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Frett board question.

Hello all, I'm still kinda new to building CBG's thing. I'm working on my 7th and 8th cbg now and i need some help. My question is this, how high can or should a frett board be above the lid of any box ?

Fretted and non-fretted.

2 of my first cbg's were 3 string slides, and were flush with the lid.

My first two 4 stringers were also flush with the lid.

Now on working on a pair of 4 stringers with 4 post mag pickups. and a strat style hard tail saddle bridge.

I've really gotten in to building these since i came across this site. You are just the greatest.

Thanks in advance. And best regards.

Lonebear.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 21, 2013 at 9:01pm

I like to have the top of the fretboard about 5-10mm above the top of the box, then it gives me a good bridge height and a decent string break angle. This is assuming there's no neck angle, such as you'd typically have with a neck thru' guitar.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on January 21, 2013 at 10:59pm

I like em flush, but with a real decent angle. Take a look at this. http://handmademusicclubhouse.com/photo/thetinyguitarsbodyendscarfj...

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Permalink Reply by Bad Wolf on January 22, 2013 at 12:56am

depends on what you want your bridge height to be along with how high your action will be and as phrygian kid mentioned if there will be any neck back angle

heres my last one i built, it has 1 degree back angle on the neck and about 3/8" bridge height. the fretboard is about 1/4" thick

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Permalink Reply by Sharecropper on January 22, 2013 at 2:05am

I put my standard 1/4 inch fret board completely above the box . This gives me room to play with out always hitting the box . I angle my neck back slightly( on my neck thru' guitars) and determine the bridge height after the neck is attached to the box .

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Clark on January 22, 2013 at 4:47pm

This is why i love this group. Thanks for all the answers folks. This clears up alot of questions. WAIT, back angle ?

What the heck is a back angle ? Sorry, keep in mind i'm a rookie at this. lol

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on January 22, 2013 at 6:55pm

Dude if you look at the pic I linked you it'll be crystal clear. It enables you nice low fingering action plus a big tall bridge, which creates down angle, = pressure on the top = tone and volume. Look at a violin.. Or a banjo.. Most lute like instruments have the neck pitched back from square with the soundboard, making things square like a fender is unusual, although 'flat top' acoustic guitars with a tailpiece and bridge in one with pins in etc usually have a shallow neck angle, and archtops etc with a tailpiece behind a floating bridge need more neck angle..
A neck angle is certainly not necessary to make a decent instrument, but I'd say it certainly helps.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Clark on January 23, 2013 at 2:20pm

Now i see it, man, thank you vary much.

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on January 23, 2013 at 3:17am

If you hold your guitar up and look at it from the side, if the neck/fret board is on the same line as the top of the guitar, you have no back angle. If the neck/fret board appears to drop towards the head stock you do.

Now, in your mind run a string parallel to the fretboard out over the body of the guitar to where the bridge would be for both a guitar with no back angle and one with a back angle. For the same fretboard action, the guitar with no back angle will have a lower bridge.

Why does this matter? The greater the angle of the strings over the bridge, the greater the force pushing down through the bridge to the guitar body and the more string energy transmitted to the body. This means louder.

Hth
Dave

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Clark on January 23, 2013 at 2:21pm

Thanks David, for the info. I spent last nite looking at my guitars going ( what angle ). lol I get it now, thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Drommond on January 23, 2013 at 6:19am

I needed room for a archtop-style pick up and I didn't want to cut a hole in the lid, so I did it by building the fretboard over the lid to gain some room for the pickup. The 5 Vegas is over the lid, too. It think it makes for a stronger guitar that's less likey to bow and break. It carries the bending moment closer to the bridge and shortens the amount of thin wood in the neck to 2/3 of the length of the box.

I've done mine like this: