I mentioned this in a previous thread. But thought it may be worth having its own.

So,
I got a plum railboard. And the whole thing is dark. I mean, the board is dark, the frets are dark, the dots are dark. And it's all pretty much uniform color (which is nice). But, I am finding it really difficult in even a well lit room to get my bearings.

Maybe it's my eyes going. I don't know. Fret board stockers have been recommend (have not tried that yet). As well as maybe violin tape. But the idea of taping up every fret to give reference seems excessive.

But is there any serious danger in maybe removing the color from the tops of the frets? I think it may be quite a bit easier to get around. And would there be a suggested method? Dremel and rouge??

Any body out there having the same issue that has found a workable solution.

I have been playing Bass/ guitar and dabbling in Sticks for well over 30 years. If I am frustrated, I can't even imagine with a person with little to no fretted instrument experience would be dealing with.


Thanks!

You can see me cringe from space. (Hello, NSA! Or would it be NASA?) Man, that seems a nuclear option to a smaller problem. You can just put a single small piece on each of the Cs, if you don't want tape all over the place. I'm a keyboard player by background, and I re-created all the black keys on my wooden Stick. I have those fret linears stickers coming any day now for my Railboard (thanks Kevin C!), but honestly, a few pieces of the violin tape (like $3-$6 bucks on Amazon or Etsy) in a few strategic locations would help.

I'd really hate to see you do a permanent, destructive mod to your Railboard just for a little shorterm (I promise you--you'll get it) ease. I had to get new glasses with progressive lenses (again, thanks Kevin C for that suggestion, too!)

Man, best of luck. Please don't Dremel things! (It's your Board, of course!)

I would NEVER remove the anodization from the rails! It would probably mess up the carefully calculated geometry of the set up, not to mention that the aluminium is a softer material than the finished rails. You would likely destroy a huge investment, and beautiful instrument.

Just get some violin tape (amazon has it) and put on where the fret markers are, it is not that big of a deal to do that and it works fine. good luck

Here's what the black keys looked like marked out on a 10-string Rosewood in Matched Reciprocal tuning. That doesn't help you see the frets on the Railboard, but they'd always be halfway between adjacent markers.

Chapman Stick with black keys of a piano marked in violin tape:


Chapman Stick with black keys of a piano marked in violin tape and the notes in letters:


Below here are the pics if you'd like to use them. Probably not as helpful to you unless the black keys on a piano meant something to you. Cheers!

Steve

Removing the anodization from the tips of the frets would completely destroy the instrument as it would need to be remachined and re-anodized.

Someone on here got some gold automotive pin striping tape and placed it on each fret on the long side facing the nut.

So if this is the fretboard in profile:
Nut_____^_____^_____^_____Bridge

the left side of the triangle was the side that got the thin tape.

The anodised surface is not just a colour; it's what gives the aluminium a hard enough coating to be used as frets at all. Remove it and the soft bare aluminium will not be up to the task - your rails would likely wear out before long. And the setup is so precise that you are sure to diminish (no musical pun intended) the integrity and playability of the instrument.

Marking the board between the rails would carry less risks - but I think tape is the way to go.. At least you leave the option of removing some of it later if you feel you no longer need the obvious visual reference at every fret.

Considering the removal of the anodizing from your railboard frets is on par with considering removing the skin from your face. Don't do it. Just don't.

I bought a few rolls in various colors and used the black for the black keys, and then used some blue for the Cs but put the blues on perpendicular to the blacks. Andy's idea of the gold racing detail tape sounds good. But as was also said by bassmonk, the tape comes off whenever you don't need it or want it anymore. And no one knows what the Railboard is supposed to look like anyway, except you and me! (And the rest of us, of course!)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/239169492/ ... oCak3w_wcB