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Newbie seeking fretting advice for child's project

I am working on a school project with my eight-year-old. We've got this far, and he wants to fret it. I've been perusing all the posts for wisdom, and came up with this solution:

Distance from front of nut to inside of bridge is 24"
The nut rises 1/16" above the neck.
The neck rises 1/8 the above the body.
The Lego bridge rises 1/8 above the body.

Using calculations from harp kit.com tells me frets should be the following distances from the nut:
1.37" for the 1st
2.618" for the 2nd
3.818" for the 3rd
Etc
Down to
12" for the 12th fret

I'd really appreciate anyone telling me if we are half-cocked. Is this too crude to fret? If not, are we missing in our calculations? Should I adjust any of those bits to be more accurate due to height variations? I just want it to be playable, not perfect. I know now we should not have cut that hole in it, but we are doing this by the seat of our pants.

I was thinking of stringing one string and marking the frets by tuner, but ohmygod.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 10, 2014 at 3:42am

I successfully play a bobby pin-fretted SwampWitch:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/oily-s-guitar-lounge-6-take-an-...

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on March 10, 2014 at 12:41am

most of the advice you have received will help you on your way,but to back up oily,s suggestion about the flat bridge,you can maintain the lego,but file down the bottom rear edge,tapering slightly to the bottom front edge,this will slightly rotate the lego till only the leading edge makes contact with the strings,good luck and nice first timer

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Permalink Reply by Amy O'Donnell on March 10, 2014 at 1:24pm

I see how this works-- you slowly suck in unsuspecting hobbyists to your obsession.

Dan--AWESOME video. I need to figure out a way to wake up to that every morning.

Thank you ALL for your time and info. I am foregoing the frets for now, because my neck is not true. We'll fix that later.

The tips on buzzing are great! And my boy found a Lego to make it work (pix att.)

Now my nut Lego won't go back in position, so a hypothetical question: you folks use bolts a lot, but how does that not buzz if you are meant to cut the string ridges so specifically? I dropped the Es on a set of guitar strings, so my strings are quite varied in width?

Amy

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on March 10, 2014 at 2:34pm

More often than not, we suck them in quickly. They end up with a living room full of CBGs and then wonder where they all came from.

You can use a bolt if you like, and just lay the strings into the notches made by the threads. You are correct that the strings do not lie down in the "notch" very well, so you can use a string tree type of affair that puts additional downward pressure on the strings to keep them from buzzing. It can be a simple piece of wood or metal that the strings run underneath.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/god-of-fire-002?context=user

Kids love jamming with CBGs.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/boys-jamming?context=user

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 10, 2014 at 3:25pm

Yep, that bridge / saddle is more like it. Find another like that for the nut, and use a small triangular file to cut string notches in it. Or you can use a set of welder's tip gauges to file them out; these are about $3-5, and come in graduated diameters. Use the proper tip gauge diameter for the equivalent string diameter.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on March 10, 2014 at 8:17pm

1/2 a split pin works with thick super glue on a very flat surface, if you dont want to cut slots.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/bugs-easy-frets-1

But as they are steel

They are tricky to file down so cut accurately at an angle with snippers

But True fretting is easy with the right razor saw and file down easily.

online fret calculator

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Fretting/i-fretcalc.html

But allow for string angle compensation, and this you will need to ask again about as it confuses me.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on March 10, 2014 at 8:20pm

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/bugs-easy-frets-1/next?context=...

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on March 10, 2014 at 8:25pm

Bemuzic works all her fret positions out accuratley using cocktail sticks and a guitar tuner, so they are dead on.

Have a chat to her, here's an example of one she has made.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/3-string-fretted-belinda-cigar-...

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on March 10, 2014 at 8:28pm

Also you may like to consider dulcimer fretting, as there are less frets and then your child can't play a bum note as there arnt any. It's a great way to learn.

Guys has anyone got some basic dulcimer fretting charts they could post below for information?