By the way, I set the string height at 4.5 mm above the location for the 24th fret - and I'm using the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings from a set of D'Addario acoustic strings (item:EJ16) which seem to be a bit kinder on fingering than the normal Martin M140 sets that I have used on my prior fretted CBG's. I would think that using a harder wood version of screw on fret board would give a less diminished tone when fingering various notes . . . I will test this theory out on my next "Uncle Crow" inspired 1.5 hour-build... :-)
Yup, I've had that same problem the few times I used screws for fret markers. And yes, sometimes the fretless builds fret pretty nicely. I have two that do well and more that don't. It's nice when they do.
In retrospect, I would shift the location of the fret board mounting screws/fret markers to go in between the low and middle strings for the first octave, and between the middle and high strings for the second octave... I've had to really crank down those center ones to prevent them from buzzing the strings when various notes on the middle string are fingered while playing . . . as a side-bar comment - the fingered notes played on the fretless fret-board sound only slightly diminished as compared to a fretted instrument. With a little bit of echo and distortion added to the amp input, it sounds and plays quite well... I am getting quite fond of this little throw-together experiment (this is my first fretless CBG build)...
I used aluminum rivets on the back side of that 45 degree angle cut... I took advantage of the flat surface that the angled cut presented to completely secure the rivets into... I drilled the 1/8th inch hole up high enough on the angle cut so the aluminum rivet just peeks through the top of the neck board, so there is no compromise regarding the string cutting into the wood... If you can zoom in to the above photo, you can just see the rivets peeking through the holes below the bridge.
Something to crow about. I have done a lot of different builds, but somehow never a crow style. I like the simple saddle. I do think you may need washers, spoke nipples or some other metal to keep the strings from gouging the wood.
Comments
By the way, I set the string height at 4.5 mm above the location for the 24th fret - and I'm using the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings from a set of D'Addario acoustic strings (item:EJ16) which seem to be a bit kinder on fingering than the normal Martin M140 sets that I have used on my prior fretted CBG's. I would think that using a harder wood version of screw on fret board would give a less diminished tone when fingering various notes . . . I will test this theory out on my next "Uncle Crow" inspired 1.5 hour-build... :-)
Good on the rivets.
Yup, I've had that same problem the few times I used screws for fret markers. And yes, sometimes the fretless builds fret pretty nicely. I have two that do well and more that don't. It's nice when they do.
In retrospect, I would shift the location of the fret board mounting screws/fret markers to go in between the low and middle strings for the first octave, and between the middle and high strings for the second octave... I've had to really crank down those center ones to prevent them from buzzing the strings when various notes on the middle string are fingered while playing . . . as a side-bar comment - the fingered notes played on the fretless fret-board sound only slightly diminished as compared to a fretted instrument. With a little bit of echo and distortion added to the amp input, it sounds and plays quite well... I am getting quite fond of this little throw-together experiment (this is my first fretless CBG build)...
I used aluminum rivets on the back side of that 45 degree angle cut... I took advantage of the flat surface that the angled cut presented to completely secure the rivets into... I drilled the 1/8th inch hole up high enough on the angle cut so the aluminum rivet just peeks through the top of the neck board, so there is no compromise regarding the string cutting into the wood... If you can zoom in to the above photo, you can just see the rivets peeking through the holes below the bridge.
Something to crow about. I have done a lot of different builds, but somehow never a crow style. I like the simple saddle. I do think you may need washers, spoke nipples or some other metal to keep the strings from gouging the wood.