i am midway in to making my first cbg and i need a little bit of help. i dont realy feel comfortable about freting the neck as it is my first project, but i was thinking about simple ways that i could put fret lines on the neck, someone told me that you can burn fret markings into the wood? does any one know any other simple but affective ways to fret it. on the other hand i could leave the frets off, but as i have always played guitar i feel like it could be helpful to know where i am putting my fingers with some sort of markings.
thanks
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Rodney, you're a genius. party pics (colored plastic toothpicks) is exactly what I've been looking for. I am looking to do the same thing with my new fretboard and this will work perfectly. They're square(ish) and not too thick or thin. Plastic and easily sandable and if needed can be sawed into and real frets placed. Thanks.
-Wes
rodney fruits said:
this is what i did. on my first cbg i cut my fret slots with a hack saw, i then smashed some colored party pics in a vice then pressed and glued them in the slots. i then sanded them all flat just above the fretboard, then coat with a clear finish. if you go to my page then go to my pics on page 3 you will see what i did. once you feel comfortable about doin it this way, you can always go back and sand them flat with the fretboard, re-cut the fret slots and put some fretwire in there. this might take alot of time for some people, but i think its a good way to practice before trying the real thing. good luck with whatever you do, a good sharpie is always a good start.
Take a look at what printed across the top of the paper. Top left corner should have an "N" in first box(nut position) --->increasing numbers in boxes to about 7 or 8. The last box of the top row will be 1/2 a box. Second row should start with same number as last of top row increasing to the last number of frets you selected.
You cut this two rows of boxes into two separate pieces and tape together at the line of the last box top row + first box of bottom row. This should give you a strip about 1 inch wide, as long as the chosen scale - minus the leading edge of box to bridge distance.
Does this sound anything like what printed for you? I remember not expecting the result on the first one I printed. It would be nice if it printed "landscape".
Hummmm, I shoulda taken a picture of what came out of my printer. I left all those values and did two scale lenghts, both 24.750 and 25.50. What printed out was about a 2" scale template across top of paper. I should shoot a email to creator to install a view actual size template before printing out
On Wfret version 1.01 (I've not seen another) the print preferences screen shows the following options and default values:
Vertical fret position marker (pixels) value =1
Horizontal alignment (pixels) value =4
vertical line length value =25
Space between template lines value =0
Alignment = top
Print fret numbers value = checked box
Font size value=14
Don't go poking things with a stick....set the values to default, go back to the main page, choose number of frets, choose scale length click display chart...if it looks to your liking, print template...done deal.
The option I think has you stumped is actually to put space between the two rows of frets on the template that you will have to cut out and tape together to make one long template.
Question on the wfret program? In the printing preference area its wants you to put in a # for spacing btwn frets, why? shouldnt the scale calc do that? I put the size of the scoring line i want, then the length of my fingerboard width, but space btwn line?Help
Hi and welcome.... There are a lot of ways to get'r done. Magic marker, paint, I've made light saw cuts after staining the neck dark... really anything that is a dark contrast to the fretboard. Lay out the lines and assuming that your first build is not a tapered neck, use a t-square to pencil the mark all the way across the neck... then do what ever you decide to do to make it permanent.
this is what i did. on my first cbg i cut my fret slots with a hack saw, i then smashed some colored party pics in a vice then pressed and glued them in the slots. i then sanded them all flat just above the fretboard, then coat with a clear finish. if you go to my page then go to my pics on page 3 you will see what i did. once you feel comfortable about doin it this way, you can always go back and sand them flat with the fretboard, re-cut the fret slots and put some fretwire in there. this might take alot of time for some people, but i think its a good way to practice before trying the real thing. good luck with whatever you do, a good sharpie is always a good start.
how about using fishing line i seen a greek mandola like this the other weekend it used different b/strains,heavier the nearer the bridge i tried it and it felt good anybody else seen this done
Good one , Doc . I've used a length of wound strings to "clean out" nut slots before . Never thought about mounting one . I may hafta build a set of "nut files" .
Doc Oakroot said:
Or, tie a length of the string onto your hack saw and use is as a blade.
Replies
-Wes
rodney fruits said:
You cut this two rows of boxes into two separate pieces and tape together at the line of the last box top row + first box of bottom row. This should give you a strip about 1 inch wide, as long as the chosen scale - minus the leading edge of box to bridge distance.
Does this sound anything like what printed for you? I remember not expecting the result on the first one I printed. It would be nice if it printed "landscape".
Vertical fret position marker (pixels) value =1
Horizontal alignment (pixels) value =4
vertical line length value =25
Space between template lines value =0
Alignment = top
Print fret numbers value = checked box
Font size value=14
Don't go poking things with a stick....set the values to default, go back to the main page, choose number of frets, choose scale length click display chart...if it looks to your liking, print template...done deal.
The option I think has you stumped is actually to put space between the two rows of frets on the template that you will have to cut out and tape together to make one long template.
Hi and welcome.... There are a lot of ways to get'r done. Magic marker, paint, I've made light saw cuts after staining the neck dark... really anything that is a dark contrast to the fretboard. Lay out the lines and assuming that your first build is not a tapered neck, use a t-square to pencil the mark all the way across the neck... then do what ever you decide to do to make it permanent.
Let us see what you end up doing...
the best,
Wichita Sam
Doc Oakroot said:
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