Mother-of-pearl can add something very special to the decoration of a guitar but working with it is a pain.  You can’t scrape, plane or chisel it and it can’t be incorporated into projects like making ten rosettes at once.  As I have so often said before, the successful craftsman relies on efficency to make a half-decent living and to make enough instruments to allow him to become more profficient.  One way around this problem with M.O.P. is to use a spacer.  I have posted photos before of my strips that I make of with the central motif.  I can slice the strips off and bundle them with the herringbone and veneers and install them in one go.  The plastic spacer is popped out once the top is thicknessed and the M.O.P. can be glued in and sanded down flush.