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Making those side dots brighter


whynot
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For gigging, the side dots on my Clover are not that clear. A bit off-white and small would be the best way to descibe them.
Would not usually be an issue but being 36" scale and alternating on some gigs between that and the jazz means I sometimes need to take a little more notice of those dots than I normally would.
So any ideas for making them brighter. Should point out the neck and board are graphite/phenolic.

I may look into leds sometime in the future as the bass is a stayer but that will be a long way if it ever happens.

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Fretlord Glowdotz
[url="http://fretlord.com/glowdotz.htm"]http://fretlord.com/glowdotz.htm[/url]

Used them for years to make the Fender side markers visible for these old eyes.. Just stick them over the orginals. They look ok and you can feel them, but only just.

They cost about £15 shipped (remember to tick the box for European shipping)

You get a sheet of glow in the dark stuff with big and little circles. Big ones are supposed to go on the front (ha ha, as if)

In daylight the side ones are 3mm white dots.. Shine the little lamp they give you on them (it comes with a velcro sticky thing to stick it to the back of your headstock) and they glow for a bit. Not nearly as good as LEDs but better than tiny side markers, and £240 cheaper, at least....

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[quote name='jakesbass' post='636723' date='Oct 26 2009, 09:20 AM']If I could add a totally unhelpful post...
learn to play with your eyes closed... no seriously!

(says he with leds) :)[/quote]


Ha ha, +1 with reservations ..

I use my lovely Shuker LEDs to locate a starting fret in the dark and, especially, when jamming on stuff I don't know so well.
Whipping up to the 14th fret in a hurry is easier if you can see the markers clearly..

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[quote name='teen t-shirt' post='636540' date='Oct 25 2009, 10:03 PM']My first answer would be LED's but as you've stated already, future project...

Err tipex emm :)

There are some gadgets out there which can be adtached to the. Head stock to light up the fret board like LED's only less hassel to install...
Ill see if I can the link to the website for you...[/quote]


+1 for the tipex. It works OK and comes off OK as well.

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[quote name='~tl' post='636629' date='Oct 26 2009, 12:33 AM']You could always go for FretFX:

[url="https://fretfx.com/"]https://fretfx.com/[/url]

They're LED markers that don't require any permanent modification of the instrument. I believe a few people here have used them...[/quote]


Never seen these before!

Im interested though... anyone here with experience?

Do they come off again without ripping the lacquer off? I assume they are stuck via adhesive...

Anyone got a set they want to part with?

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[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='636971' date='Oct 26 2009, 03:21 PM']Never seen these before!

Im interested though... anyone here with experience?

Do they come off again without ripping the lacquer off? I assume they are stuck via adhesive...

Anyone got a set they want to part with?[/quote]
I've tried a few sets, both the originals with individual tiny leds and the later fibre optic ones.

It looks like they have gone back to the original leds, which I have to say were WAY better than the fibre optics. The fibre itself had to be stuck to the neck using a special piece of sellotape, which in my experience (I tried 2 different sets), was absolutely useless at sticking to anything. After a few minutes, it just curled up and fell off, and I could see no way of making it stay put. Neat idea, absolute rubbish.

The older strip of tiny leds, which seems from the web site to be what they are using now, was quite good, and worked really well on my PRS bass for quite some time, until the plastic strip holding the leds went a little brittle and the thin wire connecting the bulbs snapped when the strip moved. I would be tempted to give these a go again, as they are so cheap to buy. I have 5 basses with Sims leds, and as long as you dont expect them to be as good, they will be fine.
They come off easily with no damage, and the battery pack, though a bit unsightly, is no problem.

Bob

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[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='636971' date='Oct 26 2009, 03:21 PM']Never seen these before!

Im interested though... anyone here with experience?

Do they come off again without ripping the lacquer off? I assume they are stuck via adhesive...

Anyone got a set they want to part with?[/quote]

MB1. :)
iscolman was selling a set of blue ones.... (page 3 other musically related stuff)

Edited by MB1
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[quote name='andyonbass' post='637031' date='Oct 26 2009, 04:22 PM']This is what i use on my Status Shark, which has brass markers that are a bugger to see under stage lighting. It wears of after about 6 months so i just give it another dab.

[attachment=35202:432720279.jpg][/quote]


I'm interested in that where would I be able to get hold of one and for how much?

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[quote name='teen t-shirt' post='637218' date='Oct 26 2009, 07:18 PM']I'm interested in that where would I be able to get hold of one and for how much?[/quote]

They're about 2 pounds or so from Hobbycraft, but any local arts and craft store should have them. I just practice a few dots on a piece of paper to get my eye in first, then one dab on each dot and its fine for about 6 months :)

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Thanks everyone. A few good ideas here and even the led strip is a reasonable price but probably looking for a cheap and simple solution such as the marker mentioned.

Jakesbass... after 30 years of playing thats not a problem for a 34" scale (even though most of my basses in recent years have had leds (for the fun factor of course)), and I rarely look at the neck on most gigs apart from a starting position, or some dodgy high end playing. I'm already getting use to the 36" scale but so easy to go on autopilot sometimes.

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