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--- Jair-Rohm <gtc@chello.se> wrote: > On the other hand, if the player > isn't looking at the fingerboard/lines, what's the > point in having them? Well, if someone is playing the same instrument all the time and is disciplined enough to not ever look at the fingerboard, I agree, it would be pointless to take an unmarked instrument to a luthier to have it lined. However, many people use several instruments that often have different scale lengths and/or neck profiles. Side markers can be very useful; to me, it boils down to what someone is comfortable with. I personally find just a few side dots at the three main harmonic points (1/4, 1/3, 1/2) to be sufficient, or even fewer depending on where the body connects. When I build an instrument, often I play out with it before it's quite 'done'; one of my recent projects which can be seen at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EccentricLuthierySupportGroup/?yguid=129742643> is a doubleneck with a conventional headless 6-string guitar neck and a two-stringed, long scale fretless bass neck which in profile is very much like the neck on a baglama saz. It currently has no markings on it whatsoever, and due to the scale and profile (there's about a 14" stretch of the neck that feels about the same to the hand and offers no 'landmarks') it's very difficult to play without markers, to me at least. Also, as has been mentioned, many players have lines on their fingerboards as residual traces of where frets once were before being filled. Just as you point out how it would be pointless for someone who doesn't look at the markers to have them installed, it would be equally pointless for that same player to have a fingerboard replaced just to get rid of the lines. -t- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com