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Side Dot Screw Up
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=22942		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Kevin Mason [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Side Dot Screw Up
I'm not sure where my brain went, but I put the side dots on the fingerboard binding in line with the fret rather than between the frets, and didn't notice the mistake until last night when I strung up the guitar for the first time and couldn't figure out why my fingers weren't finding the right frets. gaah

Putting new ones in the correct spot and refinishing will be easy, but how do I cleanly hide the old side dots? The fingerboard binding is curly sapele and pretty thin (about 1/16" thick x 3/8" tall). Is there such a thing as a tiny plug cutter?
Author:  Dave Stewart [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Kevin, I did a tutorial recently on making MOP side dots.... you may be able to do something similar with the sapele.
Author:  Erik Hauri [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
You may want to subtly accent the old holes rather than hide them completely (which I think will be difficult) - but this might also mean you need to put one under EVERY fret....
Author:  Fred Tellier [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
You could put the dot in the center where it belongs and add another under the next fret so it would look like groups of 3 at each position. You can tell everyone you wanted this, except the OLF will know but we can be persuaded to keep quiet as we have all made our own Boo Boo's

Fred
Author:  mateo4x4 [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Make the dots part of a design pattern? Like a short series of dots, that get smaller as they approach the middle of the fret.

-Matthew
Author:  Kevin Mason [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Fred Tellier wrote:
You could put the dot in the center where it belongs and add another under the next fret so it would look like groups of 3 at each position. You can tell everyone you wanted this, except the OLF will know but we can be persuaded to keep quiet as we have all made our own Boo Boo's

Fred


I appreciate the vow of silence.
Author:  Andy Birko [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Fred Tellier wrote:
You could put the dot in the center where it belongs and add another under the next fret so it would look like groups of 3 at each position. You can tell everyone you wanted this, except the OLF will know but we can be persuaded to keep quiet as we have all made our own Boo Boo's

Fred


We must never break the Code.
Author:  StevenWheeler [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Hi Kev!

Pull off the binding and redo it. It sounds scary, but i've seen your work and have the utmost confidence in your abilitys. Maybe make some little arrows pointing to where the dots should be?

Steve
Author:  woody b [ Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
I've never put them right under the frets, I just put the in between the WRONG FRETS!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, you can count on my silence [uncle]
Author:  SteveSmith [ Fri Jul 03, 2009 7:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Don't feel too bad Kevin, I just did a the dots wrong on my ebony fretboard; I put 1 at the third and 2 at the fifth instead of one at the fifth and 2 at the seventh [headinwall] I drilled out and plugged the ones I didn't want then put a new center dot in on the fifth fret. If it doesn't look ok I'll put a new fretboard on it.

If you can't think of a good pattern to save what you've already installed then I would try to plug the holes before I pulled the binding, you have nothing to lose but some time. You can make a small plug cutter out of some brass tubing like they sell in hobby stores. Just clean up the end and put some teeth in it with a needle file. After you cut the plug just push it out of the tube with the back end of a small drill bit. If the repair doesn't look good enough then maybe you can just pull the binding.
Author:  bluescreek [ Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
I saw a guitar that I think had the same thing happen. The builder added 2 dots into the pattern one matched the one he used then he set a colored dot in the center. He used red pencil lead from an artist supply. It did look nice. Kind of o 0 o simple and yet it made it look as though that was the intended design.
Some mistakes are opportunities for design change
Author:  HippetyHop [ Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Side Dot Screw Up
Drill out the white dots & replace them with black & put white dots in the correct positions.

Cheers Hip.
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