Favorite Fretboard Inlays?

[Dennis D]

The ' Picture Frame ' ones like these.........they don't seem to look right on other later guitars, but they don't have to.....For what they did on these, and other '30's Gibsons, there's none better.....

[Gilpy]

Gotta have markers. I'm a "looker" and when I jump a bunch of frets I want know where I'm going without taking that fraction of a second to be sure. So, anything I can see in bad stage lighting is good. Side dots are often useless on a stage that's lit only from the front.

From an esthetic point of view, I like pearl blocks or those Epiphone ones with the triangle in the middle. I had a Collings with "shattered Glass " inlays that were just SO cool...

[rolijen]

Loved the inlays on my D’Aquisto. Accordingly, I love the similar Super 400 inlays. Missing that guitar


Not a dot fan. But, I too love the classic ES-175 split parallelograms and L-5 simple blocks.

Roli

[Longways to Go]

OK so now we're doing pix

[GNAPPI]

Like many stringed instruments that do not have or need fretboard markers I like a clean git fb without markers but, unfortunately this has not caught on with players and only my Cort Triggs and Pat Martino have none.

Even though I do not have a single visual "deal breaker" some fret markers are less attractive to me than others. The worst or least attractive to me are the shark fin like on rickenbackers and those cloud types on the Tal Farlow.
.

[hans halmackenreuter]

Aesthetically, I prefer no markers or dots.

[TedBPhx]

Not this. Pretty to look at but too weird to play on I imagine.

[BigMikeinNJ]

I like them all. I may SAY I like this or that the most but then one comes along that's different and it really floats my boat... I always like the classy blocks on an L5, classic look. Then I got my eyes opened to the inlays on a Heriage American Eagle - not only is the MOP really stunning but the scrimshaw work is mind bending. Gotta love the split block look (like a Super 400 or Super Eagle) on the Unity 100th Anniversary, and lastly some doggone fine abalone blocks used for this 18 inch Johnny Smith (now belonging to Joe Denisco). I was told the Heritage guys liked Dan Dean so much they went through the plant looking for the very best they had and used it. Cameras fail to capture the loveliness in them all...

[fep]

Since my favorite, no inlays, is not an option... the next best thing for me is dots.

[citizenk74]

I like the bird inlays on my '86 Custom 24 PRS. Also the parallelograms on my 175 and 345. And the abalone/pearl v-blocks on my Epiphone Emperorr Regent. And the clay dots on my '64 Jaguar. And....

[Uncle Vinnie]

Doesn't matter, can't really see them anyway when playing.

[rio]

[B]

Ah yes, I forgot about the split blocks. Definitely one of my favorites.


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[pingu]

Love the picture frame inlays on the old L7's
or es250 (one day)

Can't deal with the no markers thing ...

[Webby]

I don't really care a lot for inlays, but I have to say, that I really like the look of the Bowtie Inlays on my peavey JF-1.

[Woody Sound]

For me, it depends on the guitar.

[Bluedawg]

a lot of classical players put little dots on the neck instead for some guidance

Yup

When I was studying classical white-out was my friend ... a little drop at the 12th fret on the top side of the neck .. not on the fretboard

maybe another at the 5th

[Woody Sound]

Why need one the 12th? Isn't that where the neck meets the body? Mine was at the 7th. And my teacher freaked out when he saw it.

[Bluedawg]

Another fan of no inlays here .... although I do like having markers on the top side of the fretboard for navigation

I really like the Benedetto fretboards with the little flower thingy at the 12th fret ... a nice variation on the clean fretboard


I do appreciate nice inlay work, though

The 175 is a good one ... my L4CES is the same inlay, but with mother of pearl as opposed to plastic, which is even nicer

While the classic L5 inlays are nice, I prefer the Super 400 .. and the Le Grand inlays with the abalone stripe is a nice touch IMHO

I love the PRS moons and the bird inlays ... I prefer the old bird inlays, but the new ones are nice as well

Holst has a few guitars on his website gallery with some nice wood in lays

The McInturff Zodiac guitars had a really nice inlay with planets and mountains and stuff

Cool bling possibilities at Shark Inlay - Guitar Fretboard Inlays, Banjo Fretboard Inlay


For all out bling my favorite work is John Greven's ....

[Bluedawg]

Why need one the 12th? Isn't that where the neck meets the body? Mine was at the 7th. And my teacher freaked out when he saw it.

LOL

I'll have to pull out my classical to double check .... it may have been on the 7th fret .. I can't really remember, now that you mention it

My teacher actually suggested it

[BigMikeinNJ]

My Citation wanted to know why I left her out, you know those temperamental blondes really gotta be #1...
The Triggs Solid body wanted in on the action too...

Big

[john_a]

It so much depends on the context, there's no way I can say "always want _____".

An L5 with clay dots seems less suitable than those same dots elsewhere.
Split parrellelogram on a 175 is perfect, but would they be a good fit on a Tele ?

I do inlay work, and have a great appreciation for the nacreous beauty of pearl shell, but it has to be a good fit for the specific instrument. I also own more than one guitar that are perfect with no inlay at all (well, they do have side dots.)

What I get frustrated with is the overuse of large acrylic blocks on guitars that are not low-end budget models.
That, and the substandard fitting of inlays on highly visible surfaces, such as some expensive Gibson headstock's with excessive filler surrounding the MOP.

Sure, high grade mother of pearl is a bit more expensive, but the material cost is less than the labor so why bother with acrylic unless you're trying to eek out the last bit of profit. Back in post #3 Jabberwocky mentioned $5150 as the upgrade price for a complete fancy package (Black pearl shell and paua abaloney soundboard purfling, rosette, fretboard purfling, headstock, back and rim purfling, fretboard inlays.) That is a lot of stuff, and I'd wager the full body purfling is the most expensive portion. Shell purfling for a top uses ~ 70 inches, where a full D-45 treatment can use 300 inches of strip, and precut straight pieces could get near $1 an inch. That upgrade gets sold for $5150 where less than 10% of that goes for shell, even precut. Obviously this is priced comensurate with the market price of that instrument, so a $16,000 guitar model getting optioned up to 21,150 may make sense, where a perfectly fine China handmade spec'd to the same inlay content could not fetch a fraction of that.

Back to topic -- where they are approriate, I do like blocks and split parrellelogram done with quality blanks.
And the simple split blocks on this SA2200 really fit it well
John

[Bluedawg]

I forgot to mention ... I once had a Gretsch 6120 with the western inlay





wish I had kept that guitar

kinda kitschy, but I liked the inlay

[lammie200]

I don't know about being my favorite, but I like the Hag design. I like the rounded corners and the double bar at the 12th fret. Mother of toilet seat on the Chinese imports now. Not sure what material the originals were, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were plastic as well.

[keith]

I was thinking about this the other day. Why do we even have markers on the fretboard at all? You can't see it when you're playing and side dots are sufficient to locate position so why? I prefer NO fretboard markers at all and only tolerate the black dots on my maple Tele necks. A side dot at the fifth and double dots at the 12th are plenty for me.

I'm of this ilk also and have an Eastman with only side dots.

One downside to no markers though that I encountered was the difficulty I've had showing another guitarist a grip or whatever. They just don't have an easy visual reference point. Small price to pay though!

[sgosnell]

Jimmy Bruno insisted on inlays for his Benedetto because his online students complained that they couldn't see what he was playing without them.