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Cable tie frets

I was looking for a way to mark out the frets on a lap steel I'm building and thought this might be of some use to others building any type of fretless guitar.

After marking out and cutting the slots like I would do if using fret wire, I used a hacksaw to widen the slots out to hold a 4" plastic cable tie. The hacksaw blade was the perfect size.I cut the slot deep enough to allow 3/4 of the cable tie to set in the slot. I then drilled out the fret markers and used white glue to install the ties and markers. Simply run a bead of glue over the slot and push the tie down and across with your finger. This will spread the glue evenly in the slot. A damp paper towel was all that was needed to clean the glue off the board.After allowing the glue to dry, I cut off the ends of the cable ties and sanded everything flush going up to 320 grit. A palm sander could be used to knock the plastic ties down even with the board, but I simply used a sanding block. The plastic works down pretty fast. A few coats of Danish oil to seal the board and this is the results.These cable ties come in many different colors and are pretty cheap to buy. As the picture above showed, I cut the large markers out of a medium black pick with a 1/4" paper punch.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out. You could put a thin strip of wood on each side of the board to give it a binding look and cover the ends of the ties, but I'm leaving this one as is. I hope this has been helpful and someone gets some use from it.

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Comment by steve whittle on June 28, 2016 at 1:26pm: Nice idea, going to do that one of these times.

Comment by Kirk Bolas on June 28, 2016 at 11:11am: I think this is a pretty cool idea. For a lap steel, slide only, home built, this offers a lot more than just painting the lines on. I reckon that if the relief for the ties was cut a little deeper so as the tie was almost flush with the surface of the board, I could do this same thing with the oil can body fretless bass I'm building. Whatever protrudes could be sanded down flush and the surface sealed with the appropriate can-o-liquid plastic clear sealer for a smooth feel as the left hand fingers move up and down the neck, lookin' to hold the strings in place for the desired notes. I've seen these zip ties in glow in the dark colors, so using those on my fretless would look cool on a dimly lit stage and make it easier to play as I could confirm my positioning...under the black lights that some venues offer...über cool.

Comment by Bert Bennett on June 28, 2016 at 8:33am: Interesting ideas. May give this a try.

Comment by Philip Hale on June 28, 2016 at 4:50am: Great idea I just did one with Ali wire and it was a bitch to do but I'm pleased with the outcome. Will try this on my next, thanks for sharing. Mine are just for markers as well but yours look real tidy.

Comment by Paul Craig on November 29, 2015 at 9:09am: They wouldn't last long fretting as the string would chew them up pretty fast. Just for looks and reference. You can use nails or wooden skewers in place or "frets" if fretting is too much to handle yet.

Comment by Rooster Reaves on November 29, 2015 at 6:02am: Do these work ok if you want to fret and play slide?

Comment by Paul Monaco ( Whittling Guy) on November 23, 2015 at 5:28pm: Thats a GREAT way to do frets! If you want another way to make frets on a mahogany fretboard use split bamboo skewers and glue them in using a hacksaw. I use small pieces of 1/4 in dowels for markers. This is a picture of my lap steel fretboard

Comment by Taffy Evans on November 23, 2015 at 12:20pm: I've always inlaid maple into fret slots when making a fretted bass fretless, but thought this was a bit too much work for a simple CBG, so this idea is great if I do a fretless CGB. One could use a different coloured fret marker instead of a position marker dot.

I've always referred to them a fret markers and the dots as position markers.

Cheers Taff

Comment by Graham Wedepohl on November 23, 2015 at 8:18am: OK, looks great. much nicer look that the pen I used on mine. ;) Will have to give it a shot on my next fretless one.