For hundreds of years, the builders of stringed instruments from lutes to kotos to guitars have used mother-of-pearl and abalone to add accents and further decorate their work. Inlays may be as simple as a pearl dot position marker on an inexpensive electric guitar, while some inlay work consists of hundreds – or even thousands – of hand-placed pieces, effectively turning an instrument into a work of art, as in the PRS Dragon Series, which may also include other materials as diverse as gold, ivory, onyx and other semi-precious stones.
