@jonhodgson
I think Bailey would be a good place to get a quote from. Mark has the best finish on any guitars I’ve seen and probably the longest lasting due to it being oil based.

@tej Martin guitars do all the neck and body finishing separately before fitting the two together, which is the only hand crafted process in the factory. It includes stain, lacquer and polishing. The neck/body glueing surfaces are masked off for…   Read more»

@steveadams I know this is stating the obvious but no one has said it yet. The difficulty you will have fitting another inlay if you can’t get a clean channel is that the centre has been removed so using a…   Read more»

@tej I found a good tip from a Canadian guitar maker on utube a while ago. He wraps abrasive paper round something soft like a sponge which preserves the original shape. I tried it and it works very well. On…   Read more»

@steveadams
I made an inlay from walnut and found it was tricky so good luck with it

@steveadams
I feel your pain. I’m trying sound hole inlays with a dremel after years of using hand cutters and am not having success either.

An easy way would be to trace round the template you have using a pencil inside a metal washer. Obviously the distance from the washer edge to centre determines how much bigger the new one will be. Instruments that have…   Read more»

@tej
Will give that a try this afternoon and let you know if it works

@tej I wouldn’t worry about 0.5mm as long as all 6 strings line up with the pick up pole pieces. To make a thin shim start with a bit longer than you need and clamp it down. Mark the size…   Read more»

@bpower 
kits are great but it’s satisfying to do basics the hard way too