Who made this design popular?
- Thread starter ratto99
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middleofnowhere
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everybody years ago use those they were common inlay that could just be purchased from instrument manufacturers banjos guitars and so on. Nothing really special about them.
Inlay markers, precut shapes and motifs
Inlay markers, precut shapes and motifs. Various designs available. Used for fretboard markers, furniture, decorations. Choose from stocked items or ask us about custom cut motifs.
motherofpearl.company
If I remember right Balabushka made accordions and concertina's Which use a lot of mother of pearl inlay so he probably adapted it to his cues.
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So the oldest cue I have seen with notched Diamonds was a Rambow from the 30's.
You had BBC custom shop cues with ivory or MOP nameplates, but nothing with a diamond, same with Pick, nameplates, but no diamonds.
middleofnowhere
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Dots were popular probably because they are so easy to do. Many inlays were not very well done. I had a Balabushka with a lot of mop dots and notched diamonds. A close examination showed they were not well done.
Even early Joss cues you could see inlays poorly fitted with black tinted epoxy filling around around them. It is easy to disguise when set in Ebony. Ginacue did nice work. He made me a cue in the early '70s with MOP dots and diamonds and it was really nice, very well done. He may have raised the level of cue making.
When all of this work was done by hand, you would get varying degrees of craftsmanship. That Rambow cue I mentioned was for a world's fair, those diamonds were... tight.
middleofnowhere
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Guitar makers?
Rambow used the dots but he did not use notched Diamonds nearly as often, Palmer, Paradise, and GB on the east coast went more to the notched diamonds.
He absolutely used diamonds and notched diamonds; they were not common and only in his fanciest cues, but he definitely used them.
Just very, very sparingly, probably due to how difficult it was to incorporate into the cue.
That is what I said! " did not use notched diamonds nearly as often".
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
The C 18 McDermott cue I've got was one of the first cues I seen with the diamonds it also had some small dots also .
Granted it's not a Rainbow or a George Balabushka cue however I certainly enjoyed playing with it !
Granted it's not a Rainbow or a George Balabushka cue however I certainly enjoyed playing with it !
middleofnowhere
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The big problem was they are usually used in guitar, banjo heads that are flat. A cue is round and the MOP is not that thick. Has to be installed perfect or it gets screwed up. When I got a pantograph I started buying MOP in small sheets that are thicker. I would cut out my own inlays. Mop it not that easy to work with.
What's funny, Ivory is so easy to work with compared to mop it was like stealing and you could ask for a lot more money. I actually liked exotic woods better, far more interesting and so many different things you could do. Ivory, mother of pearl got kind of boring.
What's funny, Ivory is so easy to work with compared to mop it was like stealing and you could ask for a lot more money. I actually liked exotic woods better, far more interesting and so many different things you could do. Ivory, mother of pearl got kind of boring.
The fourth cue from the left was made for Marvin Henderson. When he passed, his family asked Ernie to sell for them. I still have in my collection, along with another in this picture from the same BRW slab. They’re beauties.
Marvin’s name always comes up when discussing best ever African-American players. He spent a lot of his life in California, I believe he was originally from Pittsburgh area.
Will Prout
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