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At the moment I'm building an electric bassguitar and the headstock has to show my logo "A" in white Mother of Pearl.
The finish however will be a quite dark tinted laquer.

Now I'm thinking about how to make this two work together in a neat clean way.

If I do the inlay first then I have to mask or to to take off the finish afterwards.
If I do the inlay after coloring I may damage the finish when routing.
(Or maybe leave the colored finish over the inlay)

Cannot decide yet,
Do you have any ideas?

Herman

Test first with scrap off the guitar to see if the MOP absorbs any of the finish. I think I know the answer but lessons are always more solidly learned and we own knowledge when we find them for ourselves. Let us know what you discover and I'll tell you if my hunch was right.

You are going to have to mask off the pearl and frop fill with clear unless you like the tinted finish over the pearl.

Ditto John Hall -- companies including Gibson that "black" lacquer the headstock --inlay, mask, spray black, unmask and complete with the clear. Might even be some Gibson factory video on the process?

Guess I should clarify that "Frisket" liquid masking is what am suggesting -- its just painted on the pearl with a fine artist brush, kind of rolls into a ball when you peel it off.

Hey Ken,
That's a great tip. Thanks.
I'll look around, to see if it's available over here.

Yep,
It is available in every paintbrushstore here. So I will follow this advise.
Thanks again
Herman

JJ,

I'm not the type of guy who runs to this forum every time a question or problem occurs. 99% of the problem I run into I'll solve on my own. I consider all of you as a kind of friends. If you think that I jump in too fast to instant solutions, tell me. But telling me you have the answer but I'll have to find out for myself (because I is better for me) feels like being kept to a leash. Maybe you did not have the intension to do so, but it does not suit me.

Herman

I was actually hoping you'd show pics of the difference between coated and uncoated MOP. That would have been cool and lots of folks would have learned something. I would agree that my post was inarticulate and I'm sorry you misunderstood its purpose...my intention was not intended to disrespect.

JJ

I appreciate your apologies. Thanks. I value the friendly and low profile atmosphere of this forum, and your words did not feel right to me. I am a bit sensitive to these things. since I left the acoustic-guitar-forum (4 yeaars ago) for the reason the pros (i.c. Rick Turner) tend to use condecending language to amateurs.

But we're fine now.
Herman