Fretboard "Dots"

[Meggy]

I think it "pops" more in blonde:

That is kind of "the look" for me at the moment regarding guitars. I know it's shallow of me, but I almost don't mind what exact guitar it is as long as it has that black wood and blond finish thing, especially with the flame on the body. I would probably prefer a black finish on the pickup, but otherwise that's about it for me!

[Sionny Gwytar]

i always liked the mother-of-pearl double-diamond lozenges on my 1953 Gibson Country Western. and sure, it can make a different sound when fretting on it; the trick is to make it work for ya.

originally, frets were just short lengths of gut string tied around the neck of the lute, and you fixed the intonation by sliding them up and down, hence, the quote about hearing lutenists tuning up but never hearing them play. [who the hell actually SAID that? i always thought it was Shakespeare; seem to recall having a reference at one time, but haven't been able to track it down online.]

at RenFaire i used to play a bandurria (picture a fat pear-shaped mandolin with a flat back), originally invented in England in 1540 by Dr. John Rose, a luthier. it was a smaller version of a "pandora." mine was from the Phillippines and had 14 strings, tuned to guitar, in courses: 3 Es, 3 Bs, 3 Gs, 2 Ds, 2 As, and 1 low E. imagine moving your street act from a sunny to shady spot, or vice versa! lots of retuning, and if it'd had gut frets, one can readily understand the critic's point. the neck was also shorter than a mandolin's, and the frets were closer together. my biggest thrill was launching into "Rakish Paddy," and the fiddler, unencumbered by frets, actually asked me to SLOW DOWN! lol, nice compliment.

[ksjazzguitar]

as for me, i'm just happy they're there. (i know this is blasphemy, but i wish i had dots on my nylon-string guitar, too.)

Yeah, I had a 7th fret side dot installed on my classical, its all I need. I've known a few guys who've done that and many who temporarily done it with a tiny piece of tape or white out. Whatever works.


The frustration for me is that my tenor banjo has then at frets 5, 7, and 10. It really screws me up sometimes. I've seen it on some older guitars too. (My TB is from 1961, so it's not that old.)

Peace,
Kevin