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When you do double dots, like on 12th.. then on another fret, so you have the same distance between? Or do you measure from the dot to the edge? In other words are the dots in line, or the same distance from the edge??
B


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I space them proportionally to match the taper of the fretboard.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

What I do for double dots is find the middle of the fret wire above and below the fret space the dots are going in I then draw (4) diagonal lines from those points to the edge of the opposite fret. The diagonals will form two X's, and I place a dot in the center of each. Others may do it differently, so do what looks right to you.

I inlay the dots under the B and A strings. Since the B string is closer to the edge than the A string, I try to split the difference.

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Convention does not have to be followed.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I draw a center line on the fretboard and then draw two X's on each half of center. The legs of the X's go from the 11th fret end to the 12th fret center line and from the 12th fret end to the 11th fret center line...

X marks the spot in the center where the dot's go.

The Martin 12th fret double dot pattern is very close to Mr. McKenna's approach. but it is not unusual to see one dot or the other shifted up to about 0.050" in the pre-CNC days. For Gibson, the 12th fret dots are located about 70% of the distance from the center-line to edge - much further out than the Martin pattern, and part of the Gibson vibe if building an L-00 or one of the wide- or narrow-waisted vintage pattern jumbos. Also worth noting that Martin used a single side marker dot on their guitars from the time side markers became common up through what I believe is the 1970's, while Gibson used wider-spaced tandem markers - not sure of the date they changed over from a single 12th fret side dot (if ever), but much earlier than Martin.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

For the double dots on the fingerboard face, I tend to space them equidistant from the fingerboard edge.


I think Martin switched to double side dots on the 12th fret in the early-1990's. AFAIK, Gibson has always used them.
Personally, I see little need for double side dots. Any player witrh experience should know that the 12th fret is very close to the body joint.

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John