Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm very excited to introduce the latest tool offering from ELEVATE: the Dot Locator. Much of late 2018 was dedicated to developing and prototyping this tool. After countless iterations, a large pile of parts that just weren't quite good enough, and some custom fixturing, I'm proud to present this beauty:



This special little jig is used to accurately and repeatably locate and drill for dot inlays on the face of fretboards. It references both the fret slots and board taper to align your handheld drill in the perfect location.



And it works for double dots (like the 12th fret) as well. Check out the tutorial to see how: https://elevatelutherie.com/product/dot-locator/

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Slick!

Very nice tool, but I have yet to use dots for some non-explicable reason. Maybe they are in my future

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Agreed, slick tool...

_________________
Thank You and Best To All

How many sizes can that accomodate? I like the concept. But do I have to remove to check my progress? I like 7mm dots. Does it work for that? How does it actually locate double dots?

Mike,
The jig uses a hardened drill bushing to set the size of dot it can drill. The standard bushing that comes in the Dot Locator is 1/4" (6.35 mm). Though it is designed in such a way that different bushings could be used or a custom jig can be made.

To see the jig in action, check out the tutorial on my site (which shows how to locate double dots):

https://elevatelutherie.com/product/dot-locator/

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

On the double dot thing: I watched the video. It appears that if you wanted a space of 1” between them, then you place a 1” spacer on one side of the fretboard and use as normal, flip it around and do the same thing.

I also wondered about various dot sizes. I generally do 6 mm, but on double dots I do one size smaller (I feel they get bunched up).



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly



The drill bushing is held in the articulating clamp with a press fit. Other bushing with the same OD could be used, but it's probably worth just having a custom one made for the other size you use so as to avoid the possible damage in repeatedly pressing bushings in and out.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

It seems to me that the jig could be used as sold with a 1/4" brad point bit, but drill just enough to allow the point to score the wood. Then use a drill press to drill the size holes you want.

_________________
It will probably be alright.

Greg

Why bother with 2 operations when a depth collar on the bit makes the depth correct. The idea of the bushing is that it lines the bit up near what a drill press would do, and being shallow, it does not have to be exact.

What if the bushing was not a press fit, but held in with a small set screw so that the bushing could easily be switched? They are made with various ID in the same OD.

Ed

Very nice!

_________________
http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Cool design and beautiful tool! Only one size guide would be the deal-breaker for me though.

Perhaps you could include 1/4 inch center punch of some kind or make a smaller guide for a small punch. Drilling is the easy part, measuring is the time consuming part if you're not using a template.

New username, same Pat Mac

_________________
Pat

Ruby- because the tool would quickly locate the center point.

_________________
It will probably be alright.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. This is all very helpful.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

I agree on the size issue.
Really slick, but having different sizes would push it from “really slick” to “purchase”, at least for this hobby builder


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s something I’ve considered. At this point, it’s simply cost prohibitive as it could easily triple to cost of the jig. Due to both the extra cost of production and the added expense of more bushings. Honestly, it may be cheaper to have a custome one made for the other size(s) you’d want other than 1/4”.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

I’m sure it would add cost.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bought one , very happy with the quality and ease of use . I too wondered about various sizes. Simply put its simple to use the jig to center locate and then drill on drill press for odd sizes . 1/4" is generally a good dimension for the dots .

If you REALLY need smaller , look into a small section of thin wall tube and make your own drill sleeve . There are a number of possible simple solutions . You can purchase .250 od alum tube with a .032 wall thickness that would give you .187 or 3/16" dot . 12" of the stuff is like $2.00 lol

http://www.zoro.com/zoro-select-tubing- ... /G3309455/

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

We had a tool very similar to that at Larrivee, except it was aluminum and weighed a ton and did the whole fingerboard at once.. Instead of having a drill bushing, it had a springloaded punch in each dot position. You'd take a hammer, whack each dot position, and the board would have punches in all appropriate positions...

The method I use is to just draw diagonal lines from fret to adjacent fret forming an X to find the center point, use a brad point in a hand drill, and eyeball the depth. For double dots I measure to the center of the frets and make my Xs from there. Pretty low tech but fairly quick.

I've actually made a custom tool just like the one you've described. The only downside I see is that it's scale length specific.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Yep, but at that time they were using 650mm exclusively. When they went CNC it became a tool that needed to be cleaned around, like the fret buck...