1920's Gibson Spot check

I've been doing a bit of repair work on a 1920's Gibson UB2 banjo uke.
Couldn't help but notice how far off centre the marker dots are...Maybe they didn't care much about little details like that in those days..The one at the 10th fret is 3/32" out.:uhoh:
PICT0001 by Ken Timms, on Flickr

Maybe someone other than the builder added 'em?

If you play it right-handed and shift the dots enough, you can still see them while playing most chords

Sounds like good old dot creep to me.

Timbuck said:

I've been doing a bit of repair work on a 1920's Gibson UB2 banjo uke.
Couldn't help but notice how far off centre the marker dots are...Maybe they didn't care much about little details like that in those days..The one at the 10th fret is 3/32" out.:uhoh:
PICT0001 by Ken Timms, on Flickr

Click to expand...

Yeah those things are pretty badly off. Not only are they off center but they are out of line too. I would totally freak out if I did this. Obviously the dot installer that day did it by eye and the eye was off that day. Long night in the bars before going to work the next day? Gotta remember that Gibson was no C.F. Martin in the 20's. In Gibson's defense, these dots could have been added later by a "repair person" or even an owner. It boggles the mind that a factory installer could have been that hung over to put in those dots. Interesting post Ken.

Tenor said:

Maybe someone other than the builder added 'em?

Click to expand...

No they were made like this at the factory ..Standard 3 dots for the UB 2.