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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 Tom T on November 5, 2019 at 9:27am: Excellent Idea !!!

Comment by Rooster on July 5, 2016 at 2:34pm: Thanks for all the comments gentlemen............glad you could get some use from this :-)

Comment by Bernie Edwards on July 4, 2016 at 7:11pm: Sorry Michael....having joined this site very recently I missed your earlier comment so apologise to all for repeating you!

I made a lute from a kit about 20 years ago but found that the string material I used for the frets (nylon string lengths) very difficult to tighten adequately and I had to resort to cryo glue in one or two cases!! I suspect that gut has higher friction than nylon?

Comment by Michael Fred Johnson on July 4, 2016 at 8:59am: You're right Bernie see the photo of my lute earlier in this discussion

Comment by Bernie Edwards on July 3, 2016 at 7:16pm: Ha ha...yes good point!!!

Then I went back to photo 3 and it clearly shows them on their sides!

The idea of non-metallic frets goes back into the renaissance/baroque periods where instruments such as the lute and baroque guitar were fretted with loops of gut tied around the 'fret' board.

Comment by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on July 3, 2016 at 11:14am: Awesome idea. Certainly a giant step up from my usual pencil marks. I may try this on my next fretless build. Thanks very much for sharing this with us.

Comment by Bernie Edwards on June 29, 2016 at 7:47pm: What a brilliant idea ... I'm going to try that on my next one as I have a large stock of ties...white unfortunately!

The black pick-punched discs are clever too...great!

Comment by Blues Frog on June 29, 2016 at 2:51pm: gonna have to try that. My latest gits are a pair, andI was thinking of doing just that. Now I have the info I need. Thanks.

Comment by Hector Arturo Chavez on June 28, 2016 at 11:53pm: Great idea

Thanks

Comment by Rooster Reaves on June 28, 2016 at 3:03pm: I've done it and they work great. If your doin just slide their real good! Freting is ok for a time.

They clean up good if you want to replace them. Don't use any super glue.