? about abalone

[funkingroovin]

Hello everyone, I am in the process of building a custom spk.cab. for my guitarist and and I want to use abalone for the edge banding,but I have never worked with it before.I'm curious about its characteristics,such as; how flexable is it; how brittle;would it react to a laquer clearcoat;...ANY input would be helpful. Thanks!

[jworrellbass]

Abalone is very brittle and expensive. I've used in my headstocks with tru oil and there hasn't been any problems. I have seen it used with different finishes and it looks fine. If it breaks you can use super glue, sand and buff.

[Dan Knowlton]

Check out abalam - it is thin abalone laminated onto a backing and is somewhat flexible and is easy to cut.

Dan K.

[funkingroovin]

thanks,I'll look into abalam!

[Dirk Diggler]

Also make sure you are well ventilated, shell cutting and sanding can be dangerous with the dust. I would suggest a little search first as I have read some fairly scary warnings online.
A simple fan and a mask should be fine, but then again they warn about many woods too. I usually use a mask when sanding anyway.
And yes it can be brittle and I have used both poly and tru oil over it and all is good, so I would imagine laquer would be fine too.
Just a little FYI to think about.
Dirk

[jworrellbass]

You should drip water on it as you cut.