Installing Mother of Pearl Position Dots

Installing mother of pearl position dots is actually pretty easy. Pre-cut dots are readily available from most luthier suppliers and that takes most of the work out of installing position dots. These dots come in several diameters and are usually 0.050" in thickness.

I start by first cutting the fret slots in the fret board I plan to install dots in. Then I use the ends of the fret slots as a guide and accurately pencil an "X" between the two slots where I want to place the dots. Using a scribe or center punch, I then mark the center of the X so the slight dimple will act as a drill guide.

This operation is best done with a drill press. I use a good, high quality brad point drill bit the same diameter as the dot to drill the hole the dot will be seated in. Any good bit will work for this but I prefer the brad point as the point fits nicely into the scribed center hole and it acts as a guide I've also used a forstner bit for this but a flat bottomed hole really isn't necessary and a brad point seems to cut easier. Feed the bit slow to prevent tearing of the wood around the edge of the hole. Using a good quality bit is essential for a clean hole. Only cut deep enough for dot to fit even with the hole opening. You can do this by either cutting a little and then putting the dot in place to see how it fits or drilling a few test holes where the strum hollow will be cut from (assuming you haven't cut the strum hollow yet) and adjust the stop on the drill press to stop you at the proper depth.

With the holes cut, I'm now ready to install the dots. I use a two part clear epoxy to glue the dots in place. It doesn't take much if you have a good hole of proper depth that the dot will fit tightly in to. Just about a drop is all you really need.

The dots are now epoxied into place. Even using just a drop of epoxy still gives us a considerable amount of excess. Wipe as much of the excess away as you can and try to avoid getting any of it in the fret slot. If you do get any in the fret slot, you'll have to clean the slot before installing frets.

Once the epoxy has completely cured, I use the edge sander with an extra fine belt to again resurface the face of the fret board. This will clean off any of the excess cured epoxy and completely smooth the joint between the dot and the fret board surface. I do not recomend doing this with a smaller sander as you could accidently sand a slight dip into the fret board.

If properly installed, the surface of the fret board will be completely smooth and you won't even be able to feel any difference as you rub your finger across the dot.

A few final notes.

Mther of pearl is a little forgiving if your hole depth isn't exactly right an your dot sticks above the hole just a very slight bit. A little sanding on the edge sander and you'll never know. On the other hand though, abalone dots can be very unforgiving. If too much of there surfave is sanded off, it can totally change their appearance. Take care when installing any dots but be even more diligant when working with abalone. Other precut shapes such as stars and diamonds are also available or you can get sheet material and cut your own shapes. If you do so, you'll have to mark out an outline of your inlay in the fret board and very carefully cut away the material where the inlay will go as opposed to drilling as we used for round dots. Don't let the idea of eventually doing fancier inlay work scare you. It's extremely time consuming but not nearly as difficult as it looks. Once you have your design cut from the inlay stock, you can lay it on the fret board and scribe around it so you will know where to chip material out of the surface of the fret board. Try to be as neat as you can but if your cut out area isn't exactly perfect, they make colored dyes you can mix with your epoxy that will match your fret board material. Once finished, it takes an extremely close examination to see that the fret board wasn't cut out perfectly. The next time you see a dulcimer with an extremely elaborate inlay on the fret board, give it that extremely close examination and you'll probably see what I'm talking about but you'll never see it unless you look hard for it.