Crushed MOP inlays

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:25 am

Robert, the original supplier or the original manufacturer went out of business. RIC has tried but has not yet found a suitable replacement. It was definitely not because of cost.

red_rob · Post by **red_rob** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:27 am

So there's a chance they might return...

Good news - cheers John

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:59 pm

I will only do the crushed pearl inlays with a refret. I crush my own pearl and when finished they look exactly like the ones from the late 60's. Cost: $400.00 U.S. Dollars.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:30 pm

I agree with Dale. It is nearly impossible to level them with the frets in place, hence my comment above that it "yields inferior results".

I, however, don't crush my own pearl. But what a cool idea!

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:32 am

I didn't realise this thread had carried on! Should've been paying attention....

That is indeed cool to make your own inlays, and I imagine since Dale's doing it they couldn't be more accurate. Must say, I've just priced up this job and it seems to be another reason for moving to the US (I'm UK based); the cheapest quote (by my regular luthier) was at least £300 (nearly $600), and the next best was over £400 (close to $800). For the price of the second quote I could virtually ship the bass to one of you guys to do! So unfortunately I'm going to have to put it off for a while; shame. Still, I haven't received the project bass yet so we'll see if there are any other issues. It seems like there is a supplier of Sparkle MOP in the UK called Small Wonder; everyone I've spoken to speaks highly of their products, although they're not the Rickenbacker fan that I am, and so may not be quite as picky about the precise look. But my luthier advised we could get a test sheet to see what it was like.