I've moved my stage position and now can't see the neck marker dots

Blankandson

Blankandson

Oct 20, 2010
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Gallatin, Tennessee
#1
I had to move away from "my corner" because we put in PA cabs on a stand right in front of me. With that I couldn't hear my IEM. Or me. So we moved me to the back of the stage, next to the drums. A really good spot, as I can joke around with the drummer between songs (during practice of course) and my IEM are working as they were intended to work. My problem now is, I can't see the dots on the side of the neck. That's not usually an issue, but on one song last week I was playing around the 10-14th fret and I missed it once. Ouch. So - I've seen the basses with electric lights all up and down the necks and side dots. I don't want to get another bass. I have tiny lights on my IEM mixer but I'd have to wear a hat and hang them from that. So that's out. Help me TB Obi Wan. You're my only hope. Goofy ideas are fine. As long as I get some real ones mixed in. And FWIW my neck is Ovangkol, and the fingerboard is Wenge, both of which are dark to begin with, and my bass body is black. Go for it.
 
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#2
White vinyl dots- you can buy a sheet of vinyl and use a hole punch to make large dots.
Or go to Monoprice and buy a small led light that has RGB and white. You can plug it in and keep it blasting behind you, whichever color you want- it will cast enough light around that you can see your markers. Below are the black vinyl dots I did for my maple board, works great
B2669898-7C1E-4F51-B325-307C6DF0E799.jpeg
 
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#3
I have a Dean acoustic/electric fretless that has no reference dots on the side of the neck. When I bought it i convinced myself it didnt matter, but yeah they really do come in handy. Anyway, my solution was a white out pen. It doesnt damage anything, and actually began to slowly wipe off after using the bass and sliding up and down the neck after a bunch of uses, so I was able to see it was harmless firsthand. Not telling you it looked classy, but it certainly served my purpose.
 
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#4
Blankandson said:
I had to move away from "my corner" because we put in PA cabs on a stand right in front of me. With that I couldn't hear my IEM. Or me. So we moved me to the back of the stage, next to the drums. A really good spot, as I can joke around with the drummer between songs (during practice of course) and my IEM are working as they were intended to work. My problem now is, I can't see the dots on the side of the neck. That's not usually an issue, but on one song last week I was playing around the 10-14th fret and I missed it once. Ouch. So - I've seen the basses with electric lights all up and down the necks and side dots. I don't want to get another bass. I have tiny lights on my IEM mixer but I'd have to wear a hat and hang them from that. So that's out. Help me TB Obi Wan. You're my only hope. Goofy ideas are fine. As long as I get some real ones mixed in. And FWIW my neck is Ovangkol, and the fingerboard is Wenge, both of which are dark to begin with, and my bass body is black. Go for it.
Click to expand...
I just put this LED strip on my bass...a two- or three-minute job.
FretFX.

Another nice option.
Side markers, fretboard or both.
 
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#8
I need better eyes but that's not until next year when insurance will pay for it. We just installed new led lights overhead and they are about 15 feet in front of where I sit/stand. I have a nice tall reading lamp at home with a gooseneck on the side lamp. I could try that. Oh, it uses regular old-kind bulbs and I think it's illegal to use those anymore. Drat!
 
#10
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#12
I have instruments with glow in the dark side dots, and it's not nearly as amazing as you may think.

White tape may work, you can find 3M tape that glows in the dark too.

The best solution would be LED side dots, but that so difficult and expensive to do. It comes as an option on some really high end basses, but just that feature you should expect to pay $600 for. It's a dream bass option, where money doesn't matter, only then just a few makers offer it.
 
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#13
Some glow-in-the-dark products are brighter and stay visible longer than the cheap stuff you see all over the place.
The stickers I mentioned and the side markers two fingers mentioned are far superior to glow nail polish and the stickers you can find at Walmart.
Not to mention, fast charging when you use this instead of leaving your bass in the sunlight or whatever.

Not to mention, the FretFx LEDs take less than five minutes to put on.
 
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#19
I took some of my daughter's silver-glitter fingernail polish and make big dots where the small ones were on my Squier Musicmaster.

Works well and fairly reliable, been on for about a year and still haven't rubbed off. That includes on the heavily used area of the third fret.

Lots of good options here. You should find something you like.
 
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#20
First talk to whoever is lighting the stage. As a lighting designer I’ve always been very accommodating to this sort of problem. The solution will involve not just intensity but color too.

I’ve been talking to my luthier/bass player friend about installing more visible side dots on a P with vintage looking clay dots that blend into the rosewood board in low light. It’s very easy to drill out the old ones and install something easier to see. If the replacements are the same diameter it’s 100% reversible too.
 
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