Inlay (guitar)
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- This article is about inlays used on musical instruments. For more general uses, see inlay.
Inlays on guitar or similar fretted instrument are visual elements set into the exterior wood. Typically, inlays are located on the fretboard, headstock, around the soundhole and on the pickguard. Inlays range from simple plastic dots on the fretboard to fantastic works of art covering the entire exterior surface of a guitar (front and back).
[edit] Fretboard inlays
Fretboard inlays are used not only as decorations, but also as the markers to determine particular frets on fretboard. They are most commonly shaped like dots, diamond shapes, parallelograms, isosceles trapezoids, shark fins or large blocks in between the frets. Dots are usually inlaid into the upper edge of the fretboard in the same positions, small enough to be visible only to the player. Some manufacturers go beyond these simple shapes and use more creative designs such as lightning bolts or letters and numbers. The simpler inlays are often done in plastic on guitars of recent vintage, but many older, and newer, high-end instruments have inlays made of mother of pearl, abalone, ivory, colored wood or any number of exotic materials. On some low-end guitars, they are just painted. Most high-end classical guitars have no inlays at all since a well trained player is traditionally expected to know his or her way around the instrument, however players will sometimes make indicators with a marker pen, correction fluid, or a small piece of tape. Fretless guitars may have or have no inlays that mark frets and intonation.
Another high-end solution involves putting LEDs or optical fiber in the freboard and make inlays illuminate. This is pretty popular among the rock musicians that play gigs at dark venues with constantly changing show lighting, as it allows to clearly see the fretboard under any conditions.
Image:Fretboard inlays.svg On guitars, there are two popular fretboard inlays schemes:
- The most popular one (1) involves single inlays on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, double inlays on the 12th, single inlays on the 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st, and if present, double inlays on the 24th. Pros of such scheme include its symmetry about the 12th fret and symmetry of every half (0-12 and 12-24) about the 7th and 19th frets. However, playing these frets, for example, on E string would yield notes E, G, A, B, C# that barely make a complete musical mode by themselves.
- A less popular one (2) involves inlays on 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 22nd and 24th frets. Playing these frets, for example, on E string yields notes E, G, A, B, D that fit perfectly into E minor pentatonic. Such a scheme is very close to piano keys coloring (which involves black coloring for sharps that pentatonic consists of) and of some use on classical guitars.
[edit] Headstock, soundhole and pickguard
Beyond the fretboard inlay, the headstock and soundhole are also commonly inlaid. The manufacturer's logo is commonly inlaid into the headstock and pickguard, if present. Sometimes a small design such as a bird or other character or an abstract shape also accompanies the logo. The soundhole designs found on acoustic guitars vary from simple concentric circles to delicate fretwork. Many high-end guitars have more elaborate decorative inlay schemes. Often the edges of the guitar around the neck and body and down the middle of the back are inlaid. The fretboard commonly has a large inlay running across several frets or the entire length of the fretboard, such as a long vine creeping across the fretboard. Most acoustic guitars have an inlay that borders the sides of the fretboard. Some electrics (namely Fender Stratocasters) have a black inlay running on the back of the neck, from about the body to the middle of the neck, commonly referred to as a skunk stripe — usually, this stripe covers a cavity for the truss rod that runs inside the neck.
Some very limited edition high-end or custom-made guitars have artistic inlay designs that span the entire front (or even the back) of the guitar. These designs use a variety of different materials and are created using techniques borrowed from furniture making. While these designs are often just very elaborate decorations, they are sometimes works of art that even depict a particular theme or a scene. Although these guitars are often constructed from the most exclusive materials, they are generally considered to be collector's items and not intended to be played. Large guitar manufacturers often issue these guitars to celebrate a significant historical milestone.
[edit] Purfling and binding
This is the decorative edge found around the body and fretboard of an acoustic guitar. Its purpose is not merely decorative, however. Because of the construction methods, the edges of the body are typically the weakest point of the acoustic guitar. There is not much wood there, as the sides have to be thin to allow for bending, and the top and back have to be thin to allow the string vibrations to resonate. Trying to connect two thin pieces of wood at a 90 degree angle is an engineering challenge. So to help, the purfling is used. The corners are overbuilt, using a triangular piece of inlay material (called a kerfed lining) on the interior of the instrument to allow it to follow the contours, and is glued in place. During final construction, a small section of the outside corners is carved or routed out and then filled in with the purfling or binding material.
In mass produced guitars, the binding or purfling is almost exclusively high quality plastic. Once the purfling is glued in place, it is an integral part of the guitar, and contributes greatly to the durability of the instrument, since plastic tends not to split as wood does upon impact.
