Looking for feedback on the feasibility of using frets on a guitar intended for slide. I am building a Fuentes CBG and would like to use a slide on it, but would also like to be able to fret. My intentions are to have a 24" scale on a poplar neck in a Casa Torano box, with a Cocobolo fret board. If this is feasible, how much clearance should I allow for the strings at the nut and over the box? I am new to building, and have not learned to play yet, having completed a fretted 3-string with a poplar neck and Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) fret board (Build #1) then a Fuentes slide 3-string coffee-can resonator (build # 2).
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My own exprience is that you can't set the nut too high because your first 4 frets will play particularly sharp. Use this fret calculator with stretch compensation box checked to deal with that issue to some extent.
http://windworld.com/features/tools-resources/exmis-fret-placement-...
You could even make your own scale (especially at the nut end) by temporarily fixing toothpicks or something and getting it in tune then fixing your permanent frets. The nut-end frets will be MUCH closer to the high nut than they would for a low nut. It is at the nut end that high actions pose the most intonation problems.
At the bridge end you can go quite high. This also gives you a better bridge break and get's more pressure on the soundboard at the bridge. With the ExMi placements, you can have a height of 5mm at the 17th fret and still be in tune. That is really high. Hope all that helps.
simple answer ..- 2 pennies high at the nut . you should be ok for slide and fingering.
(you should be able to slip 2 pennys under the string (laying on the fretboard .)
3 is to high.
Not wanting to get into an argument here. Just find this interesting. A USA penny is 1.55mm thick. So two is 3.10mm. My personal opinion is that anything over 2mm height at the nut will have a large impact on intonation at the lower frets. So yes, you could have 3.10mm height but you would need to adjust your fret positions to compensate for it. Even the stretch compensated positions from ExMi wouldn't stop those first 3 or 4 frets playing really sharp.
I'm curious about how they would play perfectly in tune with a 3mm action at the nut. I've made gats with a 3mm action at the 17th fret. That's a big difference. Not criticising, just discussing.
as you said .. that's your personal opinion .. i could agree with it , but then we would both be wrong.
i see no need at that height to re-align frets .
as per "perfection .. ?? lol .. these are cbgs .. over thinking = complicating things .
usually for no real needed reason.
if you worked at gibson , and wore white cloves and a lap bib while drinking tea with the queen ,, and wanted to "RE-INVENT" a new slide /fretted guitar sound, and production model,... then by all means .. realign your frets .
if you want to stick with tried and true tradition and authentic sound the way the blues masters and old timers did , .. 2 pennies are a great height .
and thats my 2 cents .
If out of tune is right, then the anonymous pick is right. Build one like that. Plug it into a tuner, get the G string dead on, play the first fret and see how sharp your G# is. Same for your A, Bb and B. Maybe by C you will be kinda in tune.
It's just a personal thing, but I hate out of tune music. If better, more authentic, more bluesy music has to be out of tune, you can have it. If being in tune is less authentic, less bluesy, less good, then we need to talk to Fender because they are messing up what could be great music!
gawd ,.. lol ,.. you are talking like a few micrometer tics is 10 feet .
hardly enough to be considered "out of tune "
raw , edgy , and real is more like it . ( if you even notice it . )
and if you want to compare cbgs with a fender .. then maybe cbgs are not for you .
being a perfectionist will f##k up any hobby , and fun . and tradition .
and it's true roots .
if you want to "re-invent" and polish the cbg , go ahead .
but dont expect the originals to follow or change with you . or history to change for you either.
nor call it "wrong " due to clashing with your "new" opinion.
i prefer to keep things real ..
and i'm sure the asker was searching for a real , and simple answer ,
i didnt see him in the fender fourm .
;-)
ps .. not to mention .. a floating bridge will give you enough compensation if needed .. with close if not the same results .
your own link even admits that .
I am always bothered when I find out my two cents isn't worth what it used to be.....LOL Glad you guys are the "experts." I just sit back and wait on a "consensus." I'm just glad you are here, trying to help us noobs.
no experts here, brother. Just a discussion about whether a gat should play in tune or not.
just your opinion of what "in tune" is to you .
and learning to seperate your "new age guitars with a box on it " idea .. from a traditional "cbg."
anonymous pick, it isn't micrometres. It is a 50% difference. Out of tune is out of tune. Nothing you do at the bridge will compensate for a 3mm action at the nut. You'd have to compensate by moving the frets back. Hey, I'm appreciative of the traditional rustic ethos. But even within that, I would have thought a guitar that plays in tune would be desirable. If by making a guitar that plays in tune is over thinking, then I'm guilty. And what the hell is going on with your SPACE bar, man? Anyhoo...I love cbgees and have made more than a few and I prefer them to play in tune. Again, this is just a personal taste, but an out of tune gat is like fingernails on a blackboard to me. So make 'em play out of tune if you think that is what it's all about, just don't expect me to listen to them.
you can equip your model T ford with a g.p.s if you want ,
i'll keep it real.
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