10th Position Dot

[jazzbow]

I see the dots on a neck (3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15 etc) to help to finger C Major scale.
When teaching a simple C Major scale to newbies in the first and second hand position from the B to top E string I would call out 'Fret 1, dot, next string off. 1, dot, slide to dot, dot, slide up one fret'. They would eventually hear the scale and be able to find the tone before learning its name.

Or from the A string for stretching exercises C Major scale using dots '3, 5, 7 (then D string) 3, 5, 7, slide up one fret.

[SierraTango]

Interesting how strong the opinions can be on the internet. I guess I like the 10th fret dot and enjoy using it on my GJ guitar. When I get back to playing my others I have no intention of changing them. I just find it an interesting concept that I adjusted to very quickly.

Since D minor seems to be a common key in Gypsy Jazz, it does make it pretty cool if you are adaptable enough to embrace the change.

I don't pay much attention to the side markers-in fact I'm usually reading the chart and I don't look at the guitar much. I will say this-as you point out most of the Gypsy rep is in guitar "friendly" keys-Gm, Am, Dm, or major 6ths, 9ths, +5, etc. Also much easier for a Violinist to play in those keys, so having the side marker on the 10th is helpful. However when I gig with a horn player (Trumpet) we are hardly ever in anything but Bb, Eb, F, Ab, etc. So that marker on the 9th fret does come in handy in those situations. For me.
BTW my Latcho has the 9th fret marker, but I've had GJG's with the 10th. Either way OK by me.

[entresz]

My Gitane has the dot on the 10th, I don't play it all that often so it does tend to put me off. I'm sure if I spent more time on that instrument I'd get used to it.

[Ol' Fret]

The question why putting the dot either on the 9th or the 10th fret is fully legitimate, though opens a can of worms because there's no perfect explanation. There are pros and cons for both positions - something for theory gurus. The rest of the markers is plausible.
Some thoughts were tried to give on this website: Position of white dots in guitar fretboard - Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange .


Fact is that many vintage Selmer, subsequently Favino, Busato, Di Mauro, etc., guitars sport the 10th fret marking:

Django's personality and impact on European dance/swing music were so large in the 1930s, or US made guitars so far away and out of reach in Europe, that quasi a second, undisputed standard was created, in addition to those guitar makers who had always been building archtop guitars according to Gibson (like Roger/Hirsch in the 30s) or in the Epiphone tradition (like Otwin). Of course, during the war the double standard was irrelevant, and when the dust settled and people came slowly again to their senses, the guitar makers started again from a point like in the 30s. Eventually, under the huge influence of American popular music in Europe after the war only the 9th fret dot was left in the basket.

Now the question is why Japanese guitar makers initially copied the European thing? After all, they had lost the war, like the Germans, and had no choice but orienting their new production line on American guitar models, then already much more sought after and valuable. The Americans had lost significantly less material and machinery, hence the quality of their guitars was much better then, and the rest did the omnipresence of the US troops and music (for the marketing) and that crazy, fixed USD currency exchange rate. Nobody is interested in buying the stand-alone products of nations that have lost a war. I'm afraid that's one reason why warfare will never stop.
The British even refused to accept the German Volkswagen factory as a war reparation. Well, they can have it today - together with Bayer-Monsanto and the Deutsche Bank...