wire Inlay

[Les Corley]

I want to try this but have no idea where to start. What kind of wire, is it round or square ? It's very elegant looking. Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Les

[Marty Jacobson]

It can be round or square. I buy it square from uGems on Amazon. That way you have a little more leeway when sanding. Round wire has to be sanded perfectly flat and seated perfectly true everywhere or you get varying thickness. 22 gauge wire, coincidentally, just happens to fit perfectly into my .023" fret cutter slots. So I cut my grooves with my fret slot cutter and then press the wire into the slots. I cut miters with a razor blade on a piece of granite or something. It's almost as easy (or painful) as doing wood string inlay.

[Les Corley]

Marty could you post a pic of your fret slot cutter. I can't quite picture cutting curves with a slot cutter

[Marty Jacobson]

I should have mentioned, I do it with a CNC router. But you can do it with a Dremel in a router base if you've got steady hands...

[sunburst]

Some info here that might be useful.

[SanzoneGuitar&Mandolin]

thanks for those links, I've been wanting to try some wire work as well.

[Les Corley]

Thanks for the link Sunburst, I envy those that have CNC machines but I think that would take the fun & the challenge out of it.I'm going to try it with my dremel but I'm sure It's going to take some practice

[sunburst]

Yeah, CNC isn't for everyone. Personally, if I wanted to work with computers I'd try to find something that pays better than lutherie!

[Marty Jacobson]

Oh yeah, CNC is the least fun and most intellectually painful way to make one of anything.
It's starts to get pretty useful once you're about 5,000 hours into it, though... It's just hard to justify, because unless you know how to make something the traditional way, you probably won't be able to make it using CNC.