Spring is here!!!

Spring has sprung! Today is a beautiful sunny day with temps in the mid 70's, no wind to speak of, and no clouds in the sky. I didn't get to spend too much time on the guitar because of all the outdoor work I needed to get done but I did get to spend a couple of hours doing the peg head inlay. My first decision I needed to make was how to trace the inlay on the peg head with more accurate results. I thought about tack gluing the inlay and scribing around it but I didn't want to risk damaging it when I tried to remove it. I finally decided to make a copy of the inlay on my copier, then glue that to the peg head. After that I used my x-acto knife to cut the picture out thus scribing the wood underneath. It worked pretty well. It still isn't perfect but it is better than trying to trace around the inlay piece.

Once that was done I went about the task of slowly routing out inside the lines using my dremel, downcut bits, and the stewmac router base. I used my knife to cut the points out on the ends of the antlers and neck bottom. It took a lot of painstaking slow work but I finally got it so the inlay fit in the relief with a small amount of pressure. I did mess up a little around the head where I got too wide but overall it looks pretty good. I filled all the gaps with sanding dust made from some scrap rosewood and then flooded the inlay with thin CA. Once it cured I sanded it and it looks fine. I wish the CA/wood dust mixture would actually look like the rosewood color instead of a dead solid brown color but it is okay. Since the inlay is so small, the actual fill spots really aren't too noticeable unless you really look for them. I know that the inlay I did on the OM looked a lot better once the finish went on. It kind of made the filler blend in better with the wood so I am hoping that the same holds true on this one. I have to say, I have a whole lot more respect for the professionals who do this for a living. I have no idea how they get their inlays so perfect.

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do with the tops of the slots in the peg head other than rounding them or making them square like they are now. I finally decided to 'step' the tops of them so they match the top of the peg head. I cut and chiseled the tops very carefully and got what I think is a decent looking slot top. I still need to figure out how I am going to sand the insides of these slots so they are ready for finish. Oh well, that is a ways down the road yet so I will worry about that later.

The copy of the inlay glued to the peg head.

This is the result after cutting the picture out using an x-acto knife.

Here is the inlay press fit in the relief.

I filled the slots with sanding dust and flooded the inlay with thin CA.

The completed inlay.

It is beginning to look like a guitar!

The heel and neck joint. Yeah, I know it still needs some 'fine tuning' ! lol

The peg head after I stepped the tops of the slots. They are equal in size, the angle of the picture just makes them look un-equal.