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Permalink Reply by Pat on December 23, 2015 at 8:41am

I have been using, Fimo Polymer Clay. Just get a bit of flat bar and drill holes to the size you want your fret markers to be pack the holes with the Fimo Polymer Clay, bake it in the oven at 110C for 30 minutes let it cool then push them out of your mold.

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Permalink Reply by Daryl on December 23, 2015 at 12:34pm

I have a 1/4 inch hole punch that works good on fancy plastic pics. It does require a 1/4" forsner bit and a little practice. Or a good depth stop on your drill press. With the varity of pics available the options are many.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on December 23, 2015 at 1:54pm

Try some 12 gauge solid copper wire. A foot of wire will last for dozens of guitars. I drill a matching hole, tap the wire in with a small hammer, file flush, finish sand and the copper dots look great.

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Permalink Reply by Daryl on December 23, 2015 at 2:38pm

That's a great idea. What do you cut the wire with so it doesn't distort too badley?

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on December 24, 2015 at 2:03am

I don't worry about it too much since I dress it with a file after it is installed.

Since the wire is fairly heavy, I usually just use a pair of diagonal cutters (called dykes in the old days).

I drill the hole about 1/4" deep, cut the wire to about 3/8", tap it in with a small hammer, cut as flush as possible with cutters, then just take a swipe or two with a file to make it flush. Usually I do this before finishing the neck, so the wire eventually gets hit with some medium grit sandpaper as well.

I'll post some photos when I get back home. Currently out of town for a grand baby fix.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on December 24, 2015 at 2:42pm

Need to get you a photo. They just look "right"

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on December 24, 2015 at 2:40pm

You got that right........

The kids are cute, but the grand baby is much cuter.

T

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on December 26, 2015 at 12:21pm

Here are some photos of those copper wire fret dots.

Here is a lifetime supply of dots (for me anyway). Thanks HD.

Installed on my latest project.

These are now my default side markers on most projects.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan Binns on December 27, 2015 at 4:09pm

Ive been doing the exact same thing. It's easy, cheap, and looks awesome. I make my fretboard dots out of 1/4" copper tubing with a piece of dowel in the centre. I hope to make a blog post on my neck building process in the next few days while I'm relaxing over the holidays. It will cover the dot process too.

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