practice "neck jigs" to use as templates for the holes. I even practice drilled and tested for width and depth on all the holes. And as soon as I got the shipping notice on the neck, I ordered a case. That came today.

Can you tell I'm a bit anxious?
 
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