Inlay in a radiused fingerboard

[Herman]

Question: inlay the fretboard before of after giving it a radius?

Before I had a wide inlay in a 9,5" fretboard when it was still flat. I sanded through the inlay on the outer sides. The inlay was 1,5 mm thick.

On my current build I have wide inlay again. Now I consider inlaying after radiussing. Did anyone before? Is that smarter? You don't have space to correct a little too low inlay, you know.

thanks
Herman

[ken cierp]

I believe its most common to have the FB contoured prior to drilling or routing the inlay pockets. Martin FB are contoured to 16" radius (kind of the standard) Gibson does use 12" 9.5" sound kind of tight? Processing the contour first allows some degree of adjustment for the pocket depths.

[Herman]

Thanks Ken, I'll go for that sequence.
The 9,5" radius was for a Fender Jazz Bass. For my current guitar I'll use 16".
Thanks for worrying.

[John Parchem]

I always route for inlay after the 16" radius, but I have also cracked a wide inlay as I used the top of the fret board as my index. I do not remember why I was pressing down on the edges. I have thought of taping a thin purfling strip on the edges of the fret board that the base could ride on to lessen the radius on the bottom of the inlay rebate. I have had no problems with smaller inlays.

How have other dealt with this?

[Kevin in California]

This is a great question Herman. I have only done dots on my fretboards so it has not been so critical, but if I ever venture out to a more complicated inlay, I can see the issues to deal with. Seems radiusing first would be the best way to go.