MARTIN FRETBOARD INLAY

[000lover]

The last martin kit I got the inlay dots on the fretboard were already glued in. there was a hump of adhesive of some kind over the dots. It smoothed down fine and looks nice now. I got a new kit with/out inlay. When I glued in the dots from stewmac there are gaps and a little lower than the fretboard. I was thinking, if i had a glue like the one martin uses I would be fine.

Any idea what glue they use? Maybe a super glue gel or something?

[tippie53]

martin inlay is even to the fretboard. If the pearl is below the plane of the wood , you can shim the pearl up. You can try CA over the pearl , you have about a 50 50 chance that it will hide the level of the pearl.

[Freeman]

You can use either CA (super glue) or epoxy for any inlay. I sand some of the parent wood (ebony or rosewood) and mix a little of the sanding dust into epoxy, put some in the hole or routed channel and push the inlay into the hole. I then put a piece of waxed paper over the inlay and clamp some sort of caul over the top to hold it just flush with the top of the board - the colored epoxy will fill any gaps around the inlay. Scrape it down flush and you should be good to go.

[000lover]

If anyone is interested, the super glue gel worked great. I just applied the glue over the top and clumped it high. Then when it cured level with radius sanding block.