Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by L.J. on February 10, 2013 at 3:25am

I like the bridge a little higher than the nut. You have to worry about it being too high if it is fretted. But if your building fretless the height is more of a comfort issue.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on February 10, 2013 at 8:19am

Since you are from Belgium, you'll want this in metric:

String height at nut (above first fret): 2 mm
String height above 12th fret: 3 mm

Others recommend the thickness of your last (thickest) string at the first fret, then half again as thick (that's 1.5 x) at the 12th fret. That's for fretted necks; for unfretted necks on which to play slide, you can go with a larger distance, 3-4 mm above neck all the way from nut to bridge above the fretboard.

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Permalink Reply by The Capo Kid on February 22, 2013 at 11:31am

Hi as this is my first build and being used to building 6 string electrics , i've set the strings to 1mm above the 1st fret and 2mm above the 12th fret is this too low to play slide on ?

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Permalink Reply by Js on February 10, 2013 at 11:00am

thank you very much for your advices! :)) As this is my first cbg, I'll try to keep the proportions Ron indicates, but I'll let fretless. i Will follow tour advice L.J. : the bridge a little higher than the nut. ... so I increase my chances of play "fair" with it ;). for the following, I will try to make a second cbg with frets, with all the precision that it takes to build it. I'm,impatient to finish my first cbg, and slide Wotherspoon it :)). It's really great to be able to have your advices so fast, and tank you for the métric translation Ron :)

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Permalink Reply by hocuspocus on February 17, 2013 at 8:14am

Hi. Personally I think its a matter of taste. You can use standard height, for instance, my acoustic guitar has 0.035 of an inch at the nut, and 0.075 at the last fret, but I built my first CBG much higher than that, since I wanted to learn slide playing, and I'm not so good at it so far. The extra height gives me room for error, without much change in sound. I hope my point, and other people's point of vue, will help you determine what you would like.

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Permalink Reply by Wade on February 18, 2013 at 2:57am

The nut slot needs to be at least the height of your frets if you have them. I stack popsicle sticks or scrap wood and tune up an old string to get the bridge height I like and then make my final bridge from those measurements.

Wade

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