Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on March 15, 2010 at 1:21am

there are plenty of pigments you can add to epoxy resins, try a fiberglass supplier...

I tell you one idea I have, but i haven't tried it yet, you know when you shoot a board with a nice sharp plane, once you have it nice and flat you get long shavings that curl right up??
well i suggest you take a plane to a nice contrasting colour plank.. (contrasting to your fretboard that is..)
concentrate on the edge, where its square, so the curly shavings you get are flat on one side (edit.. edge is a better word)..
collect the shavings up, wind em up a little tighter if you can and epoxy in..
sand flat and you should get nice little spirals..
if you combine this with a pigment to the epoxy (of a 3rd colour) i think the results could be really nice..

otherwise...
dowels.. (got a mate with a lathe??)

one more thing..
if you're gonna muck around with epoxy.. expect a mess..
tape over your fretboard before you drill for the inlay...
and put plenty of newspaper or something down, the drips.. are tricky indeed to clean up..
for metal, maybe try a broken aerial from a radio??

anything round and then smothered in epoxy really.. how about a cross section of electrical cable??

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on March 15, 2010 at 1:36am

btw..
because of how you named the subject, I clicked on it thinking you mean straight lines at the fret positions, like for fretless bass or lap steel, etc..

I'm currently building a steel with fret lines from the 'fins' sawed of a heatsink from a dead computer..

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on March 15, 2010 at 2:17am

I have another riddle about dot markers for you...

have you ever noticed that the 'dot' (or other) markings are not in entirely consistent places when you compare a mando type instrument to a guitar to a banjo etc?? eg a guitar has one at fret nine, where a mando has it at #10...

this troubled me quite a bit when i first got a mando..

I was told a few years ago after asking a master luthier that the dots actually mark out the c major scale, nothing more, but I'm not sure thats entirely true either..

If anybody can explain the thinking to me I'd love to hear it..

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on March 15, 2010 at 2:42am

You're a cigar box pimp Bretz
Love it..

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Permalink Reply by Brian Watson on March 15, 2010 at 3:07am

Check out these folks. I have used inlace on some of my wood turnings and it makes a real sharp finished product.
http://www.inlaceonline.com/ They have everything from colored inlays to crushed stone and metal flakes that look real good. I used the turquoise crushed stone on a crow call that I won GA state call makers championship in '07

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Permalink Reply by KaptnKen on March 15, 2010 at 5:18am

I've been using spent small pistol primers for the side dot inlays on my last 2 builds. Drill just deep enough so the tops are flush and you've got shiny brass dots! You can see them on the pics of my second...need to get photos of #3 up soon.

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Permalink Reply by Hip Bone Bellaire on March 15, 2010 at 7:01am

I've been thinking about this as well do to me needing some frets... HO train tracks and glue in place!

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Permalink Reply by MikeBoy on March 15, 2010 at 7:07am

I used white/perl buttons for my last build. They were the kind that have the loop on the back. Drilled out just enough on the fretboard to push them flush.

https://api.ning.com/files/UezSyBTVEuwhXqZF3X40JfULEO7bACEUP7WZRPOVO...

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Permalink Reply by Michael Gajeski on March 15, 2010 at 12:51pm

Well, I know that they aren't marking a major scale. If they were, they would be marked on 2 4 5 7 9 11 12.

Jef Long said:

I have another riddle about dot markers for you...

have you ever noticed that the 'dot' (or other) markings are not in entirely consistent places when you compare a mando type instrument to a guitar to a banjo etc?? eg a guitar has one at fret nine, where a mando has it at #10...

this troubled me quite a bit when i first got a mando..

I was told a few years ago after asking a master luthier that the dots actually mark out the c major scale, nothing more, but I'm not sure thats entirely true either..

If anybody can explain the thinking to me I'd love to hear it..

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Permalink Reply by Dave Onastik on March 15, 2010 at 1:42pm

Thanks for all the great ideas. Tonight I did some experiments with solder, plumbers putty, and JB Weld. The best and easiest results came from the solder. I'll post a pic or two later in the week.

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Permalink Reply by Wade on March 15, 2010 at 2:00pm

How about taking a piece of old junk furniture that has a nice top laminate and "pop" dots out of that with a hole puncher? I got some free scraps from a cabinet maker.
Another member uses plastic bristles from a dollar store comb for the side markers. I like to use the center stud of my pop rivets.- they're soft and easy to work with.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan King on March 15, 2010 at 2:12pm

In regard to mixing the epoxy dust, you can mix in some wood dust (I'd reckon a contrasting wood would look best), or try getting a mortar and pestle and grind up some pretty stones. I've got a buddy who does some nice turquoise dust/epoxy work on the worm holes in his wooden sculptures.

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