Fret Markers

Bob

I am new to gypsy jazz guitar but I have been playing guitar for many years, mostly archtop jazz guitars. My Selmer copy guitar has fret markers at the 5,7,10 and 12th fret which I find strange as all my other guitars have markers at the 9th fret not the 10th. It is very confusing and I wondered if anyone could explain why this is.

Looking in the Semer book there seems to be examples of some Maccaferri guitars with 9th and some with 10th fret markers. Very strange!

Bob.

SteveG

Hi Bob,

Page 175 talks about the first 100 guitars having no position dots, then goes on to explain which models had dots, as well as the sizes and positions. I was surprised that the dots were "pearloid", which is a plastic. I think it's the same stuff thats on accordions of the period, also referred to as "mother of toilet seat ( MOTS ) ".

cheers

klaatu

There's another topic on this subject, well worth reading:
http://www.djangobooks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7300

Bob

Thanks to all of you for the information. At least I now know that I am not the only one who is confused!

Perhaps it is just a case of "get used to it".

Thanks,

Bob.

kimmo

Bob wrote:

My Selmer copy guitar has fret markers at the 5,7,10 and 12th fret which I find strange as all my other guitars have markers at the 9th fret not the 10th. It is very confusing and I wondered if anyone could explain why this is.

Looking in the Semer book there seems to be examples of some Maccaferri guitars with 9th and some with 10th fret markers. Very strange!

A rough generalization:

Classical models with gut strings had the dot in the 9th, because that was and still is standard practice for guitars.

Steel stringed guitars were a new thing, so Maccaferri took more liberties in the design (you know: bent top, mandoline bracing, etc.). they were aimed for jazz musicians, most of whom used to play banjo, so Maccaferri put the position dot to the 10th fret (as in banjos) to help the transition.

lgenoni

maybe I could add, the mother of my wife has a photo of hist father playing in 1930 (year more, year less), an archtop guitar, probably made in italy, since it was the autarchy time, with the mark on the tenth fret. So maybe it was not so strange at the time.

btw, to me the tenth fret makes a lot of more sense then the nineth.

klaatu

lgenoni wrote:

to me the tenth fret makes a lot of more sense then the nineth.

As a recent convert to the 10th fret, I agree. On the 1st string, it gives you a marker at D. Why would you prefer to know where C# is?