I spent six days this summer (July 2012) at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Greenwood, Indiana with 11 other guitar builders in a class that focused on designing guitar inlays taught by Grit Laskin. His inlays are works of art and tell stories rather than just being decorative. Although we spent some time practicing our inlay and engraving skills, the focus of the class was on design. As a group we came up with a common story or theme, the story of the class itself, the flow of inlay knowledge from Grit’s head through the hands of the students into a guitar. We also came up with a set of common images to use in telling the story. Then each student went to his bench and designed a fingerboard and head stock inlay to tell the story in their own way with the mages. It may be hard to see, but you might be able to see enough in these pictures.
Discussion of the class designs:
Class member’s designs laid out on a table. The design on the left is mine:
Grit Laskin on the right:
Various inlay materials displayed on the blackboard tray: