Inlay

A decorative shape set flush into the surface of a fingerboard, headstock or body, both for looks and to mark positions along the neck.

Fret markers are the functional kind: single dots at the odd frets and a double dot at the twelfth give the player a reference by feel and by eye. Beyond that, inlays range from simple parallelogram and block shapes to elaborate custom designs cut from shell, metal or reconstituted stone. Setting one in means routing a cavity to exactly the shape, gluing it flush and levelling the surrounding surface, so a badly fitted inlay becomes a bump the string can catch.

Example: side dots and a twelfth-fret marker are what let a player check their position without looking at the front of the neck.

Inlay

See also