Add Side Fret Markers

Is it very difficult to add some side fret markers on to the side neck binding?
My uke doesn't have them, and it would be nice to have.

Thanks!

Yes , it is easy . Do a search on this site and you will find alot of info. I've done it a few times .

I got stickers from the Dollar Tree and cut them to the shape that was needed. I have enough for the next Millenium - 100 pages of stickers for a buck.

Others have used fingernail stickers.

I'd say you could also use a simple stencil and a small bit of oil based paint, or even just fingernail polish. A small hole puncher type of thing would probably be best for making perfect circles in paper. oil based paint would be best if you want something permanent.

Or, to add mop, abalone or plastic rod markers, drill 2mm holes and buy the 2mm dots(or rod) to glue in. The difficult bit will be to align the holes correctly when drilling, and then finishing. If you drilled the holes just a tad deeper than the dots, they can be pushed in flush with the fretboard edge so there's no sanding to do, then just go over with a bit of wax polish.

SkippyW said:

Is it very difficult to add some side fret markers on to the side neck binding?
My uke doesn't have them, and it would be nice to have.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

My instruments aren't "expensive", so I tend to be a little cavalier with them. I use a small pointed tool or drill-bit to make an indentation in the binding then fill this with an appropriate colour - black felt-tip marker for white binding, white "error-correction fluid" |(eg. Tipp-Ex) for dark-coloured binding.

Time taken : about 30 seconds per dot!
Cost : only if you don't have a suitably coloured marker to fill the recess!

Both materials wipe off quite readily in the event of spillage or excess application, but the colour tends to remain safely in the recess even after several years of playing

Do make the effort to mark EXACTLY where the dot is to be made, centrally between adjacent frets and centrally within the height of the binding. It's surprising how much even a small error can be noticeable with adjacent points of reference to align with!

Good luck ... YMMV :music: