Stupid question about fret dots

[dkaplowitz]

Hello,

I have an order with Jack for a HDT, solid rosewood neck. I initially specified no fret markings at all, either on the face or on the side. Jack told me Tom and Roy said there has to be dots on the side of the fingerboard. I guess I'll have to muddle through with some cheater dots. ;) I was curious to know why those dots need to be there. Is it some type of measurement thing for making the neck? I'm just curious. Also, I wonder if it's possible to get them real dark to match the rosewood and be real subtle (might be too late to make this change, but wanted to know for future reference).

Thanks for any clues.

Dave

[tom]

they don't "have" to be there, just based on past experience, it is a hassle to put them in later when the guitar comes back to us. you may be a much better player than i, but i'll relay an experience i had years ago. i had a solid rosewood neck with no front dots, all my guitars back then had no front dots. the side dots were sterling silver, which turned pretty grey with time. i was doing a gig for some friends at the troubador in la, and i didn't know their material all that well. the first song of the night was one that i had to start with a big power chord way up the neck. we were just about ready to start and all the lights went out, and i mean all the lights. my neck dissappeared in my hands and i started to freak out. i managed to find the chord, but have not owned a dotless, invisable side dot neck since. so to make a long story longer, i think roy wanted to save you from my bad experience. hope you're not mad.

[dkaplowitz]

No, not mad. I did want a really bare neck to challenge myself to learn the fingerboard on a more zen level (and besides, I think it'd look pretty stellar). I might wind up being thankful I have them on there for the same reason you described, however, so no worries.

I do recall a similar experience at my second gig with a band that was pretty well established. The lights were like crazy strobes between moments of total darkness. I was playing my old grandam lam which had every fret dot on it and I still probably hit every chord at least a half step up from where I should have been. ;) I can't tell you how much it felt like all those horrifying battle scenes from the movie platoon. Ouch that was painful. I don't think it would have helped me that night if the dots were made of trijicon. Luckily the first gig that I played before that one went really well with no such mishaps.

[MapleGuitar]

I once had a guitar with abalone dots on the fretboard. Maybe it was a peculiar batch of abalone... but depending on the light or angle, some of them just disappeared into the rosewood. Since then, I always make sure to get white dots.

[bruce]

Dave,

Here are my .02 cents worth... Sometimes we will build a neck without FRONT dots. In the final assembly, playing the guitars is a manditory part of our build process. Now you may think since one has side dots but NOT front, you won't really need the front....well let me tell you... believe me... your perifial (sp) vision is always working, and for me, not having front dots is slightly confusing.. (some might say I'm more than slightly confused anyway), but I can't imagine NOT having side dots. Zen ain't gonna help you when there are stobes on, then complete darkness etc..

Best of luck in your desision though..

[dkaplowitz]

I appreciate the input from everyone. My take on it is: if an exceptional blind guy can play guitar well, a mediocre guy like me could learn to play the way I do with no fret markings whatsoever.

Can any of you guys tell me if it's too late to change the order? If that neck hasn't gone past the point of no return I'd still like it with no dots at all. (Custom enough to shoot myself in the foot ;) ). I'd have to make it work, it's a solid rosewood neck....no chance I'm gonna pay what it costs to replace that.

Actually what would be tremendously cool is if the wood had some kind of natural markings on it that could sort of be used as a reference point, even if it was somewhere weird. Call me fruity but I like the unconventiality of it.

Either way, I'm sure I'm going to be really happy with this guitar. A few dots aren't going to come close to bugging me (but I know I'd wonder "what if?").

[dkaplowitz]

Nevermind, I take it all back. Let's just leave the order as it stands. I'm sufficiently scared of a nightmarish gig that my hubris might walk me into. I can live with dots on the side. I think it'll be enough of a learning curve with no dots on the top, so I'll just leave it at that. The next one I order can be 100% dotless. ;)

Thanks again for the replies.

[tom]

you're fruity... you said i could call you that. we'll leave it as it stands. i believe you have choseen wisely.

[bruce]

Heck, why not just go fretless!

[dkaplowitz]

Heck, why not just go fretless!
Dude! While we're on that subject, have you guys ever done a fretless? I'm not kidding. I may order one one day. I think it'd be the dog's bollocks. ;)

[dpeterson]

my parker doesnt have dots on the face... doesnt bother me. I tossed around the idea when i got my hdt ordered, eventually thought that i'm going to live with this guitar for a long time, 10 years down the road i'll probably want dots... just like why tom wont build a neon colored guitar.

side note... i have a yamaha ty tabor model, that has markers on the neck that are almost a half inch long, they are just elongated dots that go towards the center of the neck, and are huge, and you'd have to be blind to not be able to see those :) i saw a picture of ty's prototypes, and he used sharpies to mark the neck like that, and the finished ones are actually plastic. guess he's blind.

Dave

[tom]

i did a fretless for steve vai years ago through steve ripley. very weird. couldn't even feel the plain strings.

[dkaplowitz]

i did a fretless for steve vai years ago through steve ripley. very weird. couldn't even feel the plain strings.
Cool. I guess you can get away with seriously low action on those. Musta' been a cool guitar.

[tom]

if you think a fretless bass can sound out of tune, try playing a chord on a fretless guitar. misery.

[Dave M.]

if you think a fretless bass can sound out of tune, try playing a chord on a fretless guitar. misery.

Holy cow, you know that's so true! :eek:
I played a fretless Vigier that was really freaky. Chording was a nightmare. Even double stops were kinda tough. The fretboard was a metal alloy (bronze? brass alloy?) so I'm sure that contributed to the unusual feel. ;)