...and they came out okay. I screwed up my 10th fret dot. The drill bit traveled a little off center. 
I've got a Martin S-O Uke that I love but I really like having neck position markers so I had to put them in myself. I figured it would be a good beginner's project. I decided to do the traditional "O" style dot pattern, one at 5, 7, and 10. I think my choice of size was a little larger than traditional O-dots.
I made the mistake of practicing on a piece of mahogany (a cigar box) instead of a piece of rosewood/morado. The morado fretboard on my uke is much harder wood than mahogany.
Oh well, it worked well enough. I kind of hate myself for screwing up the 10th fret, but it's my uke and I love it so I'll live with it. d
I drilled with a 7/64" bit installed in a file handle and spun it by hand with a light touch. Once I broke the surface I put on more pressure and went about an 1/8" deep, mayby less.
Then I would use the back of one of the files from the file set which happened to be 7/64" and spun it round in the hole to smooth out the hole and file off the rough edges.
On the third dot I think the bit traveled because of a knot under the wood that I didn't see. Once I got just below the surface I noticed a hollow under the fretboard! Weird. Anyway, it worked well enough.
I then filled the dots with a self-hardening two part white clay called "magic-sculpt".
It worked really well as a filler and has just the right "clay dot" color. I just overfilled the holes, smeared it off with my finger and then polished it with a damp papertowel until it was smooth and even with the surface and the extra clay was cleared from the surrounding wood.
I'll post a few pictures tomorrow. :music:
In the meantime, here is what I was going for.
and here are two before photos:
I've got a Martin S-O Uke that I love but I really like having neck position markers so I had to put them in myself. I figured it would be a good beginner's project. I decided to do the traditional "O" style dot pattern, one at 5, 7, and 10. I think my choice of size was a little larger than traditional O-dots.
I made the mistake of practicing on a piece of mahogany (a cigar box) instead of a piece of rosewood/morado. The morado fretboard on my uke is much harder wood than mahogany.
Oh well, it worked well enough. I kind of hate myself for screwing up the 10th fret, but it's my uke and I love it so I'll live with it. d
I drilled with a 7/64" bit installed in a file handle and spun it by hand with a light touch. Once I broke the surface I put on more pressure and went about an 1/8" deep, mayby less.
Then I would use the back of one of the files from the file set which happened to be 7/64" and spun it round in the hole to smooth out the hole and file off the rough edges.
On the third dot I think the bit traveled because of a knot under the wood that I didn't see. Once I got just below the surface I noticed a hollow under the fretboard! Weird. Anyway, it worked well enough.
I then filled the dots with a self-hardening two part white clay called "magic-sculpt".
It worked really well as a filler and has just the right "clay dot" color. I just overfilled the holes, smeared it off with my finger and then polished it with a damp papertowel until it was smooth and even with the surface and the extra clay was cleared from the surrounding wood.
I'll post a few pictures tomorrow. :music:
In the meantime, here is what I was going for.
and here are two before photos:
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