Posted by Ed McCormack on November 8, 2010 at 7:21am
Just starting my first build. If I plan on a 24.5 scale, am I correct in assuming that the distance from the nut to the bridge is 24.5"? Just looking at a rough layout, it appears that the neck would end up being awfully small. Any input greatly appreciated. Thanks
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BTW, when using the hole punch for fret markers, it is exactly 1/4 inch, I the use a 1/4 inch forszner bit, maybe 2 clicks on the drill, it sets the markers just right!
I've built 2 guitars so far. I found this great site for making your frets. Just simply fill out your parameters and save it as a multi-page pdf file. Print it and cut it out, then lay it on you neck pencil the markers, then use a a triangle square for accurate straight lines. Hope this helps, it sure made it easy for me. http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/
BTW, a great tip I got right here on Cigar Box Nation was to get a hole punch and use tortoise shell thin picks for your fret markers, it give a nice look to the CBG.
And don't forget to measure each fret from the nut, not from previous fret, if you're measuring them off manually. Otherwise any tiny errors add up to not so tiny problems.
Something that I've found helpful is that if you're making a fretted neck is that it's easier to layout your measurements if you do it with with the metric fret calculator rather than inches. I shoot for 625mm as my scale length...works out to 24 9/16ths kinda. 623 would put you right on 24.5 inches but I just like 625, sorta like a round number for me :)
I've read scale length plays a significant role in tone, e.g., the difference between the tone of a les paul vs. a Strat or Tele: Les Paul 24.75 vs. Strat, Tele 25.5. Les Paul has more buttery tone, more, um, muddy lows - to poorly describe it). In my minimal experience I haven't seen such a difference in tone that it stands out more than other factors. Longer scale length means tighter strings for same pitch and string gauge.
One thing to note: the distance from nut to bridge is likely to not be exactly 24.5 inches if the frets are in the right place for a 24.5 inch scale. If you look at many guitar bridges you'll see that they are not exactly straight lines parallel to the frets, rather the bridge is made so some strings are a tad longer or shorter than others... helps intonation. For example, if you check the fret position calculator at stewmac.com (http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator) and choose "acoustic guitar" from the "instrument" pulldown menu you'd get the following:
Bridge placement for 24.5" scale Printable
Distance from the fretboard edge of the nut to the break-angle of the string at the peak of the saddle.
Treble "E" 24.585 " (±0.030")
Bass "E" 24.706 " (±0.030")
This will greatly help how in tune it plays up and down the neck. Easiest way to solve this is to make the guitar so the bridge can be moved - no problem with most cbg designs. Then you just move it so that the 12th fret harmonic is the same as the string fretted at the 12th fret (unless you have a very high action). The nut can also be compensated, which helps prevent or reduce the problem with the notes fretted at the first few frets ending up sharp from the string stretching as you push it to the fret (same reason why the harmonic octave vs. fretted 12th fret isn't accurate w/ high action).
If I recall, this is the link that helped me the most with all this: http://www.guitarramagazine.com/Intonation#Fret%20Calculation
Also, I made up printable templates in 19", 24" and 25.5" that you can have if anyone likes. I find it more accurate than copying another instrument, though that works fine. No sure how to add a file, so send me a comment if they'd help.
Longer answer than planned - oops.
Hope your 1st leads to many more, enjoy!
Replies
http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/
BTW, a great tip I got right here on Cigar Box Nation was to get a hole punch and use tortoise shell thin picks for your fret markers, it give a nice look to the CBG.
One thing to note: the distance from nut to bridge is likely to not be exactly 24.5 inches if the frets are in the right place for a 24.5 inch scale. If you look at many guitar bridges you'll see that they are not exactly straight lines parallel to the frets, rather the bridge is made so some strings are a tad longer or shorter than others... helps intonation. For example, if you check the fret position calculator at stewmac.com (http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator) and choose "acoustic guitar" from the "instrument" pulldown menu you'd get the following:
Bridge placement for 24.5" scale Printable
Distance from the fretboard edge of the nut to the break-angle of the string at the peak of the saddle.
Treble "E" 24.585 " (±0.030")
Bass "E" 24.706 " (±0.030")
This will greatly help how in tune it plays up and down the neck. Easiest way to solve this is to make the guitar so the bridge can be moved - no problem with most cbg designs. Then you just move it so that the 12th fret harmonic is the same as the string fretted at the 12th fret (unless you have a very high action). The nut can also be compensated, which helps prevent or reduce the problem with the notes fretted at the first few frets ending up sharp from the string stretching as you push it to the fret (same reason why the harmonic octave vs. fretted 12th fret isn't accurate w/ high action).
If I recall, this is the link that helped me the most with all this:
http://www.guitarramagazine.com/Intonation#Fret%20Calculation
Also, I made up printable templates in 19", 24" and 25.5" that you can have if anyone likes. I find it more accurate than copying another instrument, though that works fine. No sure how to add a file, so send me a comment if they'd help.
Longer answer than planned - oops.
Hope your 1st leads to many more, enjoy!
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