Is it possible to get replacements for inlays?

[KyleVerbeke]

My dad has a Korean-made Epiphone Emperor (circa 1988-1990), and a few years ago, the inlay at the fifth fret popped out and went missing. Unfortunately, that makes the guitar somewhat difficult to play as the string will get pushed down into the gap. Does Gibson/Epiphone sell replacements?

 

Thanks.

[ReneBoedker]

I don't think Epiphone sells spare inlays, but I would assume that almost every luthier would be able to make a new inlay.

[brianh]

Stew Mac sells inlay materials and some precut pieces: http://www.stewmac.com/Shopping?actn=search&keyword=inlay

 

Also Grizzly: http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2010/Main/384

 

The Grizzly H6220 or H6221 may fit an Emperor, but you will want to verify dimensions and thickness before ordering, and you may need to make adjustments before gluing and filling the gaps.

[KX36]

Some players carve deep holes into their fretboards between the frets for various reasons and there are some indian folk instruments which are like this. If you've got a light touch, you might not even notice there's a hole under the string...

 

But for normal people, there are luthiers.

 

Take it to a local luthier to see what they can do about it, or do it yourself with supplies from stew mac or somewhere like that. There are videos on youtube about how to make and insert inlays indended for people building their guitar from scratch, but I'm sure it would be helpful for you to see.

 

The main thing I'd be thinking about is getting a piece of inlay that matches the rest and making sure it's a good fit. Some of the "luthiers" I've been to seem to think any old thing will do for a repair no matter how it looks or feels as long as it gets the job done and I can imagine someone like that handing you the guitar back with a very odd looking poorly fitting inlay that had a large gap around it filled in with some vaguely wood coloured glue... That's the sort of reason I do everything I can do myself, but there is a good number of good luthiers who love guitars and I'm sure you'll probably get a good job done if you don't want to do it yourself.