Newbie here. I am working on a CBU. I ordered a fretboard for a cigar box concert uke. Made by another enthusiast online... I asked for a 15" concert scale. Below you'll see a picture. I'm a little confused. There's a fret cut without a fret at one end. Is that for the nut? Or?? In the picture, you'll see that if I measure from that as though it's the nut, the 12th fret is around 7 inches (that would be a 14 inch scale??). If I measure from the far end (as though the fret line without a fret were the first fret, meaning the nut would be at the edge of the fretboard), the 12th fret is around 7.5 inches (that would be a 15 inch scale??). What do you think? Is it meant to be a 14 inch scale, or a 15 inch?
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I would ask for clarification from the maker. THis is one area where the ARE rules, at least if you want an instrument with accurate intonation. The fret spacing would be different for 15" vs 14" so it is not as simple as just deciding where you want to put the nut.
Looks like if you had a fret in that first cut and a nut on the end you'd have a 15'' scale length
From what I can recall from my research on my first uke build, concerts are usually 15". Sopranoso range between 13 and 14. So I'd say what you have there would be categorized as a such. Saying that, there's nothing wrong with building that type of uke, but why would the maker send you something you didn't ask for?
Good question! I don't know. Maybe just a mistake? Yes, I thought concerts were 15" too. Oh well. At least it's on the long end of the soprano range. I suppose for my first attempt, it shouldn't matter much.
Just heard from maker that the first slot is indeed for a nut. So that means the 12th fret is at 7 inches, making it a 14 inch scale, not a 15 inch scale. Am I missing anything?