In one of the lessons you showed the neck of the banjo that had dots to mark some of the frets, the banjo I purchased does not have any. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of how I could mark them on my banjo neck, besides using a sharpie. Thanks
Fret markers on banjo neck
Hi Richard,
It kind of depends on if you are going for functionality or style. One way they are put in is that a hole is drilled the same diameter as a small rod. A small piece of the rod is glued in place. It is then cut flush and sanded smooth. However, this is normally done before finishing. I think a smartly applied mark with something like a sharpie might be the easiest way to handle it on a finished instrument. You could make a mark on the fret ends to where it could be removed if desired.
If you decide to do the drilled rod approach, and if it is a lacquer finish, then you could touch up with a drop fill of lacquer and with enough patience and skill it could be made to look like it was originally part of the instrument.
Hi @perkinsrichard5360 Richard 
to @BanjoBen 's Forum I personally wouldn’t change the look of the banjo. I rarely look at the side markers and when I do I only glance momentarily at the 10th & 12th marker when I move up the neck.
@perkinsrichard5360, I took a quick look at your bio. Looks like you are just starting. I assume your instrument does have fret markers/inlay on the front. The markers that run along the edge simply mimic the front so you could quickly reference by a quick glance. They are certainly not necessary and some players never even look at them as Archie said. That being said, I think if I wanted to add them as a tool to help me learn, I might try “white out” correction fluid. That would give you a nice white dot, but would just scratch off with your finger nail when you didn’t want it any more. At least I think it would. Might try an inconspicuous spot to try first.
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Mike_R I don’t think I’ll try my hand at drilling the neck. Haha. But I do like the idea of using something to mark them to learn then maybe clean them off. Thanks
Thanks for the welcome, seems like there is a good bit of knowledge here. I guess I should have throw in the post asking if they were necessarily needed, but you answered that. Thanks
Yes I’m extremely new to this adventure, 2 weeks into it. The question really came from having doubts that I would remember where to place my left hand without the dots. My banjo does have the inlays so I’ll give them a shot. And that’s a very good idea about the white out. lol hanks
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Hi Richard, If you feel need, you could put a tiny bit of duck tape at the 7th 10th and 12th frets. But as I said earlier I rarely look for them. It’s like driving a car you know where to put your feet to push the pedals you never ever look down to check.
I used small stars stickers like the kind teachers give to kids. a small gold star on the side of the 10th fret, and also the 15th for now…
@perkinsrichard5360,
Archie’s correct, you’ll learn the neck and then won’t need them. But if you’re as slow as I am, that can take years. I just got a clawhammer banjo from Dave Dillard and specifically decided to get just side dots (and a completely blank fret board). I find that I have developed a bad habit of rotating my banjo to see the fret board. That really makes fretting much harder and the right hand uncomfortable as well. Focusing just on the side markers keeps the banjo oriented correctly. So I’d suggest the star stickers or painters tape ideas as side markers. Just my two cents. Enjoy your banjo journey!
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