Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm restoring an early 70's Guild LP style with rectangular inlays in an ebony fretboard. The old ones are some kind of plastic that has cracked and I want to replace them all with pearl but the plastic is much thicker (0.1" vs 0.05") so I need some way to make up the difference. I was thinking of backing the pearl with wood before installing.

Does the wood type matter and also would the pearl be easier to cut if it was already attached or should it be cut separate.

Any other advice appreciated . Thanks.

It doesn't matter what kind of wood you back it up with. It also doesn't make much difference if you glue the wood to the pearl first and cut them out together, or do it separately. The key will be to remove the old inlays and clean up the bottom of the recess while keeping it flat. Do you have a rotary tool with a base to do this? Also, I hope you plan on removing the frets to make the inlay work possible. It is almost impossible to install inlays cleanly with the frets in place.