Hi everyone,
I am mostly done building my first cigar box guitar. I decided that I wanted to fret the instrument and found and used a template online for measuring the spacing and the overall distance between the nut and the bridge. I started to string the instrument and found that the frets are not true to the notes they should be. Does anyone have any suggestions on adjustments I can make (the nut and bridge are not set in their place yet) that will solve this issue?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!!
You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!
Check the 12th fret harmonic against the fretted note on the 12th fret. If the fretted note is sharp, the bridge needs to move a little further from the nut. If the fretted note is flat, the bridge needs to move a little closer to the nut. (If you don't know how to play the 12th fret harmonic, get a guitar-playing friend to show you).
If you do this separately for the top and bottom string, moving only the corresponding end of the bridge, you'll achieve the angling of the bridge that Willie mentioned.
The most likely reason for the intonation problem is that the string is stretching - and therefore going sharp - when you push it down. This problem is worse if your action is excessively high.
You didn't say which template you used, or its scale. Did it look like this:
There are some issues when printing this scale on different printers...learned the hard way. The good news is, the problem is with the ratio/size that prints on your printer...what was intended to be a 24.5" scale is still a "proportionally" correct scale, it just may be a 22.75" or a 27". The methods described above...measure to the 12th, and measure 12th to the bridge should still help you solve your problem without making a new neck. If the template you used is like the one above, measure the "one inch" line with a good ruler to see if it is off, that will give you an idea what you're looking at...long or short. Luck
If you have measured and installed the frets and nut carefully, the distance from the nut to the 12th fret should be the same as the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge (i.e. the 12th fret should be at the midpoint of the nut to bridge length). If you play a harmonic at the 12th fret on a given string and then note the string at the 12th fret the notes should have the same pitch. If the harmonic is lower in pitch than the fretted note, move the bridge away from the nut. If the harmonic is higher in pitch than the fretted note, move the bridge toward the nut. ( I think I have this right...)
It may be that the bridge needs to be angled very slightly (moved towards the nut on the higher pitched strings and farther away from the nut on the lower pitched strings) to compensate for the different amounts of string stretch involved with fretting the larger and smaller gauge strings.
Measure nut to twelveth fret... double the measure and see it that is true to the measure of nut to bridge... If so, go to http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator generate a table for your guitar's scale and see if the frets are located right.
I've never had intonation problems using the stewmac fretcalculator measurements....
Replies
If you do this separately for the top and bottom string, moving only the corresponding end of the bridge, you'll achieve the angling of the bridge that Willie mentioned.
The most likely reason for the intonation problem is that the string is stretching - and therefore going sharp - when you push it down. This problem is worse if your action is excessively high.
There are some issues when printing this scale on different printers...learned the hard way. The good news is, the problem is with the ratio/size that prints on your printer...what was intended to be a 24.5" scale is still a "proportionally" correct scale, it just may be a 22.75" or a 27". The methods described above...measure to the 12th, and measure 12th to the bridge should still help you solve your problem without making a new neck. If the template you used is like the one above, measure the "one inch" line with a good ruler to see if it is off, that will give you an idea what you're looking at...long or short. LuckIf you have measured and installed the frets and nut carefully, the distance from the nut to the 12th fret should be the same as the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge (i.e. the 12th fret should be at the midpoint of the nut to bridge length). If you play a harmonic at the 12th fret on a given string and then note the string at the 12th fret the notes should have the same pitch. If the harmonic is lower in pitch than the fretted note, move the bridge away from the nut. If the harmonic is higher in pitch than the fretted note, move the bridge toward the nut. ( I think I have this right...)
It may be that the bridge needs to be angled very slightly (moved towards the nut on the higher pitched strings and farther away from the nut on the lower pitched strings) to compensate for the different amounts of string stretch involved with fretting the larger and smaller gauge strings.
Good luck, and best regards, Willie
Measure nut to twelveth fret... double the measure and see it that is true to the measure of nut to bridge... If so, go to http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator generate a table for your guitar's scale and see if the frets are located right.
I've never had intonation problems using the stewmac fretcalculator measurements....
the best,
Wichita Sam