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Fret spacing template

Posted by rob bryon on April 20, 2013 at 10:38pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

G'day, does anyone know of a printable fret spacing template for PC, where you can change the scale as my knew build will be 23.5....have tried many links but cant seem to actually use one....am gonna make up some physical templates from this point so I don't have this problem in the future....thanks from frustrated enough to jump''

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Replies

  • RTZGUITARS June 8, 2018 at 12:30pm

    get a 18in. rule that measure 100ths and use the Stewmac fret calc. first mark the fret slot with a razor knife. then fret saw.

  • sparky37 June 6, 2018 at 9:53pm

    Why not just mosey on down the C. B. Gitty's website and check these items out. https://www.cbgitty.com/tools-templates/fretting-tools-templates/la...  or  https://www.cbgitty.com/guitar-instrument-parts/fretting-supplies/f... These two items have solved my fret spacing problems.

  • Wal Callaby June 5, 2018 at 5:29pm
    I google "fret interval calculator", and the top result (for me) is the StewMac site. Tap in scale length, number of frets, and you get a table. I then screenshot the table (got an album from 18" to 27"!), then use a 24" steel rule marked in one-tenth inches, a clamp to hold the 'zero' end to the nut slot- then a steady eye and a sharp craft knife to nick the edge of the neck from first to nineteenth fret or thereabouts. Take set square, score the fret lines- then drill out and fit the fret markers before cutting the slots and fitting the frets.

    Works for me. The one time it didn't was cos I'd bollixed, of all things, the zero-th fret...
    • JL > Wal Callaby June 6, 2018 at 1:43pm

      Wal where did you find a steel rule marked in decimal inches?  I usually translate to metric because steel metric rules are easy to find.

      • Wal Callaby > JL June 6, 2018 at 2:10pm

        Well JL, the short answer is "my local hardware store". They do all-metric too, but they do a line of 'metric one side imperial the other' rules, one edge in sixteenths and the like, the other in tenths.

        What struck me early on was that scale lengths are still expressed in imperial (ever hear tell of  610mm scale guitar?), and very brief experimentation showed me that I could mark to 1/100th- or even 1/200th- of an inch better than I could to a quarter-millimetre. And I have an 18" scale three-string uke with spot-on by dog intonation right up to the nineteenth fret, so it clearly works for me.

        Rural Suffolk, UK btw. If you're in the country I could source one for you should you wish...

  • Robbie June 5, 2018 at 6:53am

    Are the same templates good to use on a banjo neck?

    • Br Harold F Stubbs III > Robbie June 5, 2018 at 3:02pm

      notes is notes is notes... the fret placement is all about ratios to the scale length so that the string is made just the right length when pressed into each fret so that the proper pitch is sounded when the string is actuated ( typically towards the bridge side in what would be called a strum unless a bow is used ) - an instrument with (for example) a 25" scale length would have frets in the same place / use the same template no matter if it was a banjo or a canjo or a guitar or whatever that thing is that doesn't quite fit more common descriptions.

      It is all about the scale length - the distance between the nut and the bridge. 

  • Dan May 8, 2013 at 4:15pm

    http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/

    this one lets you plug in numbers for all dimensions, even for fanned fret board layouts. if you need pictures of a fanned fret board, my pictures are here http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/albums/fanned-fret-board

  • Craig Mayhem May 8, 2013 at 1:52pm

    http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/

  • Scott May 8, 2013 at 1:43pm

    +1 on this tool. If your computer doesn't allow you to install/run it, I also came across this online site:

    http://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/FretCalc/index.php

    And since I only have basic tools at my disposal, I needed a converter to 16ths of an inch:


    http://syzygy.virtualave.net/webwork/javascript/decin2fr.html

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