Dot Studio fret markers

[Starpeve]

Well here's my first post!

Just about to attempt fitting some nifty Luminescent 6mm dot fret markers into my beloved Black Studio, along with 2 mm side dots of the same material. Come from a Japanese mob named

Luminlay. Got myself a 2 mm brad point and a 6 mm Forstner bit for the job, but I'm starting to get cold feet! I've done my other mods myself but drilling's a bit scary. Got a Bigsby B7, Wilkinson Zebra PAFs, Roller bridge.

Any helpful suggestions would be welcome. I'm a bit nervous about finishing the fretboard and leveling the dots once they're in. Side dots are no real issue. While I'm at it I thought I might

Give the frets a bit of a look at.

Also I was thinking of a Tusq pre-slotted nut.

Incidentally, I'm pretty happy with the Wilkinson pups.I may buy a P -90 of some sort to whack in the bridge possie to see if that combo sounds any good.

[Starpeve]

Well I finally got the courage up and drilled 22 holes in my fretboard-Scary! Marked it up and drilled freehand as it was impossible for me to clamp without damage somehow! I then leveled the dots with a sanding drum on a dremel!! Verrrry carefully! Finished off with paper and a cabinet scraper then gave the frets a nice polish with 1200 paper and steel wool( with a lot of masking tape. While I was at it I reloomed with braided sheilded push back wire, put new bourn 500 k audio taper pots and bit better ceramic .22 cap , replaced my neck pu with a generic retrofit p90 in combo with my zebra paf in the bridge as an experiment. I don't know if it's the shielded wire but both pu's are totally quiet! Unexpectedly the hub is brighter and chimier than the p90! Sounds great in all possies but not at all what I expected.

, ESP. With a .22 cap ! Any ideas or feedback?

Ps- the dots look fantastic and glow like neon!! I' ll post pics when I' m lesser pressed for time.

V

Cheers

[brad1]

Welcome to the forum.

I'd be interested to see your work. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

[Starpeve]

well Brad1, I'm going to try to attach at least 1 pic, I'm not sure of this but here goes.........

I've got another couple which show the guitar better but I'm outa k's...the luminosity in the flesh of the markers is amazing!

[Starpeve]

seems I've exceeded my 500k quota- how long til this resets?

[crust]

on that black guitar, that looks way cool...nice alignment job.. did you use any kind of tape or something to keep it from splintering when you took the cuts ?

 

It funny how Dot Studio's have no dots

[crust]

Try starting a new topic , call it more dot pics or something like that, see what happens if you can't continue u/l in this thread...it might work.

[bkrejcik]

What's the deal with the roller bridge? Are you glad of it or does it seem like a cool-looking tone-sucker?

[Starpeve]

Stuck the roller bridge on for 2 main reasons- apart from looking great( I think ) I had just fitted the Bigsby , and 2 ,the saddle positions were maxxed out to try and set the intonation. This roller bridge is adjustable at the posts and is locking, so I could better intonate. I 'm definitely glad I fitted it, it sounds great to me, and the added bonus is it feels great to rest your hand on(unlike the tune- o- matic). As for the drilling of the dots, using a Fostner bit made it a cinch. I (lazily) did'nt mask it up , just drilled a test hole in some oak I had then marked the depth on the side of the bit with marker pen and gingerly went to work! The bit is self- centering and cuts at a slow rate so it was actually quite comfortable after the first few!

I'll try the new thread idea.