Inlay Removal

[axeman]

How do I remove inlays on a Gibson type guitar?

Thanks

Art

[Lefty Lou]

I'm no luthier but I believe it's with heat like maybe a paint stripper gun (which I personally don't care for). Years ago I had to have my lefty Greco "Super Real" Les Paul copy leveled, crowned, planed and refretted (the guitar at one time belonged to Elliot Easton of the Cars fame). Long story short, one or more of the Gibson styled inlays had to be removed with heat by Don Teeter a well known luthier. The heat ended up discoloring one or more inlays but Don said it couldn't be helped (and Don is a personal friend of the C.F. Martin family, so he knows what he's doing).

[axeman]

Thanks I have a heat gun, but I'm not comfortable using it to remove inlays unless I'm certain it won't mess the guitar up.

[vanhalen5150]

If its an old Gibson, its usually glued in with hide glue. It takes about 150 degrees to melt the stuff. A heat gun would probably ruin the finish or lift the fretboard, but a little bit of a hair dryer may be what you need. I would check the Stewmac website. They usually have some pretty good tech DIY info there.

Are you trying to save the inlay? I know guys remove fretboards by using a cloths iron. Maybe post a close shot.