What else can I use for side dot markers? - created 10-28-2008

Veltman, Kurt - 10/28/2008.11:39:48
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I have used the traditional pearl dots, and I've used Mark Swanson's super cool little trick of a brass rod filled with ebony dust. Does anyone have any other methods they would like to share?

Don't miss Mark's fiber optic side marker discussion. Knitting needles, brass coat hangers, baking sode + CA, and small rhinestones have all been mentioned here in the past. Most of the lutherie supply houses stock thin plastic cylinders (read: expensive knitting needles) just for this purpose.

I've seen guitars with small square inlays that are placed in the fingerboard playing surface, at the edge of the neck so that they are also visible from the side as you play, sort of like the Gretsch "Thumbnail" inlays.

I made little dowels out of a piece of ivory using an electric drill and sandpaper. They were tiny, around 1mm, drilled hole tapped them in, with a little CA, being careful not to have my face close to my work, cut them off sanded them down. Perfect. You could do the same with bone, using cutoffs from making saddles.

I've heard of people using weed eater cord. This probably would only work with certain colored finishes.

Silver wire. Readily available in convenient sizes and surprisingly affordable, 9ct gold isn't horrendously expensive either.

I would like to try platinum but the last time I looked at the price I nearly fainted.

Colored pencil lead is the most creative and obvious thing I've heard for this application lately. Frank Ford I think.

Matchstick.

I've used round toothpicks. They were beautiful but hard to see on a dark stage.

Thanks one and all for all the ideas.

Andrew, where would I get the gold wire you mentioned?

Also, I'm not limiting this to just dots. Other shapes or anything anyone has used for side markers are welcome. My latest bass turned out pretty nice, and I think I want to do something a little different on this one. Thanks.

I regularly drill the holes and then fill them with coloured epoxy. This allows me flexibility in colour of the dots. Sometimes it takes two applications to get the hole filled, particularly if little bubbles form in the initial filling.

You can get get silver and gold wire from jeweller's suppliers. The one I use is in UK so it's presumably not of any use to you but Google should be able to find you one that will cut to your requirements.

Rio Grande is a large jewelry supply house. Look at their catalog for ideas. Round and square wires, tubes of various configurations, etc.

Largely overlooked (so far) are adapting decorative mosaic pin stock we use in the custom knife industry. There are many manufactures of these and quality varies. Lots of patterns available in the market Do a Google search on "mosaic pins" but here's a starter primer...

http://www.engnath.com/public/mosaic.htm

Thanks for all the ideas! I particularly like the mosaic pins and gold wire ideas, esp. since this bass has gold colored frets and some gold hardware.

I've used Holly. Keeps the instrument a little more in the realm of the organic. Nice and white. I just ripped a small length of it octagonal or square, drilled the holes a little deeper than you would for for plastic, sharpened the end in a pencil sharpener (the kind with the spiral ginders works best) glued and tapped it in. Trim it and sharpen again. I've also used ebony on a maple neck.

Dave, I really like your idea. It's simple and creative, and allows you to work with any color wood you want. Thanks!

You can also use a laquer stick. (Available from Lee Valley Tools)

This is available in black, white and many different shades of brown, and two shades of amber. It comes in sticks and is used in furniture repair by melting and smoothing it with a hot burn in knife (spatula). The thing about doing this is you are not limited by the shapes avilable. Punch or carve any shape you want, then fill it with any color you want..just don't drop the stick, it shatters like glass..!

Dave S

I use a 3/32" inside diameter steel tube with a sharpened tip to cut dots from soft stone like talk or pipestone on my drill press. Takes a few minutes because the bit will fill after three dots and needs to be plunged out with a corresponding drill bit, so three or four set ups to cut ten dots.

I've been looking at the buttons on some of my shirts, and while your typical 3/8" to 1/2" button would be too big for side dots, they'd be a fine size for fretboard markers. Some are fairly plain MOTS type material, but some are quite pretty, and others actually made of shell. Can one purchase blank buttons, without the 2 or 4 holes? I suppose if you found a button you really liked, you could inlay it with the holes (for a folksy, industrious sorta look), or drill out the center to make a ring instead of a disc.

There are indeed buttons aplenty at any fabric store or home crafts store. Even places like walmart and target sometimes have small sewing supply departments. Some of them have no holes because they are sewn on from the back. Others are large enough that a section could be taken from a non-hole part. never tried it though, sounds interesting.

Brass rod, 1/16 ", from the hardware or hobby store.

It's a little more subtle, but apparent enough.

Drill, super glue, nip it and file.

Aluminium tube 1/8" outside diameter, infilled with coloured resin or wood to match neck. Have used larger sizes on front of fingerboard also. Anyone tried turquoise ?

Danny Gatton used rhinestones for side dots. Even in the darkest clubs, he said they pick up the tiniest bit of light, making it easy to see where you are on the neck.

That rhinestone thing gave me an idea. In my day job, I work with something that uses these highly reflective marker spheres to track surgical instruments in 3D space. These spheres are coated with this stuff: http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ScotchliteReflectiveMaterial/Scotchlite/

In any dark area, those pick up light and throw it back like they've got batteries in them. The effect would probably be ridiculous in a club. Might be interesting to make fret board markers with it too. The only rub is that in even lighting that material just looks like plain grey.

I forget who originally suggested this: Plastic hair-picks. Comes in a variety of colors, including tortoise colored. Cheap, 'bout a buck, and the comb 'fingers' are already tapered.

Those bamboo barbeque skewers that are about an 1/8 inch in diameter, look kinda cool. The end grain has all those little cells visible. Might be more suited toward a bass since they'd be larger than usual side markers, but might be interesting as fretboard markers as well. They tend to splinter unless you have a really fine saw, but you could cut small pieces with a really sharp knife (or a samurai sword if you live in Japan and grow your own bamboo ).

Bamboo end-grain of any size would look cool for inlays: fretboards, headstocks, rosettes... hmmm...

Twelve two copper wire looks great on dark wood.

I use thin plastic rods, pearl dots, or brass or silver (or aluminum, copper, etc.) wire.