He wrote the book on inlay
So I’ve been doing research on shell veneers, which come in bigger pieces and multiple colors and are considerably cheaper than solid shell blanks. But they’re superthin, and are meant to be glued to the wood, not actually laid into a routed cavity, and I wondered how well that could actually work. I couldn’t find any information about their usability as inlay material other than the website selling them. Naturally, the seller says they’re absolutely wonderful. Pardon my skepticism.
I generally operate from the philosophy of "The worst they can say is no," so on a whim, I decided I would e-mail Larry Robinson, the man who wrote my book, with my question and see if he cared to share his expertise. I’ve e-mailed a lot of people I don’t know, but am interested in, and have had them e-mail back, so I figured, “what the hell?” I’ve got nothing to lose but my ignorance.
He e-mailed me back, saying he wasn’t much for e-mailing but I could give him a call. I tried a couple times, but we couldn’t connect, and then I left for camp. While at camp, a fellow camper had a new custom guitar, with an absolutely beautiful mermaid on it. The style looked familiar, so I asked her who did it. “Larry Robinson,” she said. He’s located in northern California.
Tuesday morning, then, when I got back to work, he’d e-mailed again, and we e-mailed a few more times that day. He shared a couple pictures of a beautiful art nouveau design he did. I sent him a picture of my finished project because I figured he could use a laugh. He was very diplomatic about his unimpressedness. Nice guy. I also sent him a picture of my camper friend and her guitar, in case he hadn’t seen the finished product since the fretboard left his hands.
I am totally amazed that I am e-mailing about inlay technique with one of the foremost inlay artists in the world, and even more amazed that he’s bothered with little ol’ me. It’s awfully nice of him, and very inspiring. I can’t wait to get back to work on it, and put his advice to work.
