C - Dots Inlay

[Rayzcane]

I got the idea for C - Dots from forum member Daniel Schell. This is a great idea, especially if you are trying to learn a new or modified tuning. I have not yet had the opportunity to read Mr. Schell's book, but the gist of the idea is to put some kind of a marker on the fretboard to indicate the note "C" all over the fretboard. It is nice to see all those "C" notes at a glance. Using any of the marked "C" notes as the center of the compass, we can point to way to the other notes.

For instance, one fret lower than the C is always B, all over the entire fretboard. Two frets higher than the C is a D note. Move one fat string over and you have a G note. Move over one thinner string and you have an F. Once you see these little patterns, the fretboard will come alive!

I stuck these dots on a nylon string classical guitar. This $10 garage sale guitar had no fret markings of any kind. The product I used is called Laser Tape. Similar stuff can be found in craft stores or home improvement centers. It is inexpensive. The six foot roll that I have has a price tag on it of $2.50 USD.

I used a standard 3-hole paper punch to get my circles. You can see the back side of a piece of this adhesive backed tape with the holes punched out in the photo.

You could call this "Poor Man's Mother of Pearl". At one time I had some long-lasting phosphoresent paint. I used it for painting the tips of fishing rods so that I could see the bite when night fishing. The eerie glowing green dots might come in handy when playing in low light conditions, like around the campfire or in a dark bar.

Ray Langley

[ixlramp]

excellent idea.. but will it leave horrid ikky stikkyness when removed?

i also have been trying to memorise the 'C's on my fretboard

[James]

Providing you don't intend to remove it often, it's a good solution. From the photo I couldn't tell it apart from an expensive paua inlay :)

I tried sticking C dots to my tap guitar, but I don't think I have them on at the moment. It will leave some kind of sticky residue when you do remove it. Meths worked well for cleaning the fretboard and grime from the frets.

I also have Daniel's book. His C dots idea is a good way of becoming familiar with the 'space' in whatever tuning you have setup. Generally he doesn't recommend any permanent solutions in case you decide you want to adopt a different tuning.

[Rayzcane]

Hi Matthew, I loved your term "but will it leave horrid ikky stikkyness when removed?" In this modern world, we have stuff that will dissolve anything.... but, what do we store it in?

Hi James, I am kinda old and set in my ways. There was a time when I would have had to explore every tuning under the sun. I went through all that on acoustic guitar. I have a few songs that can only be played in Open G, a couple more that sound best in Open D/E, and Shortening Bread and Jambalaya really rock out in G6. But now, I think that I will be married to the Bass Bottom tuning in Parallel 4ths for the rest of this lifetime.

Those abalone shell dots look so good I may put them on every fret. Man, that would make chromatic scales a breeze. :)

Ray

[GaryOpenhill]

Hi.
I used the c-dots for a year,m both on my guitar but also on my megatar. since i changed tunings two trillions times, i had to remove and put new c-dots on. (i use the same stuff ray does, but in gold ;) ) At least the dots i used didnt give me any problems of stickyness. I cut them all in squares btw, and turn all the "middle c" dots a little to one side so that they have a diamond shape, instead of a square. (thats guitar middle c, wich actually is a c3, not a c4)

Thje c-dot system to me is the work of a genius, so simple and obivous and so powerful. (schell must be the genius, then....)