Rough price estimate for moving dots...

Adelaarvaren

So I started playing guitar in Europe, and my main gypsy guitar and my baritone uke have the 10th fret dot, so I'm used to and comfortable with this. I've got an archtop that I love to play, but it has the 9th fret dot which sadly still messes me up a bit from time to time. Anyone have a rough idea how much it would cost to get this moved over a fret?

Shawn

I can't answer your question, but I'm in the exact same boat. I have become so used to seeing the dot on the 10th, that it really bugs me to play my archtop now. I'd even be willing to do the modification myself, but I don't know of any good "do it yourself" resources on this particular problem.

If anyone has a website or something that would guide a person through the mod I would be most grateful.

I'm just happy to see I'm not the only person with this problem.

Michael Bauer

Rodrigo Shopis put the dots on one of the Busato's that Jacques Mazzolini sold. He charged $65 labor for all of them. One shouldn't be more than $15-20.

klaatu

... but you also need to allow for the labor to fill in the hole where the old dot was removed. My luthier moved the 10th fret dot on my Gallato for CAN$40, including a very nice job of filling in the hole. He actually had to destroy the old dot because it was epoxied in place. You had to look at it in the right light to see where it had been. Some people just cover the old dot with black marker.

However, now that I have my very own Dupont, I'm taking MIchael Horowitz's advice not to alter a valuable instrument, and I'm getting used to the 10th fret marker. Same goes for my Holo. The 10th fret actually makes a lot of sense, as my good buddy Michael Bauer points out.

Mandolins and banjos have the marker at the 10th fret. I wonder why North American guitar builders decided to go with 9. Anyone know?

Michael Bauer

Good point, Benny. I suppose the cost would also depend on the size of the marker. Still, it shouldn't be more than $30-50 should it?

Bob Holo

One bottle of white fingernail polish: $1.50
One bottle of black fingernail polish: $1.50

The knowledge that you haven't reduced the resale value of your guitar...

.... priceless...


__________

Seriously though - that's one of the reasons I no longer put dots on the front of the guitar. Side dots are a fingernail polish mod. Well, and also that an unadorned fretboard is so gorgeous from the front... got the idea while looking at pictures of some old classical guitars...

Michael Bauer

LOL!!! Leave it to the expert to come up with the perfect solution. When I was borrowing the Busato to have Rodrigo put the fret markers on, I came up with an even cheaper solution. I bought some small block labels at the drug store for about a buck, and stuck them on. They worked great and never came loose, but were easy for Rodrigo to remove when I took the guitar to him. I"ve used "White Out", which is like fingernail polish, I suppose, to paint on side fret markers on my old Manouches. It never damaged anything and was easy to replace when it wore off.

klaatu

I couldn't agree with Bob more. One of the many things that I appreciate about my Holo F hole is the clean look of the fingerboard, sans the big diamond inlays found on the Di Mauro that it is patterned after. I think I actually rely more on the side dots, anyway, even if both are present.

Michael, for those wanting a more permanent solution, I would think the $40 I paid to relocate the marker is about right. The size of the dot probably doesn't matter all that much. I suspect that most of the cost is in the backfilling of the vacated hole. Bob advised me that the usual removal procedure would be to drill a small hole in the center of the dot and then pick it out with a dentist's pick. It's probably not worth the trouble to try to remove and relocate the original dot.

I'm so glad that I asked MIchael H's advice about moving the dot on my Dupont. I might have done a really bad thing. It's one thing to do it to an Asian guitar, a collectable instrument is another matter entirely.

Adelaarvaren

Thanks for the input guys. Right now there a is a bit of black electricians tape on the offending dot, which is doing part of the work.... I could grab some fingernail polish and give that a whirl, b/c at the price, it sure doesn't hurt to try!

-B