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I did little round inlays on my first fingerboard and they didn't come out centered. For #2 I wanted to get fancy with blue MOP diamonds but my fat stubby fingers and foggy noggin have befuddled. I've drawn lines and have done mock layouts but those darned things slip and slide and spin. It's very frustrating. If any of you have any tricks I'd love to hear them. I'm otherwise ready to go with regards to Dremel bits.

I draw lines so that the points center on a line. I then super glue (just a touch) down diamonds so that I can trace around them. I have not had any success just holding them.

If the fret board is rosewood (or not ebony) with diamonds I trace with a scalpel and us a sharp chisel to clean out the waist. I had trouble getting clean corners with a dremel. I know it can be done, I just like the chisel for squared off inlays.

Thanks, John,

I assume that you scribe around the diamond (I'm thinking of using an exactly knife) then pop it up carefully so that you can finish with the Dremel? By the way, yes it's ebony.

nkwak wrote:Thanks, John,

I assume that you scribe around the diamond (I'm thinking of using an exactly knife) then pop it up carefully so that you can finish with the Dremel? By the way, yes it's ebony.

Yes that sounds right. Also with ebony you can hide anything.

Here's how I lay out mine, centers them up very nicely. This can give you two or three centers with centerlines depending on your inlay type.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nPpLjxT4do
here is how I do it.
I use 3 mail lines the center and to place the double inlays a line that follows the taper 7/16 in from the ends. The a center line on each fret that gets inlay , keep it simple.

John, I like mine centered on the board and between the strings. Your method moves the outside pieces of pearl out closer to the edge of the FB. Just a different way to do it.

As to the question of holding the piece with stubby fingers, John had a good idea that has worked for me. Grind the tippy tip off of a 8 or 10 penny nail and use it to push and hold down the piece while you trace with either a knife or .03 lead pencil

Ed

I do it the martin does it. There are many ways to do it.
One thing you need to consider , that is taper , I follow the taper of the fretboard on the outer inlays. Again find what you like and do it that way , and have fun with it .

For round dots I set up the fingerboard on my milling machine, find the center line and center of a fret space with an edge finder and a digital readout, and drill to depth with a center-cutting end mill that gives an (almost) flat-bottomed hole....but maybe that's cheating. Cheating or not, I've still managed to get it wrong on occasion.

For diamonds and such, I think the secret (such as it is) is a dot of superglue to hold it in place while scribing around it. I've never had any luck holding an inlay with my finger such that it doesn't move.