Is crushed stone and epoxy hard enough for fingerboard inlay?

[Quickstep192]

I’ve inlayed crushed stone and epoxy in cracks in wood for effect and I’m thinking about it for casting fretboard inlay, but I’m wondering if the epoxy is hard enough to resist wear from the strings.

Anybody ever tried this?

[nikpearson]

Obviously the rock component will be plenty hard enough. Epoxy is significantly softer, but as a matrix for the rock I’d be surprised if it would wear unduly. Worst case scenario you could easily repair any worn epoxy areas down the line.

I like the idea of inlays using rock, it could be quite striking and definitely unusual.

Best of luck with this.

[John Arnold]

Strings don't wear the fingerboard. Long fingernails do.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

Strings don't wear the fingerboard. Long fingernails do.

^^ This. My Rainsong from 2001 and my several Emeralds from 2016-on have cast black epoxy fretboards polished to a glossy finish, and none of them are showing playing wear. I keep my fretting nails very short, and my picking nails at about 1/16" (1/8" for the thumb) of "white" showing.

I believe that Grit Laskin and others use stone as a design element for their very elaborate inlays on high-end guitars.

[Melt in the Sun]

That looks like rock salt in the picture, which would be a poor choice since it will dissolve in moisture. Can't tell if that's what you want to crush and use, or if the blue in that grinder is your past work!

[redir]

A good epoxy like West System or System Three dries very hard. Many have used such epoxy to coat fretless basses.

So... Yeah.

[maxtheaxe]

As far as epoxy alone, Jaco Pastorius famously epoxied the fretless board of his Jazz Bass. There's also reconstituted turquoise jewelry out there, made with epoxy, that's pretty much hard as a rock, found in cheaper versions of turquoise. I don't see why one couldn't do that with any other stone for inlays.