Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on November 18, 2016 at 6:31am

Unless I am building a fretless model, I always use an add-on fingerboard that is roughly 1/4 inch thick.

If you make the fretboard flush with the box lid, you run the risk of the strings hitting the box when you fret a string. An added bonus is that if you glue on a fretboard, you add structural strength to the neck.

You can put your frets directly onto the neck itself, but then you would have to notch the neck deeply enough to get it above the level of the lid. Then you would need to add a reinforcing piece to the back of the neck to make up for what you cut away. Much easier just to add a fretboard. You can get "scants" at your local home improvement store that are already 1/4 inch thick, and 1.5 inches wide, you just need to cut them to length.

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 18, 2016 at 6:53am

Yup- I just stuck a string in it- it is too high... 

I'm wondering if I can get away with just lowering the notch the nut sits in? Or should I raise the neck/frets higher? Or???

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on November 18, 2016 at 7:53am

Dan is right, with a fretted neck, string clearance above the box is imperative to avoid problems. With your neck already fretted, you would need to figure a method to raise the overall height of the neck relative to the box, as if there was a 1/4" fretboard glued onto the surface of the neck. This will address the "strings hitting the box when fretting a note" issue.

The other question you have about the bolt style nut...perhaps instead of cutting notches to lower the strings (which would likely result in string fatigue/breakage/friction & loss of tuning stability), you could use a smaller diameter bolt that results in the strings at the first fret being no higher than 3mm above the top of the 1st fret, or about the thickness of a dime.

The further the player must press the strings down to make contact with the fret, the more likely that the pitch of each string will raise to being sharp, not in-tune.

Best wishes.

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 19, 2016 at 6:30am

OK- thank you! :)

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 18, 2016 at 9:09am

It does! Thank you! I am using a piezo- so as long as I get that neck up higher than the box, about a 1/4 inch- I should be fine, right? :) And the tailpiece too should be about a 1/4 inch?

Oh, and I'll either get a smaller diameter bolt for the nut, or I would notch the wood down further so less of the bolt is above the wood- or both maybe lol

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on November 18, 2016 at 10:37am

Based on your photos,  I would suggest that you make the groove for the nut deeper. If the bolt is larger than 1/4" then replace  it with a 1/4-20 brass  screw. If you plan to fret notes as well  as slide, then you should  think about lowering strings to about a dime's thickness  at  the first fret.  That is still high enough to  slide (unless you have extra-lite strings) and low enough that you  can fret a note without it going really sharp.

The string height above the 12th fret can be about twice that at the first fret and it should work fine.

Good luck with it.

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 19, 2016 at 6:31am

Ok cool... that helps a lot, thank you!

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on November 18, 2016 at 1:05pm

You don't need to do anything drastic to make that playable, as i said on your other thread, if you just lift the front of the neck till it,s flush or a touch higher than the box, and the tail 1/8th " higher again, with the angle you introduce you will be fine, of course that means removing a little bit from the top inside the box, and if you are worried about strength, you can glue a strip under the neck inside the box that will fill the gaps made when you lift it as well. a s for the nut, either a smaller bolt, or fill the current channel with a hardwood dowell, sand it back and cut a channel for a new nut I think there is something wrong with your measurements as well, that mark on the box doesn't look to be 5" longer to the 12th than 12th to the nut, but anyway if it's 12 1/2" to the 12th fret, your bridge needs to be 12 1/2" again from the 12th fret 

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Permalink Reply by Rosanne Reynolds on November 22, 2016 at 5:55am

OK- I'm going to mess with the measurements then- I just went off of where they had it marked... it's a cbgitty neck? I'll see where it would sit if doing the 12 1/2 inch thing for  sure. 

Thanks for your help- I'm going to try this first! I would have to do the least modifications this way- I don't think I'll have to remove anything from the box top, but we'll see! I'm pretty sure I can just raise the neck, and then the tail a bit more as you stated! I am going to have to wait til I get back on monday to play with it though :( lol 

Sure is addicting! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on November 19, 2016 at 11:56pm

Here's my approach to setting the  action at the nut.

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 21, 2016 at 7:21am

the 3rd pic looks like the frets all sit lower than the box's lid, so yes, you need to do something to get them higher, at least so a ruler laid on the frets doesn't touch the box. 

You could cut the nut slot deeper to use a bolt, but make sure the contact point of the string matches the original nut edge mark, which might be difficult with a bolt that thick, a huge cut could wander off-true.  a much smaller bolt or machine screw, say like a 2 inch  #4 machine screw would be easier to carve a matching nut slot.

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