Question of Decorum: Asking Small Shop Builder to Change Inlays?

[vanguard]

Hey, all. I've got a glorious mandolin from a small builder I love everything about--except the fancy, Florentine fretboard inlays. I'd like to get them changed out for '30s Fern-style pearl block inlays at some point, which I've always really loved the look of.

So the question is, is it in bad taste to go to the original builder and ask for the work? Might it be perceived as questioning their aesthetic tastes or something similar?

[Edited to simplify question]

Cheers

[sunburst]

First of all, you're looking at a new fingerboard if you want the inlays changed and binding added. That's the simplest way to do a good job on those changes.
As to whether or not the builder would be offended, only he/she can answer that.

[Br1ck]

Maybe they would work a deal on a trade to build the mandolin you want.

[Drew Streip]

It depends -- did you commission or buy it directly from the builder, or did you buy it second-hand? You could just say your visual tastes have changed but you can't imagine liking another instrument as much, even another one he/she builds.

In any case, if I were the builder, I don't think I'd be offended. I'd be happy you brought the work to me.

As a bonus, if the builder had done anything unusual or proprietary (like gluing the original board with epoxy, using metal locating pins, etc.), he'd know to separate the board most efficiently and cleanly.

[vanguard]

So it sounds like, to replace just the inlays, it's still easier to just do a whole new fretboard, rather than route the existing board? If that's the case, I'll definitely leave well enough alone!

[Luna Pick]

Builders generally want their customers to be happy with the instruments, playing them and showing them around.

Go ahead and ask, and know they get many questions like that, some of them maybe way off the wall. The builder will let you know, you'll pay anyway, probably for a new fingerboard, as Sunburst points out.

[Drew Streip]

So it sounds like, to replace just the inlays, it's still easier to just do a whole new fretboard, rather than route the existing board? If that's the case, I'll definitely leave well enough alone!

A new fingerboard shouldn't be a big deal, especially if there's nothing structurally wrong with the neck (or historically significant about the instrument). To route the existing board, though, you'd probably have to take frets out, and then you'd have to be extraordinarily precise with the level of the new inlay to avoid excessive scraping and sanding (not to mention maintaining any radius).

But from scratch? Definitely easier.