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I bought a white plastic rod from Stewmac so I can do the side marker for my ebony unbound fretboard. The problem is, I took it with me today so I can buy the right sized drill bit for it (as its either bigger or smaller than all the drill bits I have), and on the way back I had it in my pocket but when I reached in to get it it was missing!

I figured it must have fallen out on the way back. Now I have a problem... I can't find the right sized plastic rod in Taiwan (I tried looking), all they have are huge rods at least 5mm in diameter which is clearly too big for side markers, but I won't put in another order at Stewmac just to buy one stinkin plastic rod and pay 10 dollar shipping for it... I have a bunch of light colored materials but no idea how to turn it into a side marker because I don't have any plug cutter, and I don't have a lathe either...

any suggestions? I do have some cotton swabs but unfortunately they use hollow plastic shaft, so that won't do... I don't know of any cotton swabs that uses solid plastic shaft either. Another suggestion is epoxy but I just need some white filler for it... was thinking of going to the Anarchist Cookbook street and buy some Titanium Dioxide...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

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I was able to slice a piece of PVC plumbing pipe so I could chuck in the drill press, then was able to make it round enough for some side dots.

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On my first I had forgotten to order side dot marker material. I used bamboo skewers. Looks decent. if you have some light colored stuff and a pencil sharpener, rough the material to a dimension that will fit into the sharpener and use it to taper the material and clip it close. CA it in. Should work fine.

Darrin

Send me a PM with your address and fastest way to send it and I will mail you some. I have several of the side position markers (stew mac or lmi can't remember) stick (rods) I use on occasion for repair stuff and on rare occasion my own builds. Don't use white that often so won't miss a few sticks, and easier for me to get them if needed

cheap modell aircrat plastik sets for a few bucks will yield tons of dots in every colour you a searching for.

NO your not stupid , we all make mistakes like that . Did you rewalk your steps ? was it left on the counter where u bought the drill bit ?

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I walked 2km to a hardware store, I took the bus there.

By the time I retraced the step the stuff will have been swept up. I know it fell on the way, not left on a counter.

I guess I can bandsaw some maple and chuck it in the pencil sharpener...

As for the offer, thanks for the offer, but I think I can get by. I am in Taiwan anyways so sending stuff might be a little expensive.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

heavy gauge solid strand aluminum wire (like 12 gauge i think) works wonderfully! here's a photo of them in a uke fret board, they are about 3 mm but i am just guessing on size and gauge right now

When I'm making my saddles, I usually have a piece of bone that's a couple of mm's square. I chuck it in a drill, and get some sandpaper, then sand it into a little rod. You have to be careful, but it only takes a few minutes. I have enough dots, then to do side dots on a number of guitars. It makes a perfect side dot. Drill hole, insert, put a drop of CA, saw off, file down, sand flush. perfect bone dot.

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Waddy

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I guess I am in luck... there are shops selling aluminum, copper, and brass rods around here.

I didn't know uke fretboards are supposed to be radiused... aren't they normally flat?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I've used nails before and it looked nice. Just pre-drill and set them and clip off the ends and file flush. I always make my own shell dots as well by taking small pieces and gluing them to the flat side of the drill bit that I'm using and chuck it backwards into the drill press and then sand until it is the same diameter. That way they are perfectly sized to your bit already. Hope that gives you some more ideas for options.

You got some good advice here. I like the bamboo idea, It would look great on ebony and the endgrain is so cool. I would also consider the cotton swab shafts and fill the void with ebony dust and glue. You would end up with circles instead of dots.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I use welding rods all the time (when I do fret markers) If you need it, let me know and don't worry about the cost. Price is paid with nice builds from you and sharing stuff

Very generous offers here. Nice stuff. Also very good ideas! I like the cotton swab idea. One problem might be cutting it without crushing it though. But it would make nice circle dots!

I used a stick of rosewood once on a maple bound fretboard. Chucked it into my hand drill, wrapped sandpaper around it, which I held in my hand, and spun it until it was round. Worked great. Seems that you have your solution though.

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PMoMC

Ya, normally they are flat. But there are professional builders use radiused fretboards for ukes.

I like the cotton swab as well. I'm thinking white plastic coffee stirs filled with colored epoxy.

I've been using copper wire. Works great and I like the colour.

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Tai, you can still use those cotton swabs and actually, it would look really cool. Just drill for the swab outside diameter, insert swab, nip it off to length, then fill the inside with ebony dust and CA it all in. You'll have a nice looking white ring for your fret markers. I might just have to do this myself. You can also do this same idea with thin brass tube. Just like Bryan Galloup





Using a razor blade to cut it would probably be the best way not to crush it.

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A friend just recently told me that plastic knitting needles make good rods for dot markers. Blindingly obvious once someone has told you (off to search for some tomorrow), and I presume that even though Taiwan is far warmer than the UK, they still knit there.

Tai Fu Change the name of the thread to " Various Items to use as fret Markers " This will come in handy for others in search later !

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

As Stated above, one easy way is to take a chunk of whatever (bone, plastic, celluliod, etc...) and super glue it to the flat end of a drill bit, chuck it and file it or sand it to diameter.

Also, and this is how I do it, I take leftover celluloid (I use a bit of the ivoroid stuff) and cut them into little pieces that are square in cross section, and about the same size as the hole(but a bit larger).

Take these little pieces, one at a time, and throw it into a cap-full of acetone. Wait about a minute. Grab the piece, which will be all gummy now, with needle nose pliers, and shove it into the hole you drilled. The acetone melts the celluloid, and the square peg will slide into the round hole, with the gummy melted stuff making it a perfectly round plug. Actually, by making it bigger by a bit, the gummy stuff gets scraped off when you shove it into the hole.

Let it dry for a few hours, razor off and sand.

copper and brass will corrode to green in no time unless they have a good layer of finish over them...
i have tried bamboo skewers(once), and they drank up the laquer and got real dark; it was on a rosewood FB(which i still have, and can photograph). i guess when i sanded the side of the fretboard the rosewood powder may have darkened them. but they are way too dark.
i don't like plastic in my guitars, it just seems wrong...it is very practical though- the pickguard/knobs/pickup covers are usually plastic anyway...

I used some old knitting needles for this guitar:
http://luthiersforum.com/forum/download/file.php?id=30230&mode=view (more pics in the Challenge build thread).
They come in many sizes. These were made from aluminium and ended up looking like MOP. Probably easier to work than steel nails or welding rod. Buying knitting needles is likely expensive compared to buying wire, though. I like the tubing options, too.

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Another thing you can use to make round dots is a drill bit/countersink. Place the countersink on the drill bit so the countersink flutes extend past the drill bit. This will leave a hole that acts like a small plug cutter the size of the drill bit. I have cut "dots" out of ivory and MOP using this method.

I guess I can try that too

Where do you get ivory anyways, isn't that stuff highly illegal?

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com