Abalone inlays

Manfred-Klose

Is possible to cut out and use a abalone shell on a fretboard as an inlay?

I could probably just go and buy a abalone sheet or pre cut inlays from www.stewmac.com, but i have a lot abalone shells at home and would try and make it for a fun experiment,

Do any guitar builders use pure abalone shell?

Found a link on how to make a abalone sheet out of clay:
http://polymerclayexpress.com/sept2001.html

and another one:
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/ms_abalone1.html

Would this abalone clay process work as a guitar inlay?

Sorry i ask to many qeustions, but sometimes the internet can be limited in a way, think i need to go to the library more often.

AlanRatcliffe

Is possible to cut out and use a abalone shell on a fretboard as an inlay?

Yes. That's often used. The local variety is mostly a bit subdued in colour (but not always) compared to a lot of other varients like Paua abalone. The Abalam sheets from Stewmac and others are nice to use.

The Fimo-type clay fake abalone I haven't used, but it doesn't look cheap to make.

Manfred-Klose

Thanks.

I have experimented with using chemicals to clean up the shell, works great.
Just need to buff it and see if i can get it flat.

Manfred-Klose

What about using maple as an inlay on a rosewood fretboard?

Will it work? i suppose not

AlanRatcliffe

Maple needs a finish, rosewood boards don't... You could leave it unfinished, but it would get mighty dirty, mighty quickly.

Manfred-Klose

Maby the maple could be given a handpainted finish, like a french polish or something after the radius has been done.

I'll look into it.