Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on July 18, 2018 at 3:53pm

Hi Jerry.

Firstly, I think the seven frets you may have seen are likely laid out in a diatonic spacing so that you get the do-ray-me scale. Great because there's no wrong notes to slip up a newcomer to music. Also great for introducing young children to the fantastic world of music.

Twelve frets would be a full octave in the chromatic scale, every note in western music and great for the more experienced, as opposed to the diatonic lay out of frets.

22 frets is pretty standard on factory built necks and nothing wrong with that. I've personally found that using boxes and a homemade neck I tend to stick with 19 frets which is one whole octave (from G to G for example) plus the 3rd, 5th and 7th frets after the octave which are imperative frets for the blues. 

Just my opinion and more folks can probably add to this but my personal preference is 19 frets. 

All the best with your guitar builds and best wishes to you,

Bear :0)

Permalink Reply by Seth Deitch on July 23, 2018 at 8:02am

I have been making ukes with only 4 or 5 chromatic frets. You can strum the chords for almost every pop song ever written with just that. If you want to get fancier, you can always add more later.