Can these kind of inlays be done without using laser/CNC?

[Matthew Bennett DC]

Hello and happy Monday,

I spent two days at the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Gaithersburg, MD in October and saw something awesome. Here's a pic and I studied it in great detail and I have to say it was done with zero gaps anywhere.

20171119_144228.jpg

These kind of incredibly tight tolerance and consistency led me to think it was done with assist of laser or CNC. Lately, I have been thinking about how these things could be done and realized it may not be possible without a laser or CNC. To clarify, I do know inlays can be done without laser or CNC but at that level of tolerance?

What do you guys think? can these kind of quality artwork be done without using a laser or CNC?

[John Blazy]

I know that many, if not most luthiers pride themselves in doing inlays without CNC, as they are skilled at razor cutting the cavity from the positive inlay blank, but you may actually be seeing some gaps that have been filled with color-matching epoxy and you didn't notice it. Some guys inlay into ebony fretboards with gaps, but then fill with epoxy, and you absolutely can't tell without a magnifier because the ebony is so dark. Personally, my laser is faster at cutting the outline of a cavity than I could ever cut by hand, so I use laser, then router to mill out waste, and use laser to cut the positive.