View Full Version : Fretboard dot locations
Why is it that the fretboard dots on a mandolin are usually placed at the 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, and 15 frets, but the dots on a guitar are usually placed at the 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 15 locations?
My friend has a mid-mo mandolin that has that dot on the 9th instead of 10th. Why? Must have been a boo-boo. It's very annoying trying to play it.
phynie
Apr-20-2004, 7:45am
Well, the answer is easy my friends. Because the dots on the guitar are wrong! =)
John Flynn
Apr-20-2004, 8:18am
There have been multiple threads on this in the past. The only conclusion on those threads seems to have been: "Because it's always been done that way on mandolins and it's always been done the other way on guitars." I am very curious to know the real origins of that myself.
This is pure conjecture, but the only reason I can think of is aesthetics. The marker on the 10th on the mando seems to balance better visually in between the ones on the 7th and the 12th. On the longer scale of the guitar, the one on the 9th seems to balance better. Again, I am just speculating. That may or may not have anything to do with it.
I don't have all of my reference material with me here at work (the boss is out sick today so I can look at the Cafe without fear of repercussion). #On the mandolin, the fret dots seem to correspond to a blues scale (I've seen variations of the blues scale so that is not 100%). #Do the fret markers on a guitar and/or mandolin correspond to any common (or even historical but not obsolete) scale?