Clive, Whichever you choose, I would recommend that you seal the inlay cavity with dilute shellac, well dried, to preclude migration of the stains. Ebony black will migrate quite badly when against a wood which provides enough wicking power.
Best, Rob Dorsey http://RobDorsey.com -----Original Message----- From: Clive Titmuss & Susan Adams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2007 2:58 PM To: lute-builder Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] more on mastic inlay Thanks all for those suggestions. Great to hear from you all and as always profitable in the saving in time and effort. The suggestions appear to come down to; -A ground vegetable pigment to stain the mastic, rather than dye or ink, to prevent absorption into the softwood grain. Vegetable pigment could be charcoal, ebony dust coarsely ground (per Stradivari, no less). I also have a substance referred to as "vegetable black" in a set of earth pigments, which are clays ground finely. -Mixing the ground mastic with turpentine by in a bath/filter bag, adding the pigment when the paste is workable, say with a palette knife, then evaporating to create the proper consistency. I expect there might be some shrinkage and that a subsequent fill might be neccessary? {I have also located a source from a lab supply company in the US for what appears to be prepared mastic paste, though I could not confirm this with the supplier, it's still on order. Cost is pretty high, $45 for 25 g. versus about $17 for the raw tears from Celtic Moon, incense supply. I have a feeling it may be used for preparing biological specimens such as insects or microscope slides. Here is the listing and website address: Mastic Gum, Tears CAS: 61789-92-2 Consists of Approximately 2% Volatile Oil, Masticinic and Masticonic Acids, Masticoresene http://www.sciencelab.com/page/S/PVAR/10420/SLM3196} -Sealing the rosette rabbett with some untinted resin before filling with mastic and placing the squares, in this case paua abalone. I have a feeling this one will be very good advice. -Making a glue filler with thick hide glue and a (vegetable) pigment or wood dust. I have done this often in the past, it's very workable and hard, does not shrink, takes finish and scraping well and is easily prepared. Only one question: is oil of turpentine the same as turpentine as one would buy as paint solvent, in other words thin consistency and volatile, or oil consistency? [I'm making two Juan Pages six course guitars with all the decor in koa (quite anachronistic, but beautiful). Very large body, lovely shape, long string length, a great model.] Clive Titmuss [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.earlymusicstudio.com early music downloads and cd's -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
