CUSTOM INLAY - AN ANCIENT ART FORM REIMAGINED
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FROM CUTT ING LOGOS T O ELA BORAT E W O R KS O F A R T
A very short history lesson on pearl inlay
I’m not the best expert in history of pearl inlay,
but I do know that this exciting form of art dates
back all the way to the ancient Chinese dynasties
and Mayan civilization amongst other cultures.
In musical instruments pearl inlay has
traditionally had several roles. Inlaid logos are
common even in certain mass produced guitars.
Pearl inlay is also very common way to make the
fret markers on the fingerboard. It has also been
M ONOGRAM S, ORNA M ENTAT I ON A ND M OTI FS
For the love of drawing
I’ve always loved to draw, and ever since I
started making guitars, I’ve felt this strong pull
towards learning more about pearl inlay and
other techniques that I could use in detailing,
decorating or personalizing my guitars.
Drill a hole and glue a dot in!
We use inlaid logos in some of the guitars,
because it fits to the style of those models. All
the fret markers (on top and side of the
fretboard) in any of our guitars or basses are
done with inlay technique. The most simple
A new challenge
The little artist in me has craved for more
complex challenges as well! My first more
demanding inlay work was this 7-stringed Duke,
built in 2003.
Kalevala – the Finnish national epic
One of my long time customers asked me to do a
custom inlay inspired by a famous painting
called ‘The Defence of the Sampo‘ by Akseli
Gallen-Kallela, based on the Finnish national
epic ‘Kalevala‘ – a collection of heroic poetry that
A nudge onto a new path
Since the making of the ‘Defense of the Sampo’
guitar I have encouraged more and more my
clients to throw new inlay challenges at me,
often brainstorming together with the customer
on the endless approaches one can take in
personalizing a custom guitar.
You can see some of those works in the spotlight
section of this website. Our inlay work has
ended also into many print publications, such as
THE M ASTER A ND T HE A P P RENT I CE
Meet Grit
By far the most exciting journey in the world of
inlay art for me personally has been the
wonderful privilege and honor to get to know
William ‘Grit’ Laskin, who has taken this art
form onto a whole different planet from
anybody else. Let me tell you how our paths
came to cross.
The birth of the EGB
I have admired Grit’s work from afar since a
long time ago, and I met him the first time in
2009 at the Montreal Guitar Show, where Emma
and I attended first time that year. A few years
went by. In 2013 I exhibited at the last ever
(hopefully they’ll return one day though!)
Healdsburg Guitar Show, and sat down next to
Grit at his table. I started babbling about this
plan that had been slowly brewing among us, a
An eye-opener
Sometimes I tend to lose track momentarily
when writing these articles – but there is a
reason why I shared with you some of the
background of this story. You see – Grit has
opened my eyes to a whole new world regarding
the art of inlay, and it would not have happened
without the friendship we have.
Engraved inlay à la William Grit Laskin  and dexterity of what Grit does with inlay – and
On his masterclass Grit taught me this
unbelievable skill to engrave inlay in such
intricate way that I never thought was possible. I
had tried… a lot… but I never really got it before
Grit taught me. This meant, that I could now go
on to develop my skills and my own style of
engraved inlay without having the technical
limitation I had before. It’s like having learned a
new language – and for that I am forever
grateful to Grit.
On this video Juha tells us a special story of his personal life.
Emma Maria - an Acoustic Archtop Guitar by Ruokangas
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a popular form of decorative art, that has
evolved during the last centuries into countless
directions and interpretations.
What exactly is pearl inlay?
Pearl inlay means a technique, where you take a
piece of seashell or other materials suitable for
this technique. You saw it by hand into a shape
of some kind. Then you trace that shape on the
wood (typically fretboard or headstock face, if
done into a guitar), make a corresponding cavity
example of this would be the dots. Yes, the dots
have been inlaid as well, even if it means to just
drill a hole and glue a dot into it. The reason
why even the dots are done this way is purely
practical. The inlaid dots look good, and they
don’t wear off in time (like paint might).
Rather more subtle than overflowing
Inlay as an art form is a whole another
dimension, that I have explored during all the
years I’ve been making guitars. My primary
“language” in pearl inlay could be described
rather more subtle than overflowing.  I have
THE DEFENS E OF T HE S A M P O
has inspired many artists and writers, J.R.R.
Tolkien and Eino Leino among them.
Inlay work on a carved top
This was a challenging inlay work for me, not
having had previous experience in working with
so many materials (mother-of-pearl, green and
red abalone heart, gold mother-of-pearl, black
mother-of-pearl, arctic birch, oak, padouk,
beech, ebony, bubinga, brazilian rosewood,
brass, bronze and elk bone), such complex
composition or such a large scale.
NEW SUP ERP OWERS
the beautiful coffee table book ‘Guitar – the
World’s Most Seductive Instrument‘ by David
Schiller.
Not only inlays…
I have also been fortunate to scale up our
vocabulary regarding the techniques we can
use. Jani Rinta-Keturi, one of my team members,
is an experienced wood carving master. This
opens a whole new approach for us to take.
few European guitar makers and our spouses.
We had founded an association called the
European Guitar Builders (EGB), and were
about to establish a high end guitar show in
Europe…
Beginning of a friendship
Grit seemed to like our idea a lot and we shook
hands to his promise to exhibit at the first
edition of our event, later to be named as The
Holy Grail Guitar Show. This pioneering event
took place in Berlin the following year (2014),
and Grit delivered on his promise, traveling to
Berlin together with his adorable wife Judith.
Grit and I had met before, but this week in
Berlin was truly a beginning of a wonderful
friendship between Grit, Judith, Emma and
myself.
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW P AT H
More than decorative art
The second thing Grit taught me is that inlay
can be so much more than a form of decorative
art. For Grit, it is anything but. In Grit’s world –
the guitar is his canvas, the engraved inlay his
paint, and the jeweler’s saw and engraving tool
his paintbrushes.
I can’t even dream of accomplishing the depth
on the other hand, that is not even my intent. I
have no interest in trying to copy anybody – but
rather, I’ve been shown a beginning of a new
path, which is mine to explore and to build on.
I get to do the most fun part
Now, as I’m writing this article, I am working on
a few different custom guitars with inlay projects
– some smaller, others a bit more complex. With
every new project, I’m stretching my “artistic
muscles”, and learning more along the way.
EMMA MARIA
A chain of events that changed his life for good.
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to the wood – and then stick the piece of shell
into that cavity.
Well, this was an extremely simplified
explanation of the procedure, but it gives you a
basic understanding.
We make every custom inlay by hand. We don’t
use CNC, laser or other automated technologies.
drawn over the years countless one-off custom
inlays ranging from monograms of the customer
name to ornamentation and motifs of various
kind – flowers, animals or something more
abstract that has been meaningful for the
customer.
I love these understated, subtle details on a
guitar, and this style will without a doubt remain
as one of the most important tools for
personalizing guitars for our customers.
The carved top shape of the guitar added one
more challenge to the this custom inlay work.
Team work
The composition is based quite strictly on the
painting. Tomi Nivala (my long time team
member) and I did all the cutting of pearl and
other materials, and I did the engravings – a
technique that I had just started learning the
very first baby steps in, at that time.
You can see more photos and information about
this guitar here.
Inlay combined with wood carving
We can combine inlay and woodcarving, such as
was introduced in the Captain Nemo project. Or,
it could be something like this Dreaming Tree
that Jani carved into a Steam bass body for one
of our clients.
This is a new “superpower” for my team! You’ll
be seeing more wood carving details and
artworks from us in the future.
The better I have gotten to know Grit, the better
I have started to understand and appreciate not
only his unique achievements as a guitar maker
and inlay artist, but his whole big hearted, ever
enthusiastic, whole planet embracing character –
truly one-of-a-kind. Hats off.
Masterclass in Vienna
The EGB is not only about The Holy Grail
Guitar Show, though. It is a tight-knit
community of professional luthiers world wide,
organizing symposia and masterclasses. One of
those masterclasses took place in Vienna back in
2016. Grit had graciously promised to do a week
long masterclass on engraved inlay! Ah – now
we’re getting back to the actual subject..!
The acoustic archtop guitar
One of the recent inlay works I did (see the
photo above) was for the prototype of our new
acoustic archtop guitar model ‘Emma Maria’. A
great example of our team collaboration –
engraved inlay and wood carving combined in
quite a unique way. Watch the video  below to
learn story of the ‘Emma Maria’ guitar in more
detail.
Uncharted territory
I am grateful that you, our customers, keep on
giving me new challenges that open this
uncharted territory wider for me along with
every new project you assign me for.
The most wonderful part is, that with inlay art –
just like with making guitars – I’m the one who
gets the most fun part: To do what I love to do
for my living!
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