Fretboard inlays

[Paul Kotapish]

I prefer a bare fingerboard--no inlays at all. I need those side dots for sure, but i never look at inlay for reference and I love the look of a simple, unadorned ebony or rosewood fingerboard.

[allenhopkins]

My "daily" banjo, an old Regal tenor pot with a long "Pete Seeger" neck built by an individual maker in NJ maybe 40 years ago, verges on the garish. Looks like the guy who built the neck, sent away for every pearl inlay Stew-Mac was selling, and stuck them all in the ebony somewhere.

I like inlays, especially ones that are reserved for special instruments; I have a Taylor XX-MC "20th anniversary" guitar that has a very nice commemorative inlay.

If you want to check out what's probably the ultimate in inlay "artistry," William "Grit" Laskin of Toronto may be about as ornate as it gets.

[treidm]

Side Marker Dots Absolutely Needed

1) None [Elegant & Classy] FAVORITE
2) Dots [Simple & Traditional]
______________________________

3) Artistic [Just a little over the top for me]
4) Blocks [Too much like solid body electric guitar & block shape doesn't seem to go with mandolin's body flow]

These are just my personal opinions, nothing else

[Paul Hird]

I really like the MOP Buds on my Weber Yellowstone. Very subtle and the detail is beautiful.

[Doc Ivory]

I've always liked the vines, one of mine has them

[Joey Anchors]

I vote for cloud inlays

[darrylicshon]

I've always liked the tree of life (vine) inlay , since Ibanez did it back in the 70's. I have owned 6 Ibanez jem with the tree of life, still have 2. I have one mandolin with it. I'm having a solidbody octave being made with the tree if life inlay. Even bought my other half an ibanez euphoria acoustic with the tree of life, she could have or not the inlay, but she loves the sound of the guitar. So yea I like different inlays

[Seter]

All of my instruments have either simple dots, diamonds, or nothing. All except one, which has bats!

[mandocrucian]

I know these are stickers but I never knew so many existed:

https://www.inlaystickers.com/collec...s/contemporary

Those Bat decals (red) would look great on a John Cippolina style SG!

[UsuallyPickin]

Well … pretty comes after tone , touch and cost …. my general feeling is … meh. Although Vassar Clements had a fiddle with a vine inlay on a portion of the neck that I always thought was attractive. R/

[sblock]

How about THIS?!? Hard to beat the classics. My favorite headstock inlay of all time: Gibson Torch and Wire. My favorite fretboard inlay of all time: Tree of Life.

[Jim Garber]

I vote for cloud inlays

Ironically, I have a 1930s Epiphone archtop guitar with those same inlays coming to me in the next week or so.

How about THIS?!? Hard to beat the classics. My favorite headstock inlay of all time: Gibson Torch and Wire. My favorite fretboard inlay of all time: Tree of Life.

There is something quite enchanting about an early torch and wire F-4 and I also love the inlaid "south Jersey" pickguard. I generally prefer the simpler but looking at those makes me happy.

From the same era (more or less) made in Nazareth, PA (2 different style 6 bowlbacks from 1902) I have a feeling that the inlays were never the same on any two of these upper end Martins:

[George R. Lane]

Too much for these old eyes. I m leaning towards no inlays in the fretboard.

[Tina Latina Scott]

Ditto on the block inlays, I love them as well. I recently commissioned and received a custom build A5 from Tom Ellis that's just drop dead gorgeous. Abalone Fleur de lis headstock inlay, abalone fretboard inlays AND.... drum roll please.... special order custom tailpiece engraved by Weldon Lister. One piece quilted maple back and tortoise shell binding rounds it out. Ellis' Facebook posted a few pics and if I can figure out how, I'll post some here as well.

[mtucker]

No dots here. First pic of a fully appointed F5 from the new batch from OZ. My 5jr. (R) has small fret wire and a flat board. It was two days old in pic, now nearing its first birthday in November.