imitation ivory

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ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

imitation ivory

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Didn't know where to put this. I have a nice piece of redwood and finally figured out what to do with it. Flame maple b+s+binding, black painted neck with Stauffer head and banjo tuners, and a bridge like the one in the first shot. That is a Bourgeois guitar - I contacted them and they no longer offer that as an option because it is too expensive.

Coincidentally, my brother and I were reminiscing about dad taking us to see the nearby Warther museum in northern Ohio in the late 50's. I looked them up and they are still there 60 years later:

the warthermuseum dot com

Amazing - ivory and ebony or walnut. From there it was a short hop to his grand - kid David:

warther dot org

Equally amazing - real ivory at .007" as ropes on a ship. And from there a short hop to Davids website:

guitarpartsandmore dot com

A lot of cool stuff for guitars. And another hop to here:

https://guitarpartsandmore.com/Product. ... k-Large-61

At $275 for a blank, I would be afraid to work on it. I contacted him and he said he also sells the best ivory copy around, Resin-Ivory. It is all over his site guitarpartsandmore. I tend to believe his opinion based on his work.

We corresponded back and forth and he was more than happy to work with me, suggesting Resin-Ivory. He sent me a 7 X 1-3/8" X 3/8" blank of the better of the 2 grades (S grade) and a bunch of cut offs to play around with and they got here yesterday.

The lower 2 pictures are what he sent. The actual color is much closer to the real ivory bridge. I have used a saw, chisel, scraper and sandpaper on the material and it works very nicely. I weighed an ebony pyramid bridge at 35g, and a similar sized piece of Resin-Ivory at 39g, so the weight is about the same. The surface is a little softer, so it remains to be seen what it will sound like as a bridge.

Before I posted, I thought I would look to see if there was any other discussion of fake ivory on the site and found that DanL mentioned Resin-Ivory about a month ago. What are the chances.

I am still a few months from starting this guitar, but I will let you know what happens.

Ed
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Ed M
Danl8
Posts: 733
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:50 am
Location: Chadds Ford, PA

Re: imitation ivory

Post by Danl8 »

David sent me some samples of this material when he was gearing up for selling it. I've used it on a few guitars so far and I give it an unqualified yes. I had been buying real ivory from him for a couple of decades for lutes. When the Feds made it illegal for interstate commerce, the resin products became a reality. I believe I posted pictures (?) and a few comments here in the forum a while back.
-d.
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: imitation ivory

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Dan

Any pictures of what you did with it?

Ed
Ed M
Danl8
Posts: 733
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:50 am
Location: Chadds Ford, PA

Re: imitation ivory

Post by Danl8 »

ruby@magpage.com wrote:Dan

Any pictures of what you did with it?

Ed
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=8145&start=10
Fourth post from the end. One of the pieces I liked better, but I’m not sure which type that was. I have another inlay I’m working on. I’ll get that one up in a while.
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: imitation ivory

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Dan

Only 6 months ago and I didn't remember seeing his site at the time. Now I do. Thanks. Glad I finally got there.

Ed
Ed M
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