Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JL on February 23, 2017 at 3:44am

I see the reason for the confusion, the camera angle + slightly wide angle lens + nut not at the handle, can appear to be 3 in but that's the handle to first fret not the nut to first fret.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by default on February 23, 2017 at 4:23am

See that's where I'm not sure. If I assume the angle iron for the nut is 1", it's about 2" from the handle (1" of wood, 1" of metal) then roughly 3" from there to the first fret mark, which puts the 9th fret mark dead on the joint on a 25.5 scale

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Timothy Hunter on February 24, 2017 at 12:24am

this is your mistake i think. the angle iron is not 1" it looks cut down to 1/2" or maybe 3/8". that assumption is what is making you think the first fret mark is 3" from the nut.. it does look 3 times the nut height .

http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/fretcalc/fretcalc.htm

nut to first fret is 1.431"so rough maths at 1.431/3 = 0.477 " which is close to my guess as to the nut height of 1/2" ..

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by default on February 24, 2017 at 12:49am

I can live with the height of the nut being 1/2" each way, but then that puts my "scale length" at 26" and it moves the 9th fret from where he shows it himself in that video quite a bit a ways up the neck and makes what he says is the 9th fret somewhere between the 11th & 12th fret. 

All that said, I did just find the original creator of the guitar and im going to see what insight he can offer, and if i cant get no satisfaction that way im going to wing it. 

Permalink Reply by default on February 23, 2017 at 10:13pm

OK guys, LAST stupid scale questions. Im new obviously and I think I have the gist of this so Im going to ask the end all questions here

Keeping in mind this project will be FRETLESS (having fret markers only for reference) and no real fretboard making it strictly a slide guitar, I ask the following:

In the grand scheme of things, will my scale length and markers really "do" anything? Since his first fret mark is so far from the nut it seems to me that would throw the whole fret marker deal off? 

Im just worried such a large gap in the sequence will make the whole thing out of whack

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on February 23, 2017 at 10:32pm

On a 25" scale your 1st fret position should be around 1.406" from the nut, 2nd should be around 2.728" and so on, as it is fretless, they are only reference marks and have no effect on the playability of the git, they do however have an effect as to how YOU refer to them, most fretless,[ well mine anyway] have marks AT 1,3,5,7,9 and 12, just to guide you ,particularly as you learn, as your ear gets better aquainted with what you hear, and what you want to hear, you might move a touch away from those marks to reach the note you want, or maybe angle the slide a touch, remember without a compensated bridge, hitting a pure [er] chord might need a touch of angle on the slide, in short, the marks a just a guide to get you home when you're drunk, do it often enough and you don't need the map

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by default on February 23, 2017 at 10:41pm

yeah thats basically my issue. I want them there for now but his first fret is 3" from the nut! its just frustrating the heck out of me.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on February 23, 2017 at 10:51pm

It's not 3 ", but it does look larger than 1.4, but not a lot, anyway, forget that, i suggest marking it correctly , where the frets would be , don't try to copy Justin's just on how you see it, measure your scale length, and mark it accordingly

https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator.html

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on February 24, 2017 at 1:39am

You really are making this much too hard, a fretless git with a 25" scale, but you want "a" fret at the joint, cool, work out your bridge position to suit a fret mark, then just set your nut to suit that, if it's fret 9,10,12 or 47, so be it, get a piece of wood,or paper, mark a 25" scale on it with the frets that may be around the joint area, lay it on your shovel, slide it back and fro till the bridge is in a workable position and a fret aligns with the joint, then that is your neck, if the nut is too far away from the handle, you have 2 choices, live with it, or move the scale to another fret and see if your bridge still works, a 3rd choice is change your scale length

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by default on February 24, 2017 at 4:26am

sorry, i think my focus shifted and i forgot to say so. ive been given good advice on what to do that im going to take, my thing now is I just want to figure out how his is setup and how it works regarding the space that we all agree is bigger than it should. 

in otherwords, im now just trying to figure out the technical side of things since this isnt going to be my last "cbg" i build. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Boo on February 25, 2017 at 11:08am

hi,
i bet justin is quite proud he has inspired so many, seems he has done a lot to develop the home made instruments movement.
anyhoo, a couple of quezzies for you, i was wondering why an exact copy? you could buy a ready made if you wanted a replica. seems to me there are a few inherent limitations with his version, first and foremost it is not very customisable, at least not easily.
his nut is fixed, as is his pick up.
the pick up is also a weird flat thing that i have never seen before, so i was wondering how you will overcome that one too?
really great fun though and i hope your build goes real well giving you all that you want.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by default on February 25, 2017 at 11:27am

It doesn't have to be exact, but I figured for my first build I could model it off his since it seems to work well. Not to mention i have no woodworking tools so a shovel is basically a ready made head/neck/body. I already got the pickup figured out, that was the easy part!

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page