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making inlay dots from CD's or DVD's

Posted by Murray on March 2, 2011 at 9:59pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Hi:

 

I don't know if anyone else has tried this, but I had an idea to use blank CD or DVD discs for inlay material, mainly neck dots. It's about 1mm thick. I do not own any of those hollow punch tools, and was wondering if anyone has tried this, or could try it if you already have a set of those hollow punches...or have any other ideas for cutting circles.

 

Many other shapes could simply be done by hand, Xacto knife, sanding etc., but those nice clean circles are what I was thinking about.

 

Thank you

 

Murray

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Replies

  • Big Guy Blues (Morgan) March 4, 2011 at 11:37am
    I like the chopstick idea, very cool!

    Shawn said:
    I take plastic chopsticks that you can find in a store ( I think the ones I got came in a pack of 25 pair for $4) and chuck them in a drill and sand them round and cut them into to about 1/8 thick and use them as fret dots. The part I have left over gets turned into saddles or nuts. It all started when I was at P.F chang one night with the wife. I also found if you soak them in old coffee they get that old bone look.
  • Dave Onastik March 4, 2011 at 8:53am
    The only thing about the CD/DVDs is if you have to sand them to make them flush with the fingerboard, they may show a lot of scratches.
  • Mark Bliss March 3, 2011 at 11:52pm

    No wonder I'm always hungry an hour after practice.........

     

    Seriously, I like the shiny CD material for markers or inlay idea. Maybe you can cut little circles out with a plug cutter? I have to try it. If it works I will soon regret throwing out all the AOL discs..........

    147655_400.jpg

  • Murray March 3, 2011 at 8:22pm

    Thanks for all the cool ideas. Hardware store suggested the K&S metal tuubing, but a hand drill sounded likea no-no to me.

     

    The chop sticks are cool...just have to wash your hands after playing. Now I really have to find the comic that goes with that statement, and post it...

  • Shawn March 3, 2011 at 8:01pm
    I take plastic chopsticks that you can find in a store ( I think the ones I got came in a pack of 25 pair for $4) and chuck them in a drill and sand them round and cut them into to about 1/8 thick and use them as fret dots. The part I have left over gets turned into saddles or nuts. It all started when I was at P.F chang one night with the wife. I also found if you soak them in old coffee they get that old bone look.
  • Glaze March 3, 2011 at 6:58am

    Murray

     

    Good idea.  I will give you an idea also.  I have a dowel maker that I can run any type of wood I care to make dowels out of through it.  I can vary the size of the dowels I make to the exact size I want.  I can make marker dots for fretboards by making dowels 1/4" and then drilling shallow 1/4" holes in the fretboard and glueing small cut off pieces of the dowel into the drilled hole.  Just sand them flush and you have instant custom made fretboard markers made out of wood.

     

    You do not need a custom dowel maker like I have.  You can just buy pre made dowels in the color of wood you prefer and buy a drill bit in the same size as the dowel to do the same thing.       

     

     

  • Skeesix March 3, 2011 at 1:24am

    What a cool idea!

    Here's how to make perfect circles: get a piece of hollow tube which is slightly larger than the circle you want to cut. K&S Engineering sells a set of brass tubes which are perfect for this. K&S stuff is available at hobby stores. I like hobbylinc.com online: http://www.hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi?str_s=brass+tube&x=0&am...

    Cut off a piece about 2" long. Take an Xacto saw or other thin sharp saw and cut some short slots vertically at one end of the tube. This will make some cutting teeth. Chuck the tube into a drill press and voila. You may have to remove the tube from the drill press and use a thin screwdriver or something to pop the circle out of the tube once you're done cutting.

    I haven't done plastic, so it may melt at higher speeds. Slower is probably better.

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