The Martin “Tree of Life” pattern.

This is a vine pattern that grows up the fretboard, to the headstock and can be continued (or not) into the headstock. It contains over 60 pieces of Mother of Pearl, and Abalone, and is somewhat time consuming to cut and inlay. Many hours of work are required, hence, fairly expensive to make, but worth it if you want something that’s not terribly common.

Flower petals adorn the 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, and 15th frets. In one of the fretboards the flowers are white Mother of Pearl with green abalone centers, and in another, the flowers are green abalone with white MoP centers. Also note that in one of them the vine ends at the 1st fret, with a flower, and in the other the vine can continue up into the headstock. Just click on any of the thumbnai pictures to see an enlargement, then you can click on the double arrows to cycle through the slideshow.


A slightly simpler version of it is also available, involving less pieces, and quite beautiful as well. The simpler version uses bigger pieces of inlay material, which are sometimes had to obtain. Also, because of the way in which this vine is presented, it’s important to have marker dots on the side of the neck to identify the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 17th fret locations.