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Using used guitar necks, getting correct scale?

Posted by greg on July 21, 2012 at 12:05pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I get used necks from my local guitar shop for misc CBG/instrument projects. I can figure out the scale on most because I can simply measure them from the original guitar/bass etc. However, I just got a nice neck that I want to use on CBG, is there a way to figure out the correct scale on a fretted neck using only the neck and existising fret board as a reference. It is a 22 fret 4 string neck (uke?), unfortunately there are no manufacturing markings to try and research from.

Thanks

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Replies

  • BUGGY (C) May 28, 2013 at 6:22am
    Do you need to allow for string angle
    When fretting?
    Does it make any difference to fret scale?
  • Clarky May 28, 2013 at 6:18am

    I use the Wfret program for windows, you can download it for free, just do a quick Google. You just pick the number of frets and scale (I go with 22 fret fender) and it's always worked for me.  Print it off and then just mark the neck all the way up from the nut with a pencil.

  • BUGGY (C) May 28, 2013 at 3:19am
    Is there an easy way of doing a fret guider
    As mine still seem to be out?
  • BUGGY (C) May 28, 2013 at 2:04am

    Is there an easy way to make an accurate scale guide for cutting fret slots?

    • Suspect Device > BUGGY (C) May 28, 2013 at 10:31am

      Hey Bug, not sure if this is what you are after, but I made these fret scale templates out of cheap aluminum yardsticks. Scribed with an exacto knife and then notched with a thin hacksaw blade.They work great for marking frets, but also for initial layout, etc. 

      306054744?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

      • Suspect Device > Suspect Device May 28, 2013 at 10:35am

        Oops! just realized I posted a pic of these earlier in this thread. But there are more scales in this pic.

  • The Phrygian Kid July 22, 2012 at 1:01am
    Rand is right about moving the bridge away from the edge IMHO. Closer to the edge gives you a spikier sound, but at the expense of volume it's very much like comparing a neck pickup to a bridge pickup.

    There's a third factor that noones mentioned and it's this: where the neck joins the box. I'll often do 24 frets clear Of the box or tin to move my bridge in. With a bolt in neck this might be achieved by putting a stick thru for the neck to bolt into, but shimming it between the box an neck end to move the nut further from the box. Maybe put a mag pickup on there if that makes sense.

    Have fun
    • Rand Moore > The Phrygian Kid July 28, 2012 at 3:35pm

      With 24 frets clear of the box, you are obviously building your own necks, or are adding an extension of some kind to a prebuilt neck. Most guitars have like 18 frets on the fretboard, with 12 frets over the neck and maybe 6 more over the sound box. If you had 24 on a typical guitar, some of those frets would overlap the sound hole. Because the measurements don't work in my mind, I 'd don't really see how a pre-built guitar neck is going to "properly fit" on a cigar bix unless you join two cigar boxes as the CBD (cigar bix dulcimer) folks do, or use another kind of box (maybe a wine bottle box), or unsless you build the sound box yourself. It seems to me, a single cigar box used with a pre-built standard sized guitar neck will result in a guitar with the bridge very close to the tail end of the box, resulting in poorer sond response.

      You comments as to how the bridge sounds with pickup and amplifier when thebridge is too close to the edge of the box is interesting, as I hadn't tried that combination before. I was speaking from a purely accoustic CBG standpoint.

      -Rand.

       

      • greg > Rand Moore July 29, 2012 at 12:29am

        The neck I'm using is most likely off a tenor banjo.  22 frets, about 19 inches from nut to the end of the fret board.

        Greg

         

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