It gives a beautiful look to your stick. Very nice...

Thank you Alain. I now need to learn how to make it sound as beautiful in my hands!

I've since done the same with my Graphite 10 string.



I added pseudo linear inlays as I'd done on my Ironwood. On the Ironwood I just used white 3mm graphic tape, but I found that https://www.inlaystickers.com/ (who do the doves, etc.,) also do a small selection of stripes. There aren't a lot of size or colour choices but I decided that 5mm blue abalone might look nice on the black graphite Stick.

Adding the pseudo linear inlay stickers without removing all the strings was interesting as they're very sticky. I got around that by peeling off & folding back half the backing, then applying a folded spare piece of backing to the newly exposed sticky surface. That allowed me to slide the whole length under the strings, ‘tack’ the middle in place by rubbing with a plectrum, then gradually remove the rest of the backing by pulling from each side.



The plectrum came in use again to aid getting the upper ‘film’ off the sticker/transfer.



The tissue that’s under the strings was to slide down for a serious final rub down (& had already been used to rub the surface before applying the sticker).

In that last image you can also see the Ironwood alongside & compare the difference in tunings (offset by 2 frets on the bass side). Also visible are the extra ‘half width’ bass side inlays I've experimentally added to aid coping with the difference. The 'half inlays' was an idea I got from one of Gregs videos & uses 3mm 'aged pearl' stripes (a colour that didn't suit the Graphite).

In due course I'll probably do something similar with my newly acquired bamboo Grand, after I've changed it to RMR.

Have you ever tried to play with your eyes closed?

If you hit a wrong note, you will hear it and find the correct spot without looking. In a very short while, your muscle memory will always find the proper note. It might be slow going at first, but it pays off big time in the end.

Yes, I do try it on Stick occasionally but at this stage neither my fingers nor my ears are good enough yet (I'm closer with the right hand than the left).

It's only about 4 years since I "discovered" that I wasn't hopelessly tone deaf like my school teachers had told me as a young child. Before that I (literally) could not sing (I'd never discovered 'pitch matching' so my 'singing' was a horrible tuneless drone) and I didn't play any instruments.

I had however been a life long lover of music & I now realise that all along my sub-conscious has understood intervals (I've always been good at recognising tunes, even from just a very few notes), but I need to work on building connections to allow me to make use of that sub-conscious ability.

So, in addition to instrument practice I do a lot of ear training to try to help me get there.

I started guitar about 3 years ago & I can play on that with eyes closed, so there is hope, but on Stick, which I started less than a year ago I'm some way off.

All that aside, the 'dots' aren't only there for reference. I rather like them visually too.

For the Grand I've found another sticker type, 'flight feathers', and I hope I may be able to work some of those into the design in place of some of the simple dots.

On my stick I put some dots on the D note almost everywhere. Hard to explain but the D note is a good reference for me...lol.

Abby Clutario has dots on her Sticks, so we're in good company.

Dots for any single note will do the job. Pick any note and there are like 8-10 or so other notes surrounding that note on adjacent strings and within 2 or three frets. Because B,C,E & F are all clustered in a group together, any of those are my preference, but I can see why you'd choose D - you get a nice "box" with 8 other notes arranged around it on the adjacent strings and all two frets above/below it — and smack between every pair of D's you have that tight BCEF box. The "boxes" around each D also do not overlap.

I think marking the D's is a great choice.

Indeed. I probably mainly picked C because it's traditionally seen as a reference point in piano terms and marks the boundary between 'named/numbered' octaves?

Pretty arbitrary really.


Nice analysis Steve. Nice logic Alain.