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Abalone Inlay Process by cuatro-maker Roberto Rivera      
                                               

               
Roberto Rivera, cuatro maker
of Murrieta, California.

Roberto Rivera creates beautiful abalone and mother-of-pearl inlays, executed in floral wreath motifs on his cuatros and on the cuatros of other cuatro-makers of his region. Roberto has been an indispensable member of the Cuatro Project for several years now, and we are pleased to bring samples of his wonderful work here.

The design (either original or copied from design books) is first drawn on paper full size, serving as the template for cutting the individual elements in the shell material to be inlayed. The individual elements of the pattern are cut out of the pattern and adhered to the thin shell wafers of mother of pearl and abalone. A fine-toothed jeweler's saw is used to cut out the wafers, guided by the cutout paper shapes adhered to it. The sawn pearl elements are then placed over the taped fingerboard, as shown, and they serve as templates for cutting the pattern in the masking tape. The tape in between the cuts is removed, revealing openings in the field that correspond to the original pattern.

The artisan then excavates the pattern into the fingerboard following the openings in the masking tape. Typically, a thin-bladed chisel is used, a difficult and laborious project which must yield an accurate pocket at the precise depth that corresponds to the thickness of the pearl pieces to be inlayed. Alternatively and far easier is the use of a miniature router such as the one seen in the photograph.

Here we see the completed task, with the masking tape completely removed.

The pearl elements are let into the pockets in the fingerboard that have just been cut. Each fragment must be touched up with a file (or the pocket with a fine chisel) to insure a positive and tight fit. When all the elements are in dry-fit, they are removed and re- introduced with white or cyanoacrylate glue. The surfaces are then sanded until they are flush and smooth. A mixture of fingerboard sawdust and white glue is pressed into the tiny gaps that remain and everything is sanded with fine sandpaper until what remains is a gleaming, polished surface.

Roberto Rivera playing on of his own inlayed creations. Roberto is an accomplished microbiologist, cuatrista, cuatromaker and guirero living in California, apprentice to Diomedes (Yomi) Matos, who built cuatros for great players such as Yomo Toro. Roberto has built instruments for Edwin Colon Zayas and Alvin Medina. Reach Roberto on the internet here.