Lifting inlay problem on Les Paul

[CyberFerret]

Hi all,

First post on here - I have been playing guitar for 25+ years now and never had any real issues with my guitars. Lately, I haven't been playing in bands etc., so most of my guitars, including my favourite '74 Les Paul Deluxe have been sitting in their cases for over a year.

I recently took out my LP to clean it up and play it a bit, and noticed that the mother of pearl inlays on the fingerboard were starting to lift off on quite a few of them. Makes playing and sliding along the neck tricky I can tell you!

I took it to a local guitar repairman, and he has quoted me AUD$400 to fix it as the inlays have to be completely removed, then new ones shaped and reglued in.

I believe that this guy is honest and just letting me know the sad story. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced the same sort of problem, and whether it cost them about the same as this to repair it?

Also noted by the repairman was that my frets are all worn down to nearly nothing. Should I just suck it up an go for a full re-inlay and re-fret job on the neck?

Cheers,
Devan

[vortexxxx]

pics?

[CyberFerret]

Give me a couple of days - the guitar is still at the repair shop at the moment. I'll pick it up and take some pics of the inlays and post it here...

[mirrorimij]

Why can't the existing inlays be glued in again?

[Trebor Renkluaf]

First they are not mother-of-pearl, but mother-of-toilet seat! Gibson used pearliod for the inlays in all but the high end Les Pauls (customs). It is not uncommon for the pearloid to shrink which casues lifting. $400 AUD equalls $352 US! That seems excessive to me. Many places sell the inlay sets already pre-cut and ready to drop in. Try StewMac (website is down for maintenance as I type this) to get a feal for what the inlays should cost. I'm with the others though, why can't the existing inlays be glued back down?

[aparnell]

I had one on my historic that lifted 3 times. I refused to send it to Gibson, so a local luthier finally fixed it and I haven't had any trouble since.
I believe he pulled the only one that was lifting, re-glued it and
clamped something over that inlay to hold it down.
He did not even mention replacing them all.
the amount was so minimal that i can't even remember if he even charged me.
Of course your guitar could have some other issues that i cannot see.
Good luck.

[Jan Folkson]

I took it to a local guitar repairman, and he has quoted me AUD$400 to fix it as the inlays have to be completely removed, then new ones shaped and reglued in.

For custom inlays that seems reasonable but considering that the inlays are available pre-cut (as mentioned above) that seems high.

Also noted by the repairman was that my frets are all worn down to nearly nothing. Should I just suck it up an go for a full re-inlay and re-fret job on the neck?

Fretwork is a whole other story. If the frets are worn, they should either be ground and polished or replaced depending on their condition.

[Duc572]

as aparnell said above, the inlays on my 2004 R9 fell out or were lifting. I decided to install nicer 'correct' HM precut inlays, but cleaning and reusing the originals will work just fine assuming they haven't shrunk and still fit the voids correctly. I'm assuming your quote was with a full refret which would be a great time to remedy the inlays and re-radius the board if needed. no big deal. I replaced all mine myself, cost of inlays,+ one hd razor blade, CYA glue, few hours of labor as it was my first time but it came out perfect.

[CyberFerret]

Thanks for the replies so far everybody.

The reason the tech said he needed to replace them was that he reckoned the existing ones would probably break during the removal process.

Personally, I assumed that it would be possible to raise the lifting edges of the inlays, squirt some glue under there and then clamp it down again to dry - but I am no handyman or repair tech.

That's why I raised the question in here, hoping someone could suggest an alternative remedy...

BTW - These were not custom inlays, merely the standard Gibson 'trapezoid' inlays...

[dave-o]

I have a elitist lp, one of the inlays was lifting on a corner. I just lifted it up and squirted some glue in there. I'm not sure how fragile your inlays are, do you have any pics?