Inlays are accents on a guitar. They are made from material other then the primary wood used to form the neck and the body. They are often found on the neck of the guitar and accent the individual frets. Some guitars do have inlays on the body. Common materials used for inlays are pearl and plastic. Depending on the cost and the quality of the instrument, the inlays will either be produced in mass production or detailed in a shop by hand.
Fiber optic cable are primarily used in the telecommunications industry. They are capable of transmitting data by converting it into lightwaves. They are made from tiny tubes of either plastic or glass and bundled together in a cable casing. Fiber optic cable is incredibly efficient, but costly. Due to its unique appearance, it has also been utilized as an accent. For guitars, you can purchase kits that allow you to inlay the cable into the wood of your guitar to enhance its appearance with light.
If you have never performed work on your guitar before, you will likely not want to take on this task with your favorite instrument. It involves removing pieces of the neck and reconstructing the body to complete this task. This could result in damage to your guitar that would be irreparable. The items you'll need to complete the installation of fiber optic cable are the cable, tape, epoxy, clamps, a flat board, wax paper, a drill and a 3/8-inch drill bit.
If you were to strap on your guitar and look down at the neck, there should be inlays in the shape of dots marking the various frets. This is where the fiber optic cables will go. Instead of having the pearl inlays, you will have a colored light accent flush with the wood of the neck. This is achieved by removing the fret board and installing a bundle of fiber optic cable into the fretboard back. Each cable would be cut at the appropriate length to reach the outlet of each inlay. The pearl inlay would then be removed and the cable would replace it. Tape and epoxy would be used to hold the cable in place. The power source would reside in the body of the guitar, which would require you to drill a hole from the fretboard back to the belly of the instrument. The bundle would then be secured with additional epoxy.