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I would like to make a dark ebony headstock inlay for my Beatles Bass (Hefner). The headstock is light maple. The logo will be cut for me on a CNC router from dark ebony. I will hand-route the headstock for the inlay. I'm concerned about using maple dust with CA glue to fill the small voids that will occur around the inlay. I've read some individuals don't use CA to attach bindings because it wicks into & discolors the adjacent wood (eg. a spruce top). What would be the best wat to prevent messy discoloration around the logo?

on light woods I use shellac and dust seal everything before you glue in the inlay you should be fine

Same as John H. Shellac will seal the wood so the CA doesn’t soak in. The shellac sands off easily if desired after. Dust will seal but the trick is to make that piece fit as tight as you can without forcing into the hole though no one ever noticed small fills around my inlays.

I ran into this on a quilted maple headstock. I tried several things but found any glue I tried darkened the maple dust too much. So I tried the lightest dust I could get, like holly or ash, and did some tests on scrap, and it was better. I don't know what it will look like after years of exposure to light. So I am very interested to see how using shellac works. And I wonder if anyone has tried other things like lacquer or vinyl sealer? Bruce W.

thats why you seal it first , that helps avoid the darkening. And if you seal dust and finish makes a decent filler

Any chance the guy cutting the inlay could also cut the pocket? Then there wouldn't be any gaps.

MaineGeezer wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 7:24 am Any chance the guy cutting the inlay could also cut the pocket? Then there wouldn't be any gaps.

I did just that the other night. No gaps to speak of.

Inlay isn’t fully seated / glued in the picture - but it came out sweet. Walnut into maple.

That looks great. I've wondered about doing this, but I don't - and won't - have a CNC router. I think I can find someone who could do it. I'm curious to know if the headplate is routed on the guitar, or if it has to be done separately, and if that's the case, how tricky is it to get the pre-routed headplate perfectly aligned when you glue it to the headstock? Bruce W.

Thanks.

The one in the picture was done on the completed neck - I clamped the whole thing in the CNC.

I like doing it this way, as there is a pocket for the inlay to set into. Add CA to the pocket, push the inlay in. voila.

I usually cut the pocket .06" deep, which could be the thickness of the overlay being used. If you cut the pocket thru, seems like it would make the inlay harder to glue in place.

Doing it on just a headplate sure does make shipping easier. In that case, I'd ask for the head plate to be supplied oversize. Make/fit/glue in the inlay, then thickness sand the assembly to final dimension. This helps, because the inlay gets levelled to that surface anyways.

Getting the finished head plate aligned on the headstock might be a little finicky, but I can't see it being terrible.

When I do my headstock inlay I get the head plate in position on the headstock with the area I want the inlay marked off.....center lines, then I put in locating pins.

Put it in the cnc and make the cut and glue in the inlay.
When I'm ready to attach the plate everything is already lined up using the pins. No problems