#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

fret calculator

looking for a eazy printable fret calculator, so I can lay it on the fretboard an mark my fret position?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ty harvala on October 16, 2010 at 11:39am

I,m a bit computor stupid, tried that site, downloaded an it went to some file somewhere? any sites where I can just give my # of strings an lenght an boom, there it is for the printing?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on October 16, 2010 at 11:44am

fretfind 2d, works in the cloud, no need to download. generates a multi-page pdf.

http://cigarboxguitars.com/fretfind/standard.php

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ty harvala on October 16, 2010 at 12:25pm

luv ya Diane, tried it an even computer stupid me did it. thanks

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Uncle John on October 17, 2010 at 12:29pm

Diane, This is excellent. Long story short, I have an unfretted 3 string with a 20.5 inch scale. It sounds so good, I want to convert it to a fretted 4 string. Thanks for the great help.

Diane in Chicago said:

fretfind 2d, works in the cloud, no need to download. generates a multi-page pdf.

http://cigarboxguitars.com/fretfind/standard.php

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Hitesman on October 17, 2010 at 4:40pm

Be sure to measure the printout before trusting it. Due to variations in printers and such I've yet to get a printout that was actually accurate. I usually end up just taking the measurements and using a mm rule to transfer them manually since I can't get a printout to come out accurately enough for my wishes.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on October 17, 2010 at 5:04pm

Really? Mine from Fretfind were spot on. But I do doublecheck at the octave/12th fret, to be sure I didn't enter the wrong data or whatnot.

Jason Hitesman said:

Be sure to measure the printout before trusting it. Due to variations in printers and such I've yet to get a printout that was actually accurate. I usually end up just taking the measurements and using a mm rule to transfer them manually since I can't get a printout to come out accurately enough for my wishes.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Hitesman on October 17, 2010 at 5:07pm

Diane in Chicago said:

Really? Mine from Fretfind were spot on. But I do doublecheck at the octave/12th fret, to be sure I didn't enter the wrong data or whatnot.

Yeah, I tried a couple of different printers and a number of different settings in my print dialogs...but never got a printout to come out that measured as accurately as I wanted. It was close and probably "good enough" but I was trying to see how accurate I could get and how good I could get the intonation on my last build and I could be considerably more accurate with a ruler than the printouts came out.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Uncle John on October 18, 2010 at 4:55am

Thanks!

Jason Hitesman said:

Diane in Chicago said:
Really? Mine from Fretfind were spot on. But I do doublecheck at the octave/12th fret, to be sure I didn't enter the wrong data or whatnot.

Yeah, I tried a couple of different printers and a number of different settings in my print dialogs...but never got a printout to come out that measured as accurately as I wanted. It was close and probably "good enough" but I was trying to see how accurate I could get and how good I could get the intonation on my last build and I could be considerably more accurate with a ruler than the printouts came out.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on October 18, 2010 at 7:39am

Well,I'm the opposite. I felt I did better with a template and a very sharp pencil. I only went down to .5mm increments when I measured with a ruler, but always felt like I was off a bit. And since I generally build really sort, those tiny errors were a problem.

Jason Hitesman said:

Diane in Chicago said:
Really? Mine from Fretfind were spot on. But I do doublecheck at the octave/12th fret, to be sure I didn't enter the wrong data or whatnot.

Yeah, I tried a couple of different printers and a number of different settings in my print dialogs...but never got a printout to come out that measured as accurately as I wanted. It was close and probably "good enough" but I was trying to see how accurate I could get and how good I could get the intonation on my last build and I could be considerably more accurate with a ruler than the printouts came out.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Randy Webb on October 19, 2010 at 9:15am

@Jason

Even if the printouts scale fractionally during printing, the frets relative distance wouldnt change. It would just go from 24.5 inch scale to a 24.48675 scale or whatever. It shouldnt be a problem as long as you mount the bridge after the neck.

The bridge is the last thing I put on mine generally, and I havent had a problem yet with intonation. and I am PICKY when it comes to a properly intonated string!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Hitesman on October 19, 2010 at 10:38am

Randy Webb said:

@Jason

Even if the printouts scale fractionally during printing, the frets relative distance wouldnt change. It would just go from 24.5 inch scale to a 24.48675 scale or whatever. It shouldnt be a problem as long as you mount the bridge after the neck.

Good point. I hadn't thought of it that way. My first build (following the first CBG article in Make magazine) I made a LOT of mistakes in figuring out the frets. So the second time around I was putting a lot more time and thought into it and was probably overly focused on getting it "just right" to the point where something like that didn't even occur to me.

Really looking forward to my next few builds. A couple of friends kids have requested guitars for Christmas so I've got to get back on track and complete a few boxes soon! Just been having too much time playing since it's been too hot to work in my "shop".