Ebony dowels

[Bernie Daniel]

I needed to move the fret board marker from the 9th to the 10 fret on a mandocello conversion project a while ago and wanted to plug the old hole with ebony as that is what the board was made of. Finding ebony round stock was not so easy though.

I found at least one supplier, of 1" ebony dowels but no supplier of 0.25" stock. There was vender on the eBay who claimed sell custom dowels from exotic hardwood dowels but once they realized how little I need they never got around to sending me a quote.

So for this job I ended up making my own plug by gluing a bit of ebony on a 0.25" oak dowel and turning my drill press into a lathe. (pics if you are interested).

The problem now is I have an old F-5 (Gibson copy) that has 6 over sized (17/64" or 6.75 mm diameter) fret marker dots. Clearly they don't look right --especially on the higher frets (see pic).

I've always wanted to down size those dots to the proper 6 mm (0.25") ones. I'll take the larger ones out plug the holes and then re-drill for the smaller ones. That said I don't really feel in the mood to make 6 ebony plugs on my drill press again.

So thinking I'm not the first person to deal with this I see if others might have found a source of custom hardwood dowels (in particular ebony).

[Marty Jacobson]

Bernie,
Sure, this is a very quick job for anyone with a dedicated lathe. But for you, I would consider using a plug cutter to cut as many discs as you need.. This is a drill bit that cuts out discs.
Hmm, 17/64? That makes it a bit difficult. Here's 5/16... http://www.mcmaster.com/#2806A12
If you can find one that will work for that size, that's the easiest solution.

[Bill Snyder]

There is another problem with a normal dowel, you will have end grain showing. With the plug cutter you can get grain that matches up better.
DO NOT try to use a plug cutter with a hand held drill. It is a good way to tear up some wood and very possibly break the cutter. (Personal experience with that).

[sunburst]

Round plugs are difficult to "hide" because there is an end-grain edge that shows up upon close inspection. Straight, tight fitting edges in the direction of the grain can "disappear" if the grain matches closely. We can make straight edges on wood with common tools, and we can avoid end grain joints by carrying the inlay up to and under the edge of the frets. So, for the easiest and least visible patch, remove the pearl dot, cut straight lines from fret to fret at each side of the hole, route (cut) the fingerboard wood out from between the straight cuts, make a rectangular patch of matching ebony (taper the edges a little so it presses in tightly), superglue it in the cavity and sand it down. Even if there are some small gaps to fill, the rectangular patch will "disappear" much more easily than a round plug, especially a plug cut from a dowel, because that exposes end grain.

Basically, give me 20 minutes, and I could pluck the pearl dot out and replace it with a rectangular piece of ebony using nothing but Bill Monroe's pocket knife!

[Bernie Daniel]

Thanks for the ideas gentlemen!

Marty did buy a 1/4" plug cutter after the previous experience but never could find a 17/64" cutter! I imagine someone somewhere has one for sale but the world is a big haystack!

I have no idea where those dots came from because I don't even think I have seen a guitar with dots that large?

Supposedly the mandolin was made in the 1970's so who knows what kind of instrument building supplies like that were readily available them? Was Stew-Mac and LMI even in business then? For sure there was no internet! Every thing was ordered from a catalog and came via snail mail. No FEDEX either.

Anyway I like John's idea of cutting out a rectangle and then filling in with the right size/shape piece -- eliminates the need for custom round plugs. John I know that I could not do it in 20 minutes even if I had a CNC!!

[Folkmusician.com]

Basically, give me 20 minutes, and I could pluck the pearl dot out and replace it with a rectangular piece of ebony using nothing but Bill Monroe's pocket knife!

....and superglue. hehe

[Greg Mirken]

Here's a little pictorial article about doing exactly what John mentions. The patch disappears if fitted well. In this case I was refretting the mandolin too.

http://shadetreeguitars.com/articles/un_inlaying.htm

[Bernie Daniel]

Here's a little pictorial article about doing exactly what John mentions. The patch disappears if fitted well. In this case I was refretting the mandolin too. http://shadetreeguitars.com/articles/un_inlaying.htm

Very neat work! Thanks for the link.

I imagine it is a little more tricky to do if the frets are still in place?

If you look at the image of the mandolin in post #1 of the string must you see that the edges of the MOP dot might actually be under edge of the fret?

[Marty Jacobson]

I have no idea where those dots came from because I don't even think I have seen a guitar with dots that large?

Probably from a button manufacturer. I have a big batch of round MOP dots that size and larger from a button company that was in business in the 60's.

The rectangular approach John described is a good one.

[Bernie Daniel]

Just a random thought but suppose I picked the big dots out, filled the cavity with epoxy blacked with lampblack and then pressed the smaller MOP dot into the center of the mud, then sand it flush when dry?

[darylcrisp]

Just a random thought but suppose I picked the big dots out, filled the cavity with epoxy blacked with lampblack and then pressed the smaller MOP dot into the center of the mud, then sand it flush when dry?

or fill it with the mix, let dry, then very carefully drill out the area you need to insert the MOP so you can be dead sure on the centering.

this is a very interesting thread-thanks folks
d

[sunburst]

Just a random thought but suppose I picked the big dots out, filled the cavity with epoxy blacked with lampblack and then pressed the smaller MOP dot into the center of the mud, then sand it flush when dry?

Then it comes down to "viewing distance". It would look OK from a reasonable distance, but the closer you get the more obvious it would be, especially after some playing time, because the sheen will be different between the filler and the ebony after some wear from fingertips.