Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom Caneschi aka cbg tom on September 9, 2011 at 10:31pm

I think it should be what feels good for you, Do a "string height" search in the upper right side of this page and you'll find endless comments.  

Permalink Reply by Chuck Dubman on September 10, 2011 at 7:50am

Whatever works as a starting point -- and it's going to vary with whomever buys the guitar.

Stewmac has plenty of applicable info for a fretted setup, but nothing on fretless. 

Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 10, 2011 at 8:05am

For a fretless, it's really a non-issue, as long as the strings don't hit the fingerboard when you place a slide on them. Check out Jack White building a Diddley Bow in this scene from "It Might Get Loud:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCFXeChXfcI

He's using a Coke bottle for a bridge. Something lower than that will work. ;-) A slightly more serious answer would be that many builders use threaded 1/4" bolts for both nut and bridge / saddle, for both fretted and fretless. As Chuck says, it depends: on how deep or shallow the groove such a bolt nut sits in, whether or not you have a (typically) 1/4" fretboard flush with or above the top of the box, does the saddle bolt sit on the boxtop itself, or does it sit on a wooden bridge piece of whatever thickness...

Permalink Reply by Chuck Dubman on September 10, 2011 at 9:56am

Bridge = 1/16" metal strap, ~1" x 3", with a bolt or keystock saddle floating on top, and a piezo superglued to the bottom, 3/4" hole drilled in box top to give it clearance.  Lots of room for creativity.  Trying for 3/8" string height over the bridge, 1/8" over the 12th fret position, 1/16" over the nut.  

 

Bridge is same idea as pic, which uses 3/16" birdseye, with discs recessed into the bottom, maybe a bit on the thick side.  Gluing the piezos to the bottom surface would save a few steps and let me make the bridge thinner.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Dubman on September 10, 2011 at 10:19am

Speaking of diddleybows, this "diddley tester" saves a lot of time and hair pulling when figuring whether a given box or bridge location sounds "right."  Makes a fun noisemaker in its own right, too.  Poor man's Theremin!

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on September 18, 2011 at 9:51am

Hi Chuck Dubman,

That's a cool box tester alright! I'll have to give it a try. Let's see... it's basically a diddley bow with an adjustible height tail piece and the box is held in just by string tension. Couldn't be simpler. I know another CBN thread where this idea would be a hit. I think I'lll pass your idea on...

-Rand

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on September 18, 2011 at 10:17am

Hi Chuck,

I see you have already posted your idea in the thread I was thinking of: John Maw's "Testing a box for bridge placement". That's cool. I went ahead and posted the photos there. Hopefully, it will help to put to rest "The Thread That Will Not Die".

 

It's a great idea... Thanks.

 

-Rand.

Rand "Typos Inevitable" Moore said:

Hi Chuck Dubman,

That's a cool box tester alright! I'll have to give it a try. Let's see... it's basically a diddley bow with an adjustible height tail piece and the box is held in just by string tension. Couldn't be simpler. I know another CBN thread where this idea would be a hit. I think I'lll pass your idea on...

-Rand

Permalink Reply by Chuck Dubman on September 20, 2011 at 5:54pm

Easier to slip a shim under the box to raise it, and effectively "lower" the tailpiece.  Crude device, but it does what I need it to. 

Rand "Typos Inevitable" Moore said:

Hi Chuck Dubman,

That's a cool box tester alright! I'll have to give it a try. Let's see... it's basically a diddley bow with an adjustible height tail piece and the box is held in just by string tension. Couldn't be simpler. I know another CBN thread where this idea would be a hit. I think I'lll pass your idea on...

-Rand