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Posted by: USAMAN Jun 12 2008, 06:22 PM

Well, I've never been one to bring my stuff somewhere to get a job done that I think I can do myself. Im wrong most of the time ...lol however on a rare occasion things work out great.
That being said. I own an Ibanez s2170 that has.....had no fretboard markers. This has always bugged me. If i played it exclusively it was not a big deal, however Im so used to playing guitars that have them that when I switch up it confounds my brain and I lose place of where I am on the board.
Now, I started by reading some material on inlaying. Found out about something called a brad point bit, ordered on in a 5mm size (online). This is crutial for the dot installation.
I ordered abalone dots from stewart macdonald (5mm).
I layed them out along the neck. Somehow the center of the neck didnt seem like the place for them. I shifted them all over and decided where I liked them. I wanted it to look kinda different so i decided well............

I have attached pics.
the smudgy looking stuff around the dots is glue residue. I will clean that after the dots have totally set.

Posted by: inertia Jun 12 2008, 06:50 PM

Wow looks awesome!

Posted by: bmh1109 Jun 12 2008, 06:53 PM

i can imagine that would be very nerve racking installing that first dot, i mean drilling straight into the fingerboard must be scary. However what you've done looks awesome.

Posted by: Zizi Top Jun 12 2008, 06:56 PM

Really cool, can you also do art works with inlays ?

Posted by: USAMAN Jun 12 2008, 07:01 PM

Never tried it. This is my first attempt.
I didn't even take the strings off to do this...lol

Posted by: Zizi Top Jun 12 2008, 09:06 PM

wow !! without taking of the strings, thumbs up man

Posted by: Nick325 Jun 12 2008, 09:09 PM

nice job

Posted by: kevin-riff-after-riff Jun 12 2008, 09:12 PM

i can see me doing that.... and going right through the neck with the drill lol

Posted by: VinceG Jun 12 2008, 10:13 PM

I guess thats a smart move on not removing the strings! It gives you a headroom on where you should put it, and it looks very very nice!

Posted by: USAMAN Jun 12 2008, 11:29 PM

Thank you!
The glue is dry....I have cleaned it up. I am very pleased with the final result.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 13 2008, 12:53 AM

This looks professional done I don't have dots on my bass either and its bugging me
Though I would put the dots on the opposite side of the neck upper closer to E and A string

Great job man overall!

Posted by: Praetorian Jun 13 2008, 01:16 AM

Very nice! I like the bottom of the fretboard idea!

Posted by: Trond Vold Jun 13 2008, 01:22 AM

Nice! That looks great.

I'm a certified klutz, so i wouldnt dare to attempt a operation like that

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 13 2008, 04:02 PM

WOw, great job man, looks pretty slick!

Posted by: USAMAN Jun 14 2008, 12:22 AM

Thanks Ivan!

Posted by: GuardianBlue Jun 17 2008, 05:32 AM

Wow that looks really great! I've always been curious about inlaying myself, and have seen some pretty awesome customs jobs around the internet. Have you sanded them down yet? How did that go? Are they very easy to get flush?

Posted by: Danilo Capezzuto Jun 17 2008, 12:00 PM

Really a nice work mate, and what a beautiful guitar!! Compliments!!

Posted by: USAMAN Jun 17 2008, 01:34 PM

Well, to be honest, only one needed sanding (it was easy). The rest went in and are flush. The Ibanez boards are pretty flat in radius so as long as you set the depth correctly they aredone when the glue is dry. I drilled the holes, test fit the inlay, applied glue to the holes and leveled the dots. Id doesnt really matter if the hole is slightly deeper than the inlay is thick, just push it in till its level. They look great, like they were put in by the factory. I did use some polish on the inlay to bring out the shine.