<![CDATA[WORLD OF SHELL - Blog]]>Wed, 13 Dec 2023 22:42:13 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Inlay + Luthiers: Wah Wah Watson's Archtop]]>Mon, 01 Mar 2021 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.worldofshell.com/blog/inlay-luthiers-wah-wah-watsons-archtop
Today's post is all about the Wah Wah Watson L5 inspired archtop that I designed and built with Inlay Artist Dave Nichols and Luthier John Carruthers. 
]]><![CDATA[Inlay Showcase: Craig Levin's Newport Show Guitar]]>Sun, 04 Feb 2018 22:44:05 GMThttps://www.worldofshell.com/blog/inlay-showcase-craig-levins-newport-show-guitarPicture
This Mermaid and Lighthouse inlay by Craig Levin was our show guitar at Newport in Miami in 2010.

Patterned after the show’s mermaid logo, Samantha the mermaid is a combination of multi hued mother of pearl, and multiple species of abalone.

The inlay starts with clouds and the moon using gold white pearl followed by a lone pine tree of brown lip mother of pearl.
Samantha’s engraved golden tresses are also gold white mother of pearl flowing into a torso made of white mother of pearl. Her mermaid’s tail  flows like an evening gown and is made from red abalone heart and engraved gold white mother of pearl. `
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There are two fish one of mother of pearl and the other green abalone.
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The pickguard is adorned of a gold and white mother of pearl lighthouse tower on a red abalone heart and corian seascape. 
  
]]><![CDATA[The Secret to Ultra Fast and Precise Guitar Picking!]]>Wed, 17 Jan 2018 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.worldofshell.com/blog/the-secret-to-ultra-fast-and-precise-guitar-picking
Mother of pearl guitar picks evolved from the agate/Brasília stone picks and were first manufactured under the Mind Pick name.  These were initially too large in size and unwieldy. Pat Martino used a stone pick on some of his classic albums in the 1970s which enabled his ultra fast nonstop sixteenth note runs.
Mother of Pearl picks have a similar tone and allow even greater great speed and picking dexterity allowing a player to produce unlimited harmonics at high speed.  The pick edge of a mother of pearl pick will evolve into each guitar player’s natural picking pattern as they are used. The back rounded edge also allows great ultra fast picking for jazz players, improved chicken picking for country players and flawless sweep picking for rock and metal guitarists.  Pearl picks come in white, gold white and black mother of pearl. The white and gold white pearl picks from Philippine shell are the most durable and quickly adapt in shape to a players picking style.   ​​
]]><![CDATA[Tokappi Palace - a Historical Loveletter to Inlay]]>Sat, 30 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.worldofshell.com/blog/tokappi-palace
Gold Pearl is one of the most beautiful inlay materials available. It has been used over the years in architecture, vintage musical instruments and furniture. When I opened up the most recent issue of Raffles Magazine, it was adorned with the Gold Mother of pearl doors of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul Turkey. This took me on a web journey to find these doors 

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