Maybe this has been posted before or it's just common knowledge and I'm a doofus. Regardless...
I've been using airsoft pellets for fretboard dots for a while. Minimal hassle, cheap and fairly consistent results. But the side dots are my nemesis. I know I could just buy the material and be done with it, but I'm either too cheap or just too hardcore DIY or... something. Mental block on these.
The other day, I spotted a CBG with screwheads woodburned into the fretboard. Thought that was pretty neat so I tried it last night. Didn't get the results I was looking for, but the light bulb went on. Why couldn't I just bolt a nail into my soldering iron and burn side dots.
Well, you can! It's not a proper woodburning set, but I cut the head off a nail, ground it flat and screwed it into my HF 30w soldering iron. Results! Also made some nice test dots with the actual nail head too. This may be my new go-to for dark markers.
Now, if you could only burn white...
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Looks right to me. I've been using round head linoleum nails, but I like your results, Half. I have soldering gun and nails, so I'm going to try your method. Thanks for sharing.
Another idea that I've seen suggested, although I haven't tried it myself, is to use the "lead" from a coloured pencil, glued into a shallow hole of the correct size.
Pencil lead is interesting...:-)
I've seen baking soda/CA glue used for white, but haven't tried it yet. I've also seen weed-eater line (big stuff) used before. Just can't locate any large/black/round line around here.
Just a note, my 25w iron wasn't powerful enough, but the 30w iron worked pretty well. 10-15 seconds each for the small dots. A little longer for large dots. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Nice! I'll do that next time. Can't always cut fret slots consistently. Between the fretboard and neck, that's some red oak wood filler patching edge splinters and a tiny glue gap. Way too red and not very oak-y.
That worked well, another simple idea for fret dots is knitting needles, all different sizes and colours, just drill,tap the needle in, cut off and sand, very simple.
good idea daryl, might just pinch that.. op shops are full of old knitting needles..
I picked up about three feet of 12 gauge solid core copper wire at HD. I found a drill bit slightly smaller than the wire . I then sharpen the end of wire and cut a 1/4" piece that I can tap into my holes. This seats them in the hole. A couple of passes with a flat file and they are flush and shiny red copper fret marker. I think the three feet of wire will last the rest of my days.
Good idea. Looks great!
Looks great. I've used a round-tip wood burner, 1/16" ABS rod, even 12ga copper.
The copper starts out being cool, but you can't see it. The white ABS is very visible. I did some pinkish purple, 1.75mm ABS for a 3-d printer, used a #'d drill set to find one close enough...
There are lots of 3d printer sample packs that get you 20' of different colors if you wanted some variety.
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