Side dots/Position Markers

[Chuckracer]

Guys and Gals, I have an old ESP Strathead that I'm really diggin, and plan to use live.
One problem: It's a rosewood board, and the side dots are tiny. I rely on side dots.

Any suggestions on a non-invasive way to...brighten them, or...I dunno, any ideas?

[DonP]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

There is some package where you buy a strip of LED's on tape and tape it to the side of the neck (me thinks).

Battery power LED's - can't get them any brighter than that. I know I've seen them on the bay, but couldn't find any doing a search (or two).

[sully]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

chuck, is the neck clear coated? you may be able to brighten them by scraping them with a razor. exfoliating, in a sense, if you will. the only other thing i can think of would be to drill out the dots and put larger ones in.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

Yeah, it's clearcoated. I would need them to be as smooth as possible...I can't imagine tape on LED's being non-intrusive to play. Cool idea, though.
I was thinking about stripping the neck anyway...perhaps larger, whiter dots will be the answer.

[sully]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

hm. since it's cleared, i wouldn't scrape it b/c i don't think that'd help much. i'd say your only alternatives would be larger side dots or some kinda little dot stickers you can put on.

[MountainDog]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

There's a company that offers some glow-in-the-dark dots:
ice-pix website

I have similar problem, small dots not easily seen in dark clubs. What I did was go to a arts & crafts store and buy a 1/8" diameter hole punch (about $6) and some vinyl stick on numbers (in white and black) (about $5). I then proceeded to punch out a bunch of 'dots'. For a pic... click here

They are only a few thousands of an inch thick and have adhesive. I peel off the backing with the help of an exacto knife and stick them on. I barely feel them and the larger diameter makes them easy to see. The only pic I have quickly available of the dots on a guitar is one where I stuck white dots on white binding to answer someone's question a while ago where he was wanting to cover up his black markers. Anyway, you can get a feel of the diameter and how they are so thin as to 'blend in'. click here

They won't come off during playing and are durable. Also you can remove them later with no damage to the guitar. I do this on almost all my guitars now.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

Great idea!!

I hate trying to find my way around on the neck to reposition your hand in that split second when the stage lights go out and your eyes are whacked for a second and all you see is blackness... Glow in the dark material would be really cool...

[sully]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

i played a gig in a club once and the plastic inlays that were on the epi lp that i was using would glow. it was cool as hell!

[VitaminG]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

how about getting some glow in the dark craft paint, and adding a little dot of it over the existing side dot? Not sure how durable it would be though.

[MountainDog]

Re: Side dots/Position Markers

[ QUOTE ]
how about getting some glow in the dark craft paint, and adding a little dot of it over the existing side dot? Not sure how durable it would be though

[/ QUOTE ]
I used to use white model paint to make the dots larger, then made that durable by using clear nail polish. The trouble with that approach was I could never get the paint to be good circles, and the paint + nail polish left a feelable bump. That frustration lead me to the punched out vinyl circle method!