Swapping inlays on a Gibson Les Paul
I’m going to start writing a few blog posts about some of the projects that come through the workshop, starting with this Les Paul.
A customer shipped me this one in to have the original plastic fretboard inlays replaced with genuine Mother of Pearl.
The first job was removing the old inlays. I drilled a small hole into each one before giving it a good whack with a chisel. This cleanly popped the old inlays out without damaging the fretboard.
The new Mother of Pearl inlays were then glued in using CA glue, with any small gaps filled using rosewood dust and CA to blend everything into the existing board.
Once the glue had cured, I carefully filed the new inlays as flush as possible, taking care not to mark or damage the surrounding fretboard.
For the sanding, I needed to make sure the new inlays followed the radius of the board. I cut down a wooden radius block and made a couple of small sanding blocks from it. This allowed me to sand the inlays to the correct radius and keep everything nice and even.
The inlays were sanded up to 800 grit before matching the finish of the rest of the fretboard. A little wax was then applied, the frets were polished, and the guitar was strung back up.
Job done — a fresh set of Mother of Pearl inlays that look right at home on this Les Paul.
Got a guitar that needs a setup, repair or service?
Drop-offs are available in Lowestoft and Norwich, or you can ship your guitar directly to the workshop.
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