Hi to all. I'm brand spankin' new here, and burning up brain cells trying to soak up all the knowledge on these pages. I play acoustic guitar, so I've decided to build a simple, fretless slide type 3 stringer straight from the instructions here. I could modify an old acoustic, but what would be the fun in that? I set up my own guitars, so I know about intonation, string height, etc. My big question is, should I copy the fret positions on one of my guitars and hope it sounds right, or use a tuner to determine where to mark the frets (they will be on the side, I want the neck to be clean). I'm not a slide player, but do know the slide has to be on top of the fret. So do I mark where the frets are? The slide has me a little confused, as I will want to finger some as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Thanks Sam. A picture's worth a thousand words.
Wichita Sam said:
River,
The pic shows a zero fret set up on a three string short scale CBDulcimer stick. Off the headstock end of the fretboard is a "nut" that has slots cut below the level of the fret board. The nut controls the spacing and the zero fret controls the "action". This is a typical setup for a zero fret guitar of any type. You can do it with nails or screws, but at least the pic shows you one way to do it...
the best,
Wichita Sam
River said:
I might try the zero fret. Just use a nail and screws for the string spacing?
Wichita Sam said:
River,
Different ways to get the job done. YOu can copy a guitar that you like, you can do use a tuner but that's really cumbersome. There are several good programs. I like the StewMac fret calculator
http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator Input you prefered scale length (in mm's), input 24 (you will probably only use between 18 and 21 depending on the box you use, but you will certainly have enough measures.
Mark you fretpositions with paint, wood burner, I've been using a craft paint pen lately. If you are going to finger and slide on a fretless CBG, then you will want a faster (lower) action than on a CBG build just for slide. For this kind of CBG, I prefer a zero fret... nice fast and uniform action.
Let us know how it goes... welcome to you next addiction... CBGs are like chips, one isn't enough.
River, The pic shows a zero fret set up on a three string short scale CBDulcimer stick. Off the headstock end of the fretboard is a "nut" that has slots cut below the level of the fret board. The nut controls the spacing and the zero fret controls the "action". This is a typical setup for a zero fret guitar of any type. You can do it with nails or screws, but at least the pic shows you one way to do it... the best, Wichita Sam River said:
I might try the zero fret. Just use a nail and screws for the string spacing?
Wichita Sam said:
River,
Different ways to get the job done. YOu can copy a guitar that you like, you can do use a tuner but that's really cumbersome. There are several good programs. I like the StewMac fret calculator
http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator Input you prefered scale length (in mm's), input 24 (you will probably only use between 18 and 21 depending on the box you use, but you will certainly have enough measures.
Mark you fretpositions with paint, wood burner, I've been using a craft paint pen lately. If you are going to finger and slide on a fretless CBG, then you will want a faster (lower) action than on a CBG build just for slide. For this kind of CBG, I prefer a zero fret... nice fast and uniform action.
Let us know how it goes... welcome to you next addiction... CBGs are like chips, one isn't enough.
I might try the zero fret. Just use a nail and screws for the string spacing?
Wichita Sam said:
River,
Different ways to get the job done. YOu can copy a guitar that you like, you can do use a tuner but that's really cumbersome. There are several good programs. I like the StewMac fret calculator http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator Input you prefered scale length (in mm's), input 24 (you will probably only use between 18 and 21 depending on the box you use, but you will certainly have enough measures.
Mark you fretpositions with paint, wood burner, I've been using a craft paint pen lately. If you are going to finger and slide on a fretless CBG, then you will want a faster (lower) action than on a CBG build just for slide. For this kind of CBG, I prefer a zero fret... nice fast and uniform action.
Let us know how it goes... welcome to you next addiction... CBGs are like chips, one isn't enough.
Different ways to get the job done. YOu can copy a guitar that you like, you can do use a tuner but that's really cumbersome. There are several good programs. I like the StewMac fret calculator http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator Input you prefered scale length (in mm's), input 24 (you will probably only use between 18 and 21 depending on the box you use, but you will certainly have enough measures.
Mark you fretpositions with paint, wood burner, I've been using a craft paint pen lately. If you are going to finger and slide on a fretless CBG, then you will want a faster (lower) action than on a CBG build just for slide. For this kind of CBG, I prefer a zero fret... nice fast and uniform action.
Let us know how it goes... welcome to you next addiction... CBGs are like chips, one isn't enough.
"No rules", but here are some things which might be helpful:
- You can copy fret positions from your acoustic, but only if you keep the same scale length. If you need to change the string length, I favor the FretFind 2-D online calculator: it lets you fill in appropriate info (scale lenght, number of frets at minimum), and then generates the table of positions, including an optional printable multi-page PDF: cut out the pieces, tape together, and you have a custom fret ruler.
If you aren't marking the face of the fingerboard, then definitely put a dot / marker at each fret position on the side. I usually make a larger dot at the 3-5-7-9 frets, and a double dot at the 12th fret.
"No rules", but here are some things which might be helpful:
- You can copy fret positions from your acoustic, but only if you keep the same scale length. If you need to change the string length, I favor the FretFind 2-D online calculator: it lets you fill in appropriate info (scale lenght, number of frets at minimum), and then generates the table of positions, including an optional printable multi-page PDF: cut out the pieces, tape together, and you have a custom fret ruler.
If you aren't marking the face of the fingerboard, then definitely put a dot / marker at each fret position on the side. I usually make a larger dot at the 3-5-7-9 frets, and a double dot at the 12th fret.
Thanks all. I am going to power her up, and I can mess with the string height. I have a little Johnson 7 watt amp I'm putting in a cigar box too.
Dan Tomkinson said:
Hi welcome if you want to be able to frett the neck by marking it you may find that the slide will work well but you will really have to apply mucho presure on the strings when fingering to make them sound out. This last one i made started out as frettless one but it was so dead sounding I ended up puting fretts on it to make it ring (see my vid) I think if your gonna do it that way you should power it up for about $4 at the shack piezo buzzer and a phone Jack will do the trick God I love making these things!! Have fun with you build and try diff. Things
Hi welcome if you want to be able to frett the neck by marking it you may find that the slide will work well but you will really have to apply mucho presure on the strings when fingering to make them sound out. This last one i made started out as frettless one but it was so dead sounding I ended up puting fretts on it to make it ring (see my vid) I think if your gonna do it that way you should power it up for about $4 at the shack piezo buzzer and a phone Jack will do the trick God I love making these things!! Have fun with you build and try diff. Things
River, I used the scale of my cigar box guitar that I had purchased. I am in the process of building my first build, too. I forget where, but you can print out a scale of where the frets are located. Maybe some of the other folks can help you. I am sorry I wasn't much help.
Replies
Wichita Sam said:
River, The pic shows a zero fret set up on a three string short scale CBDulcimer stick. Off the headstock end of the fretboard is a "nut" that has slots cut below the level of the fret board. The nut controls the spacing and the zero fret controls the "action". This is a typical setup for a zero fret guitar of any type. You can do it with nails or screws, but at least the pic shows you one way to do it... the best, Wichita Sam River said:Wichita Sam said:
Different ways to get the job done. YOu can copy a guitar that you like, you can do use a tuner but that's really cumbersome. There are several good programs. I like the StewMac fret calculator http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator Input you prefered scale length (in mm's), input 24 (you will probably only use between 18 and 21 depending on the box you use, but you will certainly have enough measures.
Mark you fretpositions with paint, wood burner, I've been using a craft paint pen lately. If you are going to finger and slide on a fretless CBG, then you will want a faster (lower) action than on a CBG build just for slide. For this kind of CBG, I prefer a zero fret... nice fast and uniform action.
Let us know how it goes... welcome to you next addiction... CBGs are like chips, one isn't enough.
the best,
Wichita Sam
Tres Seaver said:
- You can copy fret positions from your acoustic, but only if you keep the same scale length. If you need to change the string length, I favor the FretFind 2-D online calculator: it lets you fill in appropriate info (scale lenght, number of frets at minimum), and then generates the table of positions, including an optional printable multi-page PDF: cut out the pieces, tape together, and you have a custom fret ruler.
If you aren't marking the face of the fingerboard, then definitely put a dot / marker at each fret position on the side. I usually make a larger dot at the 3-5-7-9 frets, and a double dot at the 12th fret.
Dan Tomkinson said: