I'm thinking I'll need enough depth that when I sand down the inlay to match the curvature of the fretboard, I don't want to end up with the inlay too thin at the top and bottom.
My gut says at least 2mm??
This is the end goal.
The MOP blocks I have are 2mm thick - they are about the chunkiest I've seen.
Got mine from Mike at Small Wonder:
http://www.smallwonder-music.co.uk/
You might find the original fretboard had a flatter radius...?
Measure twice, cut once...
Great stuff, thank you Mark. I’ve shopped at Small Wonder before, I think Carol sent me that way for my first build.
I happen to have found a Facebook group where one of the members actually owns one of the original guitars so I can see if he knows as it’s not mentioned on the page I found the most reference
https://www.guitarscollector.com/1991---esp-mx-250--man-to-wolf-.html
2mm sounds like a plan though.
Cheers
If you have a 12”” radius bloc then put a straight edge across from side to side and measure the depth at the deepest point. It will tell you how deep the inlay needs to be.
If you don’t have one and you are doing inlay on a guitar you already have then a radius gauge from a DIY store can be used in the same way.
Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.
Yes, you should go for at least 2mm
I’ll try I post an Excel spreadsheet that I made that works out the radius of a curve from the chord and the deviation at the centre point. It can easily be played with to work out how deep inlays need to be to avoid getting too thin at the edges. I would say that if you have MOP at about 2mm, and you inlay it to pretty much it’s maximum depth, you have very little worry about (unless you are building something seriously weird!!) all the best for your build.
darren