Inlays...

[Tim Plains]

I don't like the look of dot inlays on rosewood fretboards, but I can tolerate them on maple boards.

Does that make me a snob?

[Flight959]

I don't like the look of dot inlays on rosewood fretboards' date=' but I can tolerate them on maple boards.

Does that make me a knob?[/quote']

 

 

Does that make you a knob?

 

Yeah=p~

 

Flight959

[MikeRom]

No. I hate dots on rosewood too. Hate may be a little strong. Dislike intensely ..

[Wolff]

Depends on the guitar.

 

OT, but there is nothing quite so ugly as a maple fretboard on a Gibson. >_< That should be outlawed.

[deepblue]

No, im not a fan of dots/rosewood either....its like theyre not trying hard enough.

[ChanMan]

Depends on the guitar.

 

OT' date=' but there is nothing quite so ugly as a maple fretboard on a Gibson. >_< That should be outlawed. [/quote']

 

Ok.. +1 to all of this...

 

I don't care for dots on Les Pauls in general. They look fine on my Strats.

 

Maple fretboards look great on Strats, not so much Les Pauls.

 

Just my tuppence

[Thermionik]

Actually, thinking about it, I never look at the markers on the neck, leastways not whilst playing.

 

Apart from their decorative function, does anybody on here actually USE them for anything? I mean, I could see the point maybe on a beginner's guitar, but.....

[deepblue]

I still look!...

[Taylor Player]

When it comes to acoustics, I don't like dot's on anything. I prefer a little "Bling" on the fretboard.... Something like this on my Legato handbuilt...

 

 

Or the ones on my Taylor and Gibson..........

 

 

Gotta love a little Bling!

 

Dot's on my electric are aceptable for me and I only like a maple fretboard on Strat style guitars too. Ebony is probably my favorite fretboard like on the Taylor.

[Wolff]

I still look!...

 

me too

[ChanMan]

It's kind of a subconcious thing, but I don't think I require them anymore. I think I look when I am just learning a new tune, but that may be just the dots along the binding. I'll have to pay attention next time . I think I pretty much look out at the "audience" when playing. (by audience I mean "livingroom walls" /chuckle)

 

I like the asthetics of the inlays, so bling is just fine with me!

[Notes_Norton]

I like the dots, squares, parallelograms or whatever as long as they coincide with the binding dots.

 

I do refer to the binding dots when I play.

 

My partner has a Parker with no fret dots, and sometimes it makes it very difficult to see what she is doing when we are just jamming around.

 

Also, I started out as a sax player in rock bands and did that for many years. I learned to recognize hand shapes and fret positions (thanks to the dots) to see what chords the guitarist was playing and then to transpose up a step into the saxophone key.

 

But to each his/her own.

 

Notes

[myspace.com/jessenoah]

plus one to gibsons looking ugly with maple fretboards

 

otherwise, i dont pay attention to the inlays

[L5Larry]

I don't like the look of dot inlays on rosewood fretboards...Does that make me a snob?

 

That's why I never understood all the rage for the "dot neck" 335 reissues. To me the block inlays of the sixties/seventies 335 was an "upgrade".

 

But then I don't understand al lot of the "student model" reissues, and reintroductions or reissues of Gibson guitars nobody wanted or bought the first time around.

 

And yes, I AM a guitar snob!

[surfpup]

I don't like the look of dot inlays on rosewood fretboards' date=' but I can tolerate them on maple boards.

Does that make me a snob?[/quote']

 

So you'd turn down a nice 335 with dot inlays? You snob! ;)

[saturn]

I've never been into dots on a Gibson either. I definately prefer blocks or trapazoids, but I would not turn down a nice 335 just because it has dots on the rosewood.

[retrosurfer1959]

I used to feel that way but I have a 335 with dots and the Cherry finish and I actually like it better now and no I don't really look at the markers anymore but it still seems strange on a guitar with a tree of life or other full inlay. I hate to say it but the PRS Bird's are my idea of a perfect inlay artistic and not overdone but still decorative.

[FennRx]

i definitely prefer trapezoids, blocks, etc over dots.

 

my ES-339 has dots; i deal with it day by day.

[NeoConMan]

Okay, I'll be the contrarian.

I guess I can blame my start on Fenders, but the dots are fine with me.

 

When I first got interested in Les Pauls, I thought the big trap markers were a bit too much.

I got used to it, and understand that's just part of a Gibson, but I love my Dot 335. Don't miss the traps/blocks at all.

 

I have a killer custom order PRS, I almost went with dots on it.

The birds are over the top in my opinion, even on Brazilian Rosewood.

 

They're beautiful, but not needed.

[Space Pup]

Dots, blocks, trapezoids, makes no difference to me. I use the markers on the side of the neck, not on the fret board.

[albertjohn]

Okay' date=' I'll be the contrarian.

I guess I can blame my start on Fenders, but the dots are fine with me.

 

When I first got interested in Les Pauls, I thought the big trap markers were a bit too much.

I got used to it, and understand that's just part of a Gibson, but I love my Dot 335. Don't miss the traps/blocks at all.

 

I have a killer custom order PRS, I [i']almost[/i] went with dots on it.

The birds are over the top in my opinion, even on Brazilian Rosewood.

 

They're beautiful, but not needed.

 

+1

 

The dots are great on my strat, 335 and my SG30. Don't look at them too much and I really doubt if changing them to blocks, snowflakes or amphibious landing craft shaped inlays would make too much difference to the playability or tone?

 

If I'd had a choice of blocks or dots of the SWD, I'd choose blocks of course.

 

Don't have a PRS but the birds on the board are beautiful.

[Tim Plains]

Wait a minute...we have a surpup and a Space Pup here? Oh, man this is going to get confusing.

I think I made a post in Space Pup's "introduce yourself" thread thinking it was surpup.

 

So you'd turn down a nice 335 with dot inlays? You snob!

Yeah' date=' probably. I definitely wouldn't pay for a dot neck.

So, I guess that does make me a snob...what do you know?

Thanks for telling me how it is.

 

my ES-339 has dots; i deal with it day by day.

What a hard life we live...

[elessar820]

I'm not a huge fan of the trapezoids and squares honestly, they're too much in my opinion. Inlays are usually one of the last things that I take into account when buying a guitar, but I prefer dots, a single inlays like on the Les Paul Voodoo, Goth and Menace models and my Ibanez SZ or none at all, but I am partial to the PRS birds. The skull from the Voodoo or the fist from the Menace would have looked great on a BFG.

[GuitarJunkie]

I never really thought about it, but now that you brought it up...

 

I have two Gibsons with dots, a Les Paul Special and an ES-339. I guess it's a matter of being used to the look of certain models. I couldn't picture a Special with trapezoids. The 339 doesn't look too unusual because I'm used to seeing 335s with dots.

 

I find on a bound neck, it doesn't look as bad provided it's in keeping with the look of the instrument (ie. not on a Supreme or an ES-355). With the single-ply binding, nickel hardware, and plain top the dots don't look out of place on the 339. Add gold hardware and a flame top, and they wouldn't work.

 

[Wolff]

I'm in awe of that LP Special. So gorgeous - look at that thing with the bound neck and TV Yellow finish. Those Specials and Jrs have a huge appeal to me. I have one of those Gibson USA faded Special DC but it's a far cry from that beauty.