Highlighting Fluke frets.

Icelander53

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I have both a Fluke with a plastic and wood fretboard. The wood is in Low G and the plastic in High G, so I find them both useful. As a beginner however I find that the wood with its easy to see frets is a lot more fun to play. I have thought of painting the frets so they can be easily seen but am not sure what to use that would hold up to constant play. I'm hoping someone here has tackled this problem successfully and is willing to share their secret.
 
Ice...I used a permanent silver sharpie to highlight mine. You could use gold color if thats a preference.
Easy, clean, and durable. Mine hasn't worn off but if it does, I'll just retouch as needed.
 
I just took a silver sharpie and put dot markers on the side of all my Fleas and Flukes.

That's a good idea - side markers are much more useful than front markers. If you're playing with good posture you really shouldn't be able to see the front markers, well, anyway!

John
 
I did that and wore it off fairly quickly. Didn't like the idea of my fingers absorbing all that crap. I was hoping for something more permanent. I may contact the folk at Magic Fluke and see what they have to say.
 
I put super thin stickers on the fretboards of a couple of my ukes. I've also used stickers for side markers. :D
 
I used a bronze colored sharpie. It's holding up so far, but with a lot of play it will probably wear off. Luckily it is easy to touch up the frets without even having to remove strings.
 
I used a white 'paint-pen' that is an oil-based paint to put side-markers on my lava concert Flea with the plastic fretboard 2 months ago, and if you let it cure for about 3 hrs and dont touch it, it ain't gonna rub off onto your hands. On mine I would not paint the frets.

I play this uke every day and there's no sign of wear to the dots I put on.

Funny thing is that I hardly look at the frets now unless I am learning a new chord...

The 'paint-pens' are more fixed/adhered to the surface than a sharpie, and they have an ENAMEL finish, which gives a nice glossy dot. I had originally made the side marks with a sharpie, which eventually got rubbed off, and sharpie ink is easily removed with either rubbing alcohol (which is a solvent for the ink)...
 
Another vote for silver sharpie on my fret dots and on the side of the neck. When they wear down I just add more. Perfect match for the factory dots.
 
I used a white 'paint-pen' that is an oil-based paint to put side-markers
OK I'll try that. As a beginner I need to take a peek now an then. Down the road it won't matter that much but I do prefer my Fluke with the wood fretboard.
 
Another vote for silver sharpie on my fret dots and on the side of the neck. When they wear down I just add more. Perfect match for the factory dots.

Remember that Sharpie, and all similar style of 'permanent marker' has s solvent in it to soften the surface you write on, in order to bind the ink to that surface, and over time, and with repeated applications this will eat into the wood where you put the side dots, and eat into the plastic on the fretboard, which pretty much will need to be replaced in about 4 yrs of daily play for 1 hr/day because the frets themselves will be all worn off....

An enamel paint pen does not have such solvents, and is designed to sit 'on top' of the surface instead of eat into the surface. The nice thing with the paint pen also is that you end up with a slightly embossed disc of paint, on TOP of the finish of your uke. On the frets it probably will NOT easily rub off, as I've used the SAME paint pen on a cheap Mahalo soprano to draw white trapezoids on the fretboard to look like Gibson Les Paul freboard inlays, and there is literally no sign of wear since Sept 2013...

I got my paint pen at Walmart, but they also have them at Staples and at Michaels Craft stores...
 
Thanks for that info. I'm going to try your idea. Maybe for my birthday I'll have it replaced with wood but I was considering it as my camping uke and sort of like the plastic in that way.
 
You can buy inexpensive fretboard stickers/decals on eBay. They're great, easy to install and last a long time - longer than any marker. And thy look better, too.
 
I used tiny pieces of white plastic tape which I cut to ~2mm x 12mm. I centered these on the fretboard snuggled against the body side of the frets (not the headstock side). They are out of the way, & easily seen. I haven't dealt with the Fluke's lack of side dots, but I like the enamel pen idea. (Thanks, Booli). I've worn off a couple of the side dotes on a Kala tenor, so I can deal with that, too. I think I will try to indent/sink them, though. Slightly.
 
At first I found the black plastic fretboard hard to navigate. Then I used nail polish to put small dots on the side of the neck that correspond with the dots on the fretboard, and my problems were over. And the nail polish is very durable, and easy to re-apply in case it ever does wear off.
 
Not being critical:

Which frets are you having a tough time seeing? All of them, or just those past the 4th-5th? The first few frets shouldn't have to be viewed, to be played. I know it's hard to look away, but practice doing just that. My wife looked like she was watching a tennis match when she first began playing, looking at both of her hands while playing.
 
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