Classical Guitar Fret Markers - Rosette Black/Ivory Fret Dots

I own a Music Man Cutlass with the roasted maple neck, The neck is beautiful but the black side fret markers are difficult to see in dimmer lighting settings. I bought these fret dots and love the result. Great instructions and easy to apply…easy to remove as well if needed. Highly recommended!

When i said to my guitar teacher that i thought marking the frets was bad form he asked: “do you want to look good or sound good?” - i think that says it all. I used to use whiteout to mark the frets, these are so much better. Highly recommended.

The dots are easy to apply after following the application instructions. My first dislike is that the fret marker dots are placed very close together on the tiny transfer sheet that you will receive in the mail. They looked fine at first on one of my flamenco guitars that was not made with side fret markers, or "plates" as they call them in Spain. I was able to apply them at the 3rd, 5th, 7th. 9th and 12th frets as needed. and they looked nice at first. Here's the problem: they will come off no matter how well you applied them. Your hand will eventually rub against them while you're playing a wonderful fast Rumba, and you lose yourself in the beauty of your flamenco-dancer wife slamming her heels in the wood dance floor. The only fret marker that has not slid off so far is the 12th fret, and that is only because I don't play any flamenco chords that high on the fretboard. I do not recommend these. Sorry.

These dots are visual queues for your fretboard. They can help you to place your fingers more quickly and accurately. If you ever used dry-transfer lettering, you know how to use these dots: Clean the surface with a little alcohol, then use some kind of burnisher to rub the back side of the carrier sheet and transfer the dot. These dots are small, so a dull pencil will do the job, and it doesn't require a lot of pressure either. With a little care, you'll get a nice, clean result. I chose the dots with the ivory center inside a black ring; I believe there are also pure white and pure black dots, so get what makes sense for you. (If you have a badly placed or distracting marker on an instrument as manufactured, I can also imagine using an appropriate dot to cover the bad marker up.) You can put the dots on the face of the fingerboard as shown on the guitar in the product illustration, or you can put them in the middle of the space between frets, or you can put them on as side markers. I had a Lanikai tenor, for instance, with very small markers on the fingerboard's face. They are hard to see, and I prefer side markers anyhow. I used the Rosette dots on the side of my uke's neck, approximating the centers of the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th frets. I put a pair of markers at the 12th fret. This used six of the nine dots in one set, and to be honest, I wouldn't do it that way again. I used the remaining three dots from that set on a Lanikai baritone, putting them only at the 5th, 7th, and 10th frets. The three dots work well for me and it used fewer dots. (If I were down to a single dot, I'd put it at the 5th fret.) I rate these at four stars because they seem a little pricey for a solution that is semi-permanent at best. I have noticed smudging where my hand passes regularly over my side markers. Also, if the surface is less than totally smooth--such as one with wood grain--the dots won't last as long. On the flip side, it is good to know that if you screw up a dot on installation you can just scrape it off gently with your fingernail and start over. Despite the drawbacks, I'll probably keep some of the dots around and re-do my ukes as necessary. Those side markers really help me out, and the dots look great, especially when they are fresh.

I was looking to preserve the finish on a new classical guitar and my old method of cutting squares out of post-it notes worried me as adhesives can eat through finishes over time. I like a visual reference on the 7th and 17th frets and was happy when I found these dry transfer markers. Install was simple as can be. Wiped off the neck with a dry soft towel (do NOT use rubbing alcohol to clean if you care about your instrument), cut out a single marker, placed it on the neck and pressed it on with the eraser end of a pencil. Marker stays put and I can wipe down the neck after playing without it easily falling off. Only con that I can think of is that it they are a bit small and can be lost in low light situations. They aren't any smaller than most installed markers, but there really isn't any reason they couldn't be larger. That's personal preference though and I knew what I was buying before I ordered. Edited to add: I came back for another pack of these almost 2 years later. As stated above I only use them on 2 positions with the 7th fret being the only one which gets enough rubbing to eventually wear down or slip off. These are not meant to be a permanent solution, and if you are a player who constantly wraps their thumb around the neck I can understand why some are having problems with them staying on. But for most classically trained players who don't death grip the neck I will reiterate my satisfaction with these markers. Mine primarily have worn down or fallen off by wiping down the neck or friction in the case, so I will typically get a few months out of the 7th fret marker before I slap on a new one. There has also been no visible damage to the finish where these are placed, and I am very pleased with this considering the cost of my guitar. Would still highly recommend.

This is a great product and a cheap way to get side fret markers on a classical guitar. Please note that these take some practice to implement. The sheets provided are small and you need to cut them, as shown in the picture, into individual squares. You must then place them on the side of the fingerboard and then use a pencil eraser to rub the fret marker for a transfer to the fretboard. Once transferred, you will not be able to reposition if you are off on the location. You must destroy the fret marker and start over if the position is off. The transfer is somewhat permanent, it withstands the rigors of playing, in my case about eight months, before any signs of wear. And they lay very flat and does impede your playing. The only complaint I have is that you only get 9 fret markers in our order. I wish Rosette Worldwide would include 12 markers to help facilitate an occasional mistake. One last note, please be careful handling the fret markers, they have a tendency to come off the transfer paper very easily. With a little patience and practice, when done right, look like a professional added the fret markers to your guitar.

Wow this item is hard to peg as far as number of stars go! Very useful, but you are likely to burn through a few because they are hard to handle. Lucky for me, I just wanted to mark the sides of the fifth and seventh frets. If I had wanted to do the whole side of the neck I would have needed a second set. Also, they do tend to slide a bit even after application. So, I do think they are useful, and certainly worth the price (I can see myself buying another set), but at the same time tricky to use.

I’m a seasoned guitar player but I am new to playing classical guitar. My instructor suggested I put fret markers on frets 5 and 7 so I bought this product. The markers are very close together on the sheets they arrive in. I used scissors and isolated one marker at a time and that made installing them very easy. You don’t have to rub hard at all and it takes only 10 seconds or less to install once you line the marker where you want it. My next worry is that while playing I would remove these accidentally. They do remove easily with your finger nail and leave no visible sign that they were ever on your guitar. But while playing I do not come in contact with them and mine have been on for months now with no issue. There is no reason to have a luthier professionally install fret markers unless you want something permanent which I did not on my Aria AC80. These are great and are a great solution.