The Gouzouki Project - Head Inlay

Does it get any more nerve wracking than drilling into your lovingly crafted neck?

I marked out and drilled for the tuners this morning. I trial fitted the tuners but they won't be finally fitted until after the finish is applied.

If I thought drilling for the tuners was nerve wracking.... time to do the logo inlay .

I wanted something to reference the Faith heritage and found this ‘n ’ that was in a similar style. I cut it out from a piece of figured maple veneer using the modelling fret saw I inherited from my Dad. I have used so many of his old tools doing this - it's a lovely way to remember him .

I transferred the outline onto masking tape and then scored the outline into the rosewood head veneer.

I bought a rudimentary router fitting for the Dremel and routed out as much of the shape as I could, using a magnifying glass (Dad’s again 😀) to help, then carved the fine details using modelling knives.

After lots of very careful trimming the insert dropped in. I glued it in place and filled around the edge using a filler made from the rosewood veneer sawdust. (I have learned to collect sawdust from the various different parts as I go along, in case I need to make any little filler repairs etc.)

After it dried, sanding back the maple and filler to the same level revealed the logo in all it’s glory - not perfect but I’m pretty happy for a first attempt