Forums

fret scale measurement?

Posted by sid on November 14, 2019 at 2:44pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Hi ther

I'm just building my first cigar box guitar, I have used kwila/merbau for the neck...... laminated 3 pieces, if I'm doing 25" is that from the front of the nut to the front of the bridge or is that measurement taken from the middle?.

built my own box 300mm long x 250mm wide and 80mm thick, used 12mm  MDF for the sides and good 4mm plywood for the top and bottom, going to stick a piezo under the lid.

had a bit of fun building it up, so I have another 2 on the go, I make my own boxes as cheap ones are hard to come by that are good size

Thanks Sid

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • KOOL DOG HOOCH November 15, 2019 at 11:05am

    I laid my frets out on aluminum yard/meter rulers with magic markers and scribed over the marker lines. Two scales per ruler.

    • sid > KOOL DOG HOOCH November 15, 2019 at 4:05pm

      yeh I'll set a ruler out with fret markers for later builds I reckon, makes things easier in the long run

    • BrianQ. > KOOL DOG HOOCH November 15, 2019 at 2:42pm

      A cheap econo/dollar store measuring tape is also good for making fret templates, they’re usually only about 6’ long, so you can plan out 2 full size necks on 1? Even the vinyl ones women use for sewing a great for templates, I’ve even seen Dar Stellabotta use one in her “How To” video? 

  • BrianQ. November 14, 2019 at 3:59pm

    This might help? 
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7W4NdYCJCi4&list=PLQoYJG1ht92f3gc...

    not sure if you have a Template? 
    https://cigarboxnation.com/group/lapsteelworld/forum/topics/nationa...

    • sid > BrianQ. November 14, 2019 at 4:11pm

      Hi there

      thanks for the reply, no I don't have a template, I'll just use one of the free online fret calculators, I'm  am used to working in mm so I have convert it all from inches to metric.

      thanks for the link, looks as though its from the front of the nut, so I take it must be to the front of the bridge as well then

      • Timothy Hunter > sid November 15, 2019 at 8:32am

        i find this online one the best.. http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/

        you can save a PDF of the scale and print it out..  only problem is you have to enable flash for this site as it needs it to show the save buttons.. 

        you can specify number of strings ,number of frets, width at the nut as well as at the bridge and measurements to mm ..

        • sid > Timothy Hunter November 15, 2019 at 4:03pm

          theres alot of stuff out there, that I haven't seen heheh, just noticed about having flash installed, I'll have a look at this, looks good.

          thanks for the link

          • BrianQ. > sid November 15, 2019 at 4:17pm

            You should be good if you’re not using an Apple/iOS format? 

      • BrianQ. > sid November 14, 2019 at 6:10pm

        Yes, measure 25” from the middle of the nut where the strings touch to middle of the bridge? I like to center my nut & bridge at those measurements, works for me , no complaints. 
         If you scroll down on the link to the Scale Template, there’s measurements for 25” scale in metric?  cheers :)

        • sid > BrianQ. November 15, 2019 at 3:58pm

          hey thanks for that heads up on the metric measurements, I'll use that.

This reply was deleted.