You guys like inlays

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Permalink Reply by Joseph F. Stuller III on June 10, 2009 at 2:39pm

I restored a 1967 Mustang fastback 390 GT 4 speed as my last car. I sold it and restored a 1983 Mercedes 2 door 300CD diesel last year. It's my daily driver.

I like to think I grew up. (The Mustang would roast the tires in 3 gears and burn rubber hitting 4th. Craziest ride I ever had. It ripped the splines out of the driveshaft after the fresh rebuild with modifications).

Enough said.

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Permalink Reply by Luis Diaz on June 10, 2009 at 3:21pm

Inlays are very nice looking. I've had a few guitars with abalone all the way around. But you need to be a little careful. Sometimes inlays on a lower end guitar usually aren't made with the best quality tone woods. Taylor,Martin and others in that catagory are the exception. I like the clean lines on my guitars. Now that I have a few years of playing under my belt I go purely for the sound and playablity. But I do replace my bridge pins with some flashy Abalone or MOP dot inlays. Just to add my own personal touch to my guitars.

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Permalink Reply by Spot on June 11, 2009 at 5:57pm

Who is Basil Fawlty? I dig Mr. Bean but you lost me on the Basil Fawlty reference. I know who Benny Hill is though. I wonder what type of inlay he would have chosen. (*)(*)

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Permalink Reply by bruce wilson on June 14, 2009 at 8:59am

I (an American) recently bought a flashy guitar (Blueridge BR 70) which fortunately turned out to be a great-sounding and playing one. It's got over six feet of abalone inlay as well as an ornate head and showy fretboard inlays. My other instruments are pretty plain and it's nice to have one with a lot of glitz. Don't know that I'd play in public with it—you'd almost need to wear a silver belt and tasseled sombrero...But it was the British invasion that started all the cross-dressing and Edwardian ruffled clothing, as long as we're on the subject of continental vs colonial types.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Wiles on June 18, 2009 at 8:25am

Almost all of my guitars have some sort of inlay on them. Ironically, I do not like inlays. I prefer no markings on the fingerboard. The only reason I buy guitars with the inlay has to do with how the instruments plays and cost. To me, the inlays interfere with lead playing.

I had a Carvin once. It had big abalone block inlays. It looked stunning. However, I discovered that my fingers would drag differently on that instead of the ebony. Sometimes, my fingers would even make a scraping sound when bending the strings. That's one of the reasons I quit playing it and eventually sold it.

One flashy thing I do like: My favorite guitar of all time is my PRS Corvette Standard. The color is "Velocity Yellow". The color is bright and loud. I love that! However, I could do without the "427" inlay on the fingerboard.

BTW, hello to all you guys! This is my first post.

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Permalink Reply by Marni Sorrick on June 19, 2009 at 6:58pm

I have a dreadnought from Blueberry (boutique-y company) that is carved and has MOP inlay all over. But this must be my own personal tacky, bling-y taste. I have a Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe, and there is no such thing as too much chrome on the motorcycle. So it must just be me! From the other posts, you can see that all of us Yanks are not so showy.

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Permalink Reply by Edward Sparks on June 20, 2009 at 7:23am

I like inlays on guitars, but not over-encrusted ones like the "Millionth Martin"...I look at it totally as art and not something that adds tot he value of the instrument or effects the sound. There are purist who say a lot of hard shell on the fingerboard helps the sounds and just as many who say it detracts fromt the sound...not me...it's just art. I have inaly on some of my instruments and have incorporated inalsy of shell, wood and ivory (legal stuff from the tops of old piano keys) and I like it, but most of my commercially produced guitars are pretty plai...Martin D-28, Gibson J100 extra, Guild Jf 30 six string and JF 212XL tewelve string. I like them to mean something...like my current build of a lap steel with an inlay of my cat on the headstock and a mouse on the twelfth fret! I have pics of these on my website in the Guitar Gallery under the Photo Gallery page in case anyone is interested! Like all beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder!
Edward
http://mysite.verizon.net/emsparks/index.htm

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Permalink Reply by Andy Stone on June 22, 2009 at 5:11am

I'm English (am I allowed to say English?) I've just bought a nice plain Faith Jupiter Jumbo from their Natrual range. No pickgaurd at all as my finger picking style means the guitar doesn't need protection and just one inlay at the 12th fret and not even any dots! Nive ablone aroung the sound hole though.I'm not so keen on the satin back and neck though bcz it will get polished in time and the back will go patchy. Basil Fawlty isn't exhibitionist??

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Permalink Reply by Bernie on June 22, 2009 at 9:18am

I must be a middle of the road kind of guy, I just got a custom Martin D-41. I thought it was the best sounding guitar I played when I was looking for a new guitar. I played some Ovations, Taylors, Gibsons. I was always going back to the Martins I liked the way they sounded the best. Last october I had the oppertunity to go to Nazareth, do the Martin Factory tour and see the Museum. After that I got online to see if there was a place locally, I found a place and they had 80 Martins all ready to play. I played a few 28's 35's 41's 42 and a 45 (which I thought was going to be the best sounding guitar in the bunch). To my ear I liked the D-41 the best, and looking at it I thought it was a very good looking guitar. I had to order it because I am a lefty, since I had to specila order it I decided that the gold tuners wouls have to be replaced with chrome, the spruce top would now be Adirondak, and I would have a 3 piece back. everything else is the way it looks on the Website D-45 snowflake inlays on the fingerboard (if I order another Martin I will get snowflakes on it also) and the strip of abalone around the top of the guitar. Just some subtle bling. looking at mine and a D-45 next to each other the 45 just has too much abalone on it. If you have the $$$ to get one fine (45), what it all boils down to is how does it sound, and play. Looks shouldn't be a major part in the guitar buying decision. Keep on playing everyone

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Permalink Reply by Luis Motta da Silva on July 14, 2009 at 2:46pm

Hello!!
Do I like inlays? Not in a classic guitar. Not much in a steel-string. But some instruments require them. By the turn of the century ( I mean the turn of 18th century) some clever Brits came to my home town to trade Port wine. They were supposed to offer wool tissues in exchange for it, but, in the end, they left a very different thing behind them - the so-called "English Guittar". We adopted it and, as it lost popularity in Britain, its use spread all over my country. Nowadays, after some evolution, it became established as our national instrument. We even call it "Guitarra Portuguesa". OK, long speech, just to say this: You can't imagine a Portuguese Guitar without some inlays. It would feel like if something was missing. So, you're invited to my page, see my photos (there's one with the title "inlays"), and see the videos of Portuguese Guitar being played. So, thank you Brits, you may take all the good wine you want, for you left us with an instrument that sounds like the Sunlight!

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Permalink Reply by Frogngerm on July 14, 2009 at 3:09pm

Thanks for a wonderful post. It's very interesting to examine the roots of the more ornate guitars. Perhaps we Brits were a little more extrovert and 'out there' in Queen Anne/Georgian times. I think that's probably the case. Passions got stifled in Victorian Britain, under starched collars and bodices, perhaps guitars went the same way over a period . I am off to have a look at your videos Luis. Oh and thanks for the wine...cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Sean on July 14, 2009 at 11:48pm

I sinking with "shipoffools" on this one. I have a beautiful Breedlove that been laid a lot, to some that may be a sitka spruce stud, to others just a pawn shop whore.

Whatever the case, I don't buy a guitar based solely on looks (unless I have ridiculous sources of $$$ which I do not). I go by a combination of things which are obvious to any schooled acoustic buyer (tone, feel, price, case, electronics, playability, warranty, US made (or British in your case :) and, tada!............looks)

My Breedlove looks like it's going out for a night one the town trying to pick up one more in- "lay" (if you know whatta mean). You know, if it can sweet talk as good as it looks, and IMHO it does, than it has no problem getting the job done. I mean, what about woods? Some woods are "really, really, ridiculously good looking", just like Zoolander. But if we all went around bragging about our woods, or showing off our woods, or asking potential ladies if they would like to smell our woods, wouldn't that seem just wrong? Not to mention it could get us in jail. :(

There are some really ugly guitars out there that have really sweet tone (ladies who woke up next to some can I get a whoot?!) Some guitars look great but spit up more martini olive than sweet melodies when they talk. If you can find one that does both, well? ................what lady wouldn't want a piece of that??

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