Hey guys. The neck for my first CBG is taking shape. I whipped up a jig and made the scarf joint for the head stock today. Glue is drying now. When that's done, I'll get to work on the nut then fret it. In my short time here I've seen a few fret calculators. I can find the Stew-Mac one and the Jelly Belly one. But I could have sworn there was another floating around that actually allowed you to calculate the frets and print up a full size template. I'm doubting the accuracy of the stew mac calculator. When you convert it to metric from fraction, it just changes from inches to mm without changing the measurements. For example, 20 frets, 24.5 scale length, the 11th fret is listed at 11.522 inches. If you convert the fret board to millimeters, the 11th fret is then listed as 11.522mm from the nut. No way that is correct. And even if one of them is correct, my dial calipers aren't big enough to measure 11.522 and I can't get 3 place decimal accurate with a tape measure.
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I appreciate your help! With your guidance, I was finally able to complete my 8 year build!
;-)
Just joking. Thanks to the advice I found here, I finished that CBG a few days after that post. It came out great, and my brother plays it to this day. (It was a christmas gift for him.) I'll have to see if I can dig up a pic. It's funny that this post just started appearing in my mentions. My brother and I just started gathering materials to build a few more CBGs. Two for gifts for friends and I think maybe one for myself this time. I'll be checking in here again!
Even though I was already done, I appreciate you folks who took the time to respond, even years later. The great thing about a forum like this is that even though I no longer needed the advice, some other new builder might have found this thread and been helped. Good on you guys.
For some reason, i can't edit my post, just wanted to add, re the 3 decimal places, Don't get too dismayed over that, anything inside 1/2 a millimetre, is most likely going to be better than you can mark or cut probably, [no insult intended]
Stewmac calculator has always worked for me in millimetres, maybe your input was wrong, I'd suggest re trying it, and as Rand suggested, the zero fret method takes a lot of the stress out of nut fabrication, good luck.
yes, me too. I always use stwemac fret calc and use mm. I also keep then info for other builds so I do not have to refigure. Another trick I learned on CBN, take yardstick and put your fret marks on that, then can use over and over. I have about 3 yardsticks like that.
Excellent. Now I have a few options. I'll take a look at them all and see what works. Matt, you are 100% correct, when I switched from inches to millimeters, I left my scale length in inches. Big old "Duh" for me.
Rand, my scarf jig is for the table saw, it is pretty much like the one in jimfrets veoh video. Except I just cobbled one together to make the one cut so I didn't make it adjustable. I set it at 15 degrees and screwed it down. Since I'm having fun with my first build, I may indeed decide to do more, in that case, I'll spend some time and make a proper jig that's adjustable. If you haven't seen the video, do a google video search for "scarf joint", it will be one of the first results.
Fretcalc. Free download, and it will output to the nearest 1/64th . Easy to convert to 32nds and do with a tape measure.
It will even run in your browser if you search with google.... w/out a download.
btw- on the Stewmac calculator .. to get a correct calculation in mm, you must enter scale in mm. I'll bet a cup of coffee you're leaving the scale in inches.
Matt
ELPERRA > Outhouse InstrumentsMay 3, 2018 at 8:02am
Replies
Don't know if you helped him finish his guitar Darryl but you helped bring a smile to my face (and a bit of a chuckle).
: )
I appreciate your help! With your guidance, I was finally able to complete my 8 year build!
;-)
Just joking. Thanks to the advice I found here, I finished that CBG a few days after that post. It came out great, and my brother plays it to this day. (It was a christmas gift for him.) I'll have to see if I can dig up a pic. It's funny that this post just started appearing in my mentions. My brother and I just started gathering materials to build a few more CBGs. Two for gifts for friends and I think maybe one for myself this time. I'll be checking in here again!
Even though I was already done, I appreciate you folks who took the time to respond, even years later. The great thing about a forum like this is that even though I no longer needed the advice, some other new builder might have found this thread and been helped. Good on you guys.
yes, me too. I always use stwemac fret calc and use mm. I also keep then info for other builds so I do not have to refigure. Another trick I learned on CBN, take yardstick and put your fret marks on that, then can use over and over. I have about 3 yardsticks like that.
Rand, my scarf jig is for the table saw, it is pretty much like the one in jimfrets veoh video. Except I just cobbled one together to make the one cut so I didn't make it adjustable. I set it at 15 degrees and screwed it down. Since I'm having fun with my first build, I may indeed decide to do more, in that case, I'll spend some time and make a proper jig that's adjustable. If you haven't seen the video, do a google video search for "scarf joint", it will be one of the first results.
It will even run in your browser if you search with google.... w/out a download.
btw- on the Stewmac calculator .. to get a correct calculation in mm, you must enter scale in mm. I'll bet a cup of coffee you're leaving the scale in inches.
Matt
THANK YOU, 8 YEARS ON, STILL RELEVENT, JOE
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