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Lengths of necks are different on instruments why, and does it matter

Hi all, just wondering, I was looking at one of my guitars, and noticed the 12th fret was 4 frets out from the body, most of the guitars I have aren't set out the same way as it, and I was wondering after seeing some cigar box guitars, with short necks, does the neck length matter , and is it the same on mandolins

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Permalink Reply by JL on August 13, 2014 at 1:07am

Neck length is the result of finding the sweet spot on the belly/face to put the bridge for best sound, and then adding enough neck to reach out to your scale length, 13" for mandolin or violin, 18" for Tenor Ukulele , 24" for guitar, 34" for Bass.

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Permalink Reply by ReturnToSender on August 14, 2014 at 1:48am

Actually, length was the question and there is quite a bit more to it than math.

Scale Length Explained

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Permalink Reply by ReturnToSender on August 14, 2014 at 2:30am

Keep telling yourself that. What's the distance from the 12th fret to 3rd fret?

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Permalink Reply by ReturnToSender on August 14, 2014 at 4:47am

Yes, there is math involved, but the original question was if "neck length matters", to which you replied, "length isn't the question"...and it clearly was.

We can agree to disagree, but the length of the neck, the length of the strings, scale length... it all matters. I don't think he was asking about the specific math part so much as why some instruments have one scale length, and others have another. There is much more than just "simple math", behind that explanation.

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Permalink Reply by ReturnToSender on August 14, 2014 at 5:18am

Simple indeed. You can put the 12th fret on a guitar pretty much anywhere you want, as long as it's roughly midway between the bridge and the nut.

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Permalink Reply by James Huey on August 14, 2014 at 5:48am

I am enjoying the banter here on this question, as it only shores up my own thoughts that there are a thousand ways to skin a cat and that the cat ain't likely to enjoy any of them. Me, I am a complet and utter newbie to this venue, so multiple answers generally confuse me pretty easily. I have seen any number of variations as to the neck stock, placement inside the CBG, where to place a bridge and just how to place a neck. Probably a ton of other issues to consider as well. I see some wrap around necks and some that end inside the box vs having a tail piece sticking outside the box. Trying to figure out the scales and placement of the frets is something I'll be getting more familiar with once my own box project gets underway. I was a complete dunce at math in school, so I certainly hope that what limited math abilities I have are not a hinderance in making a very good working and looking CBG when it is time.

I'll be asking specific questions once I get to that stage in the build and I really appreciate the differences of opinion here, in that is all helps. Keep it up, guys, as I read everything and I love to see the differences in achieving the same end goals. I can then pick and choose as to what will work best for me. The length of the neck was just one starter question for me, as I too have seen some variances when I looked at various photos and videos. I was thinking that it may have something to do with the scale of the final design. Not scale as to a musical scale, but making the guitar look right when one looks at the finished product. Depending upon the body of the box, a longer neck may actually make the final product look out of kilter as to size and scale. Probably a bit off topic for this post, so I'll just get back to reading the repies and putting it all into my memory back for when I get into the configurement of my own first CBG. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on August 14, 2014 at 8:38am

This video may not answer this specific question, but it may help a bit.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/basic-neck-layout

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Permalink Reply by JL on August 15, 2014 at 12:17am

Such heated debate over something as simple as $\scriptstyle \sqrt[12]{2}$ ?

So to go back to Elliot's question, and borrowing some graphics from one of our sponsors...

Where the neck and body meet is just the result of the size of the body and where you put the bridge on it. It could be the 12th fret, the13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17, etc... on a fender banjo it is at the 23rd fret.