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Inlays

Inlay work is a separate art form and most of us 'old walrus' guitar builders
have been cutting pearl as long as we have been making guitars.
As you see my style leans towards a Art Nouveau and Art Deco graphic style.
Prices vary depending on design time and the inlay's complexity .


abalone wine glass with mop inlay
  
abalone fish interlocking with mop birds rosette
  
lady in pearl /abalone inlay
Abalone wine glass with MOP wine being held by an Ivory (recycled piano key) hand. This is Brad Paisley's guitar.   This is an Escher-ish design using Abalone fish interlocking with MOP birds that swim and fly around the sound hole. Perhaps I had been breathing too much pearl dust.   Mucha was a wonderful artist from the turn of the last century. I'm a fan and simplified one of his ladies enough to cut her in Pearl and Abalone. The banner around her legs says 'everett'.

theater masks inlay
  
 
celtic knots inlay
What a wonderful pair of animated theater masks. My buddy Paul Bordeaux found these for me. I built this guitar for a NAMM show. It has rippled snail shell around the top trimmed in black and bound in Ebony. Kind of a black and white thing.  

I inlaid this rose in the fall ,
so it seemed natural for it to be loosing it's petals.

Paua, Abalone, and Mother of Pearl. - (Ebony tuner buttons)

   Jim Murphy asked for Celtic knots. We used two different designs. Figure 8 design for the peghead and three pointers for the fingerboard. This is a beautiful guitar that uses a fine purple line around the top and rosette to match the purple Paua shell in the inlays and logo.

 
 

The quackers. Gold MOP, White MOP, Abalone, Paua, flying south. My original design had cattails (marsh foliage) at the bottom of the fingerboard.

   Jeannie (my wife) designed this lady for a nail salon. We added a star to her hair and have her blowing stars. One star flies over onto the Ebony tuner button, then they fall down the fingerboard. (You can even find one inside the guitar's body.)   This rose marquetry (colored wood veneers) endpin is losing it's petals. They fall down the side and one has fallen onto the back.

Fancy Orchids with MOP tuner buttons on an L model with a 100 year old spruce top. Good use of this old piece of wood, don't you think?  
93 small pieces of Paua, Gold MOP, MOP, Stone,.. make this design. What a headache!
And lots, lots more,... Hit me with your idea.
Be sure to visit the 'Gallery' to see the current designs.

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Because of the quality of wood and workmanship, don't forget that no inlay can also be very attractive.
I like to give a lot of options at no additional cost.
That way the price will not be the main factor. You can think more in terms of how you want your guitar to look, sound and feel.