Andy Chase

I finally summoned the courage to cut into my pristine piece of rosewood. I built a small miter box last month, and it seems to have worked fairly well. I'll know better when the time comes to actually install the frets.

Eventually I expect I will invest in Stewart MacDonald's fret slotting saw. I love my Vaughn bear saw, but it didn't feel entirely rigid - and this is an operation where rigidity is definitely a plus.

Once the fret slots were cut, I decided to go ahead with the pre-cut inlays. Taking another tip from Siminoff's book I went with the white tempera technique, painting over the areas to be inlaid and then blacking in the areas to be cut out; with all the sawdust that will be created, the white makes it easier to see where you've already cut. When you're done, the tempera washes right off.

Routing the inlay chambers was wonderfully easy with the Dremel router attachment. For the points of the star I used a tiny engraving bit I purchased a couple of months ago - so small I had to purchase an additional 3/32" chuck for it. It's exciting to see how easy cutting the cavities was. When I get some mother of pearl blanks to play with, I'll probably find that cutting the stuff out is the trickier part.