Official Luthiers Forum!

HI -

I am up to it again ! I was measuring out my fretboard today in order to begin tapering and cutting it down to size. I realized for some reason, when I made my acrylic template, I placed my soundhole a 1/4" too low from the 12th fret ! arghh !!! Has anyone done this before ? so my 19th fret will be a whole fret rather than bisected as usual in my classical - I may have room to put in a 20th fret , that would be bisected - my 12th fret will still intersect the body neck joint !

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

A full 19th is not unheard off, it will be OK. As for a 20th, only a lip for the high E (maybe B too) is OK.

Btw you can cheat 1mm or so at the 12th. It doesn't have to be right on the neck/body line. You can have it a bit on the outside, but make sure you have enough space for the nut. A nut under 4mm would look too narrow.

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Build log

My first (and only for now) guitar was a classical with this exact issue. But its not a problem at all. Plays great and nobody has even noticed.
And as Mr. Marian has said, some classicals are built that way on purpose. (in fact it may have been Alexandru who was the one who told ME not to worry about it when I did the same thing.)

Well, you have one more fret, that's cool. And you will be able to see how that soundhole position affect the tone..!

Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I did the same thing on my first guitar, a steel string 000, 24.9 scale length. I lost sleep over it and nearly developed an ulcer, but the guitar plays great, and everyone seems to love it. it has become my daily player and I don't ever think about it any more.

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."