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Number of frets

I have a request for a guitar. He wants 24 frets. This has presented me with some questions. So far, I have been using 25" scale on the guitars I've built so far. My design places the bridge a couple of inches in from the edge of the guitar, and all the frets can easily be reached....usually 17 frets. With 24 frets, if I change nothing but making the fret board longer and going on top of the box some, it seems some of the frets won't even be reachable unless I cut a clearance into the box corner. I don't want to do that. The other option is to lengthen the neck so the fret board doesn't go onto the box....or at least minimized so the frets can be reached. Then, my bridge ends up in the middle of the box and I'm not sure that will be pleasing to the eye. Any advise out there?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on November 12, 2015 at 4:35am

Most of my builds have either 17 or 19 frets. Presumably the customer wants to get 2 octaves out of it?

Yea, it is a problem to squeeze that many frets onto a CBG. Not having a cutaway body makes it really tough.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 12, 2015 at 4:39am

He plays electric guitar so I think he's wanting it as close to that as possible. I'm not sure it makes sense though. I might just explain what problems are going to be there and I'm sure he'll be ok with less frets. Just wasn't sure if there was a quick trick out there I wasn't thinking about. Thanks Dan!

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on November 12, 2015 at 4:43am

You could use a smaller box. I recently built one on a box 8.5" long with 21 frets. 24.5" scale. Bridge is 3" from the end. Could've easily made it to 24 clear of the box.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 12, 2015 at 4:46am

I was thinking about that too. Seems most people want the bigger boxes, but with requests like this, they don't understand what they are really asking for. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. Thanks Turtlehead. Nice guitar by the way!!!

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on November 12, 2015 at 5:13am

Thanks Bob. I suppose it's a trade off - this isn't an acoustic beast by any means even with the reso, but if it's fully electric, I guess it doesn't matter so much. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 12, 2015 at 4:47am

I'm gonna try a resonator soon. They're sharp!

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on November 12, 2015 at 6:17am

Use a smaller box..like this Oliva, or tell him he won't be able to easily fret the top of a 24 fret board on a bigger box. You're the one who has to make it, and players often don't understand the practicalities of making an instrument.

I've had plenty of impractical requests on custom builds. Don't agree to making something that you are not happy with - it's better to be straight-up about it and try and get them to understand what the issues are.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 12, 2015 at 6:21am

Thanks Chickenbone! Nice guitar! If I counter right, it has 24 frets. Im guessing your neck is maybe wider than an inch and a half? I think that helps to keep the neck from looking less like a stick when it's longer. That one looks perfect to me. Thanks for sharing the picture.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Quinney on November 12, 2015 at 9:22am

Smaller box, shorter scale length. My example is both, Ashton box, which is 8.25" in the direction parallel to the neck, with a 23.5" scale. It has 20 frets and you can see that I would have had room for another 4 frets. You could probably get there by juggling these two parameters.

Attachments:

Room for frets.jpg, 121 KB

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 12, 2015 at 9:26am

Thanks Matt. I didn't get a picture if you sent one.

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Permalink Reply by Angry Rooster Guitars on November 12, 2015 at 9:28am

Wayfinder, I would guess the center would bring out the most sound. Just wasn't sure what it would look like. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Matt Quinney on November 12, 2015 at 9:34am

Bob,

Under my reply it says Attachments, when I look at it the pic is there, titled "Room for frets"

And I guess there is the third parameter, where you place the bridge. I'm currently building my second CBG, and for both it and the first I used a tuning fork to find where the "loud" spots are. Lots of compromising.......