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Scale Length

So I tried to fret my first CBG and the fretting came out great but I found out
I don’t know what scale length is. I thought I knew what I was doing It turns out I don’t.
Can someone explain scale length to me in simple terms. I know this is probably a dumb
question but I’m ready to take the next step in CBG building and could really use some help
thanks guys..

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on August 3, 2009 at 1:31pm

That was incredibly helpful! All my instruments have been sharp in the frets closest to the nut, and now I know it was not just that I was a crappy builder (altho i was, but am relatively better now) I just love the stuff you pick up on here! Thanks!

But, say, how much did you shear off the end of your fretboard to get your problem solved?

Wes Yates said:

Too much drawing. Too much margin for error. Use wfret. I use that and simply make lines to the nearest 100th. honestly, there are many more factors that can come into play other than slightly off fret placement. Of course, I made a template in Adobe Illustrator where I can place the marks to the nearest 1000th, but hey.

Here is an article I found that talks about intonation, but more importantly has something to say about fretboard placement Intonation and the fourth article Intonation IV makes a case for intonation at the nut. I did this on my Cohiba after is was horribly sharp from the 1st - 7th. Worked like a champ.

I suggest everyone read them. They are chocked full of very useful information that stump us non-luthiers.

Diydc said:
Hi Ismael, don`t know if anyone tried telling you about the tangent method as it is a little difficult to explain in writing, but I have found a short video of a gentleman who does seem to do very well....
What he fails to explain is the need to work with an absolute exactness, placing your circle very carefully and always keep your pencil as sharp as you can. This works very well, and I have used this method myself, I took it from a fine luthier book from ireland.
Unfortunately I don`t know how to embed the video so you will have tocopy and paste...
Hope this helps you in your dilema.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lp-KclqVgQ&feature=related

Ishmaelprophet said:
Great info guys but one more thing how the heck do i measure 1.752 and such...

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 4, 2009 at 12:46am

Well, do be careful! I did take about 1/16" off the nut end of the fretboard but I did do this with a great amount of hesitation.

First, this might not have been the answer, so I took the fretboard off, shaved 1/32" off and tested. I did have to re-intonate, but it worked better. At that time I knew I was working in the right direction. This is not always the case tho, so my suggestion is to go slow and deliberate. I also "extended" my nut by placing some spacing strips at the nut (basically extending the nut closer to the bridge by 1/32") so that the 1st fret would be somewhat shorter. This helped and I was able to see the effect of this technique without too much damage. I hate having to redo something when I can "prototype" it.

One other thing I didn't do initially was to compensate the fret spacing as mentioned. I didn't know about the nut intonation solution. I'm about 3-10 cents off from the 14th up but since I play more in the lower part of the fretboard, its no big deal. Plus, I would rather be flat than sharp any day.

-Wes

Diane said:

That was incredibly helpful! All my instruments have been sharp in the frets closest to the nut, and now I know it was not just that I was a crappy builder (altho i was, but am relatively better now) I just love the stuff you pick up on here! Thanks!

But, say, how much did you shear off the end of your fretboard to get your problem solved?