Does anyone know something about clay dots?

CKM · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:51 am

Does anyone have some ideas of what fender is using for clay dots on their new custom shop strats? Do you know if it is the same material Leo used in the early 60's? I'm new to the forum and thought this would be a great place to obtain information like this. Would appreciate your comments, thanks.

Miami Mike · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:06 pm

CKM wrote:

Does anyone have some ideas of what fender is using for clay dots on their new custom shop strats? Do you know if it is the same material Leo used in the early 60's? I'm new to the forum and thought this would be a great place to obtain information like this. Would appreciate your comments, thanks.

The older "clay" dots were replaced by pearloid shell position markers around '65 to reduce production costs. Not sure about the CS models now, but you can ask Mike Eldred a little further down this page...

BlackedOut · **Joined:** Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:02 pm **Posts:** 111

The "Clay" dots that were used were really something of a mystery for quite some time if I recall. They were manufactured out of a fiber material I believe. The color was very hard to get right, as it would range from a smoky grey to almost brownish and then there was green...

Mike Eldred would be the man to ask... assuming he's allowed to give that information.

Twelvebar · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:55 pm

I think the clay dot thing is still a mystery. I have heard many theories, some quite outlandish.

one prevalent theory was that they cut up a bunch of old ceiling tiles to make 'em, possibly asbestos. So i would love to hear Mike Eldrids take on it. i have never heard an actual statement of fact on what they were.

stratstang · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:56 pm

callaham sells clay dots as well

CKM · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:58 pm

Thanks for your input guys! I was mainly wondering if Fender is using "real clay dots" on their 60's reproductions, etc, or if they are just tinted plastic or something. Thanks again.

campbellgrafx · **Joined:** Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:52 am **Posts:** 485

They don't taste as good as the jelly Dots.
But, they don't stick to your teeth as much.

cvilleira · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:00 pm

I thought it was called Ivorine? I know when drilled out they are white.

Twelvebar · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:17 pm

cvilleira wrote:

I thought it was called Ivorine? I know when drilled out they are white.

CV out of the theories i have heard to me the most likely is that it is celluloid.
It is also an ivory replacement, but it is malleable until it hardens. it is more like clay before hardening. ivorine is essentually a plastic sheet. and more translucent.

When a friend and i put together his partscaster the neck he used had really ugly plastic fret markers. We dremelled them out and used this stuff:

The dots looked awesome. So i think celluloid probably was applied the same way. or they may have used something like this stuff. it's gypsum based, so that could explain why they appeared fibrous.

cvilleira · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:47 pm

Twelvebar wrote:

cvilleira wrote:

I thought it was called Ivorine? I know when drilled out they are white.

CV out of the theories i have heard to me the most likely is that it is celluloid.
It is also an ivory replacement, but it is malleable until it hardens. it is more like clay before hardening. ivorine is essentually a plastic sheet. and more translucent.

When a friend and i put together his partscaster the neck he used had really ugly plastic fret markers. We dremelled them out and used this stuff:

The dots looked awesome. So i think celluloid probably was applied the same way. or they may have used something like this stuff. it's gypsum based, so that could explain why they appeared fibrous.

You may have it 12B that sounds sensible to me.

orvilleowner · **Posted:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:35 pm

I trust what this page says about the early '60s clay dots:

http://jimshine.com/claydots/clay_dots_ ... _inlay.htm

CKM · **Posted:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:48 pm

CV, the water putty is interesting. I will try to get some of this and try it in a piece of scrap rosewood to see how it looks. Did this stuff turn out white once dried in your friend's guitar? I wonder if it will taken on a grey or brownish tint over time.

I'm still wondering what Fender is using in their new CS 60's closet classics. They are supposed to have clay dots. It would be nice to know if they are made from the same material Leo used on the originals.

Twelvebar · **Posted:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:34 pm

orvilleowner wrote:

I trust what this page says about the early '60s clay dots:

http://jimshine.com/claydots/clay_dots_ ... _inlay.htm

Hmm.. orville, that page had this:

jimshine.com wrote:

Durham's Water Putty (sometimes referred to as Plumbers Putty for some reason)- A great choice for replacing an old clay dot, but this material is also quite different. It is almost the right density, but is beige out of the can. It accepts the rosewood oils nicely. I believe this is the closest cousin to what Fender used, but Fender used a stark white version than a natural wood tone version. Many guitar manufacturers use this material and a giveaway is its smoothness. The Durham's dries with little air bubbles trapped inside and the surface tends to look almost like Pumice. When ageing the color, the larger voids will grab more color and make for larger "particles" in the dot than the original material.

So I guess my buddy and I weren't too far off

Oh and:

CKM wrote:

CV, the water putty is interesting. I will try to get some of this and try it in a piece of scrap rosewood to see how it looks. Did this stuff turn out white once dried in your friend's guitar? I wonder if it will taken on a grey or brownish tint over time.

It was me that tried that stuff.
it really looked like old dots. i have never seen a new one, i wasn't born in the 60's. But this stuff gave us exactly the look we wanted. slightly brownish, rather than stark white.

You should be able to get it at any hardware store, i can't remember if I got it at Home Depot or Rona/Revy. It was definitely one of the two. Rona/revy is a Canadian chain, like Lowes or Ace, or Home Depot.

CKM · **Posted:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:22 pm

Sounds like this stuff is worth trying out. I will go to the local Home Depot or one of the other big hardware stores around here this weekend and see if I can get it. Once I put some in a scrap piece of rose wood and sand it out etc., I'll try to post some pictures for all to see. Thanks to everyone for sharing your comments and experiences.

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