Show me your fretboard inlay-less custom guitars! :-) Anyone not use inlays at all on their custom’s fretboard?

customguitars87

customguitars87

Member
Messages
4,353
Morpeli said:
Hi,

I am toying with ordering a guitar without any inlays...Can’t make up my mind...

My very first guitar was an acoustic with tree of life inlays so I know I can get used to it as I used to use the side markers when I first started learning but I am wondering how much ‘functionality’ I am foresaking for the sake fo aesthetics...

Pros: It would look great

Cons: Might make the guitar less easy to play especially in dark places..

I tend to play at home so it’s not so much of a big deal but lack of fret markers might be silly decision...
Having said that...Pat Martino doesn’t use fret makers and a lot of jazz guys don’t use them....

Any thoughts?

And more importantly...any photos?! :)
Click to expand...
I hardly ever look at the board anymore when i play but if I do I always tend to use side dots anyway, so lack of inlays on a board never bothered me. When you have a particularly terrific piece of wood, sometimes it's nicer to just leave it au naturel...particularly if the body of the guitar is kinda blingy already or has some really nice exotic wood.

My Carvin Bolt Plus is a perfect example, whoever the original owner was spec'd this out perfectly. They offered lots of nice inlays, beautiful abalone blocks etc. but on a guitar like this a high grade birdseye board and matching headstock is just perfect and not "too much" the way big pearl blocks would be.



 
The Eristic

The Eristic

Member
Messages
1,723
I've had a few. Have some "production" stuff from Parker, Ibanez, etc, w/ blank boards, too. I much prefer nothing to the vast majority of inlays.

Manne

Eshenbaugh

Godlyke Deity

Godlyke Disciple

Hanewinckel

McKnight

McInturff

Melancon

Siggi Braun

Clement

Sage
 
Morpeli

Morpeli

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
697
The Eristic said:
I've had a few. Have some "production" stuff from Parker, Ibanez, etc, w/ blank boards, too. I much prefer nothing to the vast majority of inlays.

Manne

Eshenbaugh

Godlyke Deity

Godlyke Disciple

Hanewinckel

McKnight

McInturff

Melancon

Siggi Braun

Clement

Sage
Click to expand...
Wow! You have some nice guitars!
:)
 
customguitars87

customguitars87

Member
Messages
4,353
The Eristic said:
I've had a few. Have some "production" stuff from Parker, Ibanez, etc, w/ blank boards, too. I much prefer nothing to the vast majority of inlays.

Manne

Eshenbaugh

Godlyke Deity

Godlyke Disciple

Hanewinckel

McKnight

McInturff

Melancon

Siggi Braun

Clement

Sage
Click to expand...
Ah so you're the one who grabbed that Siggi Dragon from GC, nice. How is it? Debated it for months and months as it kept price dropping but ultimately decided against it. Model of choice for Victor Smolski, hell of a guitarist.
 
The Eristic

The Eristic

Member
Messages
1,723
customguitars87 said:
Ah so you're the one who grabbed that Siggi Dragon from GC, nice. How is it? Debated it for months and months as it kept price dropping but ultimately decided against it. Model of choice for Victor Smolski, hell of a guitarist.
Click to expand...
I snagged it when it got down to ~$1100, but had to return it, sadly. When it arrived, the neck was in disarray due to lack of maintenance. Since it's a raw pao ferro neck, being shipped around the country + hanging on GC walls for like a year + whatever had happened to it previously (a previous owner must've been terrible sweaty and/or played shirtless a lot given the clouding in the finish at contact points) had done a number on it. Glue lines along the fretboard edge exposed all the way down the neck, ebony board completely dried out with a hairline crack from the 12th to 13th frets, extreme relief due to being strung with 13s in standard (bridge was pulled all the way forward) without having had the truss rod tightened, etc.

I put a huge amount of hand work into cleaning it up, reconditioning it, restringing & setting it up properly, only to discover that the neck had an uncorrectable twist that made any kind of low, even action impossible and would've required significant fretwork above the 15th or so to even be playable up high without choking. Incredibly disappointing, as it was built extremely well and sounded amazing for anything rock/metal, one of the most aggressively voiced guitars I've ever come across. I returned it to the local GC and it resold in a day. Haven't seen it resurface yet, so maybe the new owner likes high action or is having the work done (which I'm not convinced will every really fix it) or just wants to chug on the first few frets.

(Also, tracking its Reverb history, a previous owner pirated the Siggi case and stuck it in a Roadrunner, which is not major but just kind of annoying. Like, what kind of **** just keeps a custom branded original case for a guitar they no longer own?)
 
customguitars87

customguitars87

Member
Messages
4,353
The Eristic said:
I snagged it when it got down to ~$1100, but had to return it, sadly. When it arrived, the neck was in disarray due to lack of maintenance. Since it's a raw pao ferro neck, being shipped around the country + hanging on GC walls for like a year + whatever had happened to it previously (a previous owner must've been terrible sweaty and/or played shirtless a lot given the clouding in the finish at contact points) had done a number on it. Glue lines along the fretboard edge exposed all the way down the neck, ebony board completely dried out with a hairline crack from the 12th to 13th frets, extreme relief due to being strung with 13s in standard (bridge was pulled all the way forward) without having had the truss rod tightened, etc.

I put a huge amount of hand work into cleaning it up, reconditioning it, restringing & setting it up properly, only to discover that the neck had an uncorrectable twist that made any kind of low, even action impossible and would've required significant fretwork above the 15th or so to even be playable up high without choking. Incredibly disappointing, as it was built extremely well and sounded amazing for anything rock/metal, one of the most aggressively voiced guitars I've ever come across. I returned it to the local GC and it resold in a day. Haven't seen it resurface yet, so maybe the new owner likes high action or is having the work done (which I'm not convinced will every really fix it) or just wants to chug on the first few frets.

(Also, tracking its Reverb history, a previous owner pirated the Siggi case and stuck it in a Roadrunner, which is not major but just kind of annoying. Like, what kind of **** just keeps a custom branded original case for a guitar they no longer own?)
Click to expand...
Damn, that sucks. Guess I made the right decision, I was a bit confused as to why it got so low without someone grabbing it and keeping it. It got returned at least once during the long time it was available (guessing before you grabbed it) and probably for that exact reason. Bummer but luckily with GC there's that 45 day no questions asked return policy, which is why I buy pretty much all my guitars there. Thanks for the reply!
 
Morpeli

Morpeli

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
697
The Eristic said:
I snagged it when it got down to ~$1100, but had to return it, sadly. When it arrived, the neck was in disarray due to lack of maintenance. Since it's a raw pao ferro neck, being shipped around the country + hanging on GC walls for like a year + whatever had happened to it previously (a previous owner must've been terrible sweaty and/or played shirtless a lot given the clouding in the finish at contact points) had done a number on it. Glue lines along the fretboard edge exposed all the way down the neck, ebony board completely dried out with a hairline crack from the 12th to 13th frets, extreme relief due to being strung with 13s in standard (bridge was pulled all the way forward) without having had the truss rod tightened, etc.

I put a huge amount of hand work into cleaning it up, reconditioning it, restringing & setting it up properly, only to discover that the neck had an uncorrectable twist that made any kind of low, even action impossible and would've required significant fretwork above the 15th or so to even be playable up high without choking. Incredibly disappointing, as it was built extremely well and sounded amazing for anything rock/metal, one of the most aggressively voiced guitars I've ever come across. I returned it to the local GC and it resold in a day. Haven't seen it resurface yet, so maybe the new owner likes high action or is having the work done (which I'm not convinced will every really fix it) or just wants to chug on the first few frets.

(Also, tracking its Reverb history, a previous owner pirated the Siggi case and stuck it in a Roadrunner, which is not major but just kind of annoying. Like, what kind of **** just keeps a custom branded original case for a guitar they no longer own?)
Click to expand...
That’s a real shame!! What a pity such a nice guitar was not looked after...
 
Gasp100

Gasp100

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
22,181
I hardly ever look at the board anymore when i play but if I do I always tend to use side dots anyway - I need to retrain myself to peek at the side dots. Invariably I will sometimes look at the fretboard during gigs which isn't good, especially if the lighting sucks. It's weird, I can feel exactly where I am on the neck and I am usually good, but it's the concern of making a mistake that can get in your head.
 
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