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I have some detailed engraving directly into a fretboard that is rather fine to inlay into with the usual solid materials, so I was thinking pigmented epoxy. It needs to come out looking as close to metallic gold as possible. Anyone have any suggestions as to how best to achieve this? How do the dentists do it??

Thanks in anticipation.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I used dentist's silver amagam years ago for an inlay. I would assume gold is done the same way
but. at least back then, the metal was held in with a mechanical joint. Think of a three dimensional dovetail.

I've used epoxy and various colored powders over the years for inlay as well.
Sometimes it will work beautifully and sometimes not: It depends on the power.

I think the only way you can answer your question is to experiment.

Maybe Inlace http://www.inlaceonline.com/text/products/metallic-dusts.html
or something like you can find (in Oz) here in
http://www.amcsupplies.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9&zenid=36uve5meod1cn35su1mk5qgbo5
Mix with clear resin? But they would more be a metalflake

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Hey Trevor, you might check out the metallic powders from crescentbronze.com they have several different shades of gold.

I have had some good results using powdered pearlesent pigments from the local craft store to color epoxies.

And there is this http://www.inlaceonline.com/text/produc ... dusts.html
I haven't used it but some wood turners I know really like their products.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Trevor, you should be able to buy gold filled epoxy, it's used as a conductive adhesive as is silver epoxy. The gold might be a little harder to find, but I'm pretty sure its available. I used some silver a little while back and found it in 2.5 gram packages, so cost wasn't so bad. Perhaps gold epoxy can be obtained in small quantities too.
Good luck.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

nice thread, this stuff is exactly what I need for my next project! I had been looking at crushed stone for making my own reconstituted stone but this inlace stuff seems way more suited for what I'm looking to do.

what exactly is the "inlace" stuff...? plastic granules? stone? metal? it doesn't seem to say on the website...i'm just wondering how smooth a finish you could get with it, if it was used on unlaquered rosewood/ebony fretboards

I would use the metallic powders that are used for gold leaf work. They are usually set in a shellac base. You could also do it with real gold leaf, but that would cost more and take a little more technique.

I've sourced some Pearl Ex gold colours and some Pale Gold superfine metallic pigment and have tried polyester and epoxy resins as binders. The Langridge stuff looks by far the best at this stage, (it's essential just very finely powdered bronze), but I'll let you know the final outcome when I level them tomorrow.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Bit late to the thread, sorry....

I cut fine grooves in my headplates using a laser engraver, then over-fill them with metallic gold acrylic paint (available from any good art supply store). Once dry, I carefully sand the over-fill back level with the headplate and voila, done. Looks just like inlaid fine gold strips - works particularly well on ebony:



Click on the picture to see it in hi-res. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

David F,

Thanks for that tip. Maybe something to try next...

So far I've tried the fine bronze powder and the Pearl Ex pigments in epoxy, polyester (I'd forgotten how I hated the smell...), CA, and even straight into melted shellac with a variety of techniques. Generally the overfilled cavity looks great - nice and shiny, but dulls pathologically on levelling, not to be revived by any form of buffing or over coating. This seems to correspond with the reports of other users in various woodworking blogs/forums, yet there are occasional pics from people who have made it work by seemingly doing nothing different from what I've tried. Success may be very dependant on the various brands of the stuff used. All I can tell so far is that none of the "generic" combinations I've used have worked for me.

Next up may be some coarse ground brass (just filings) which on the trials I've done so far provide some glitter, in a "yellow" ground to give the right basic colour. Or maybe some of the fine bronze powder in PVA glue... (which may be a close approximation to the acrylic paint you're using).

It would be nice to get back to making guitars...

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au