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I have an pretty stupid question to ask about my newly acquired Ibex fret rule. It has a mark for bridge compensation that reads distance to E string. Now is that the high or low E string? I've been searching all over for instructions but can't find any.

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"What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish?"
-Herman Melville, "Moby Dick".

Hi Nick,

I got an Ibex fret rule as well and even though the saddle postion specifies the E string (which should be the high E by the way), I found the intonation to be better when I position saddle mark right in the middle of the saddle.

My 2 cents...

EDIT: By the way, my Ibex fret rule is an old one that is not available anymore (at least not from Stewmac), where 4 different scalelength were shown. So maybe we are not talking about the same fret rule...

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Alain Moisan
Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
www.guitaresmoisan.com
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Might just be a good idea to check the accuracy of that fret rule. I too have an old model, but it's way off - at least when I compare it to a high quality metre rule.
It's a long time since I used it for marking fret positions, for obvious reasons. I spent a whole day making my own version out of wood, complete with 4 scale lengths. Not only is it more accurate but I cut very fine and shallow saw cuts for the markings. You don't have to eyeball it, simply engage a marking knife into the fine slot.

I have one of those and it gets used for some basic stuff like maybe sizing up a piece of wood. I use templates for standard fare, and I use w-fret for custom sizes.

Thanks for the replies. I got this ruler from Martin's website, deciding to give it a try because it was affordable. I finally glued the bridge today and am pretty sure I got it right going to the low E string (much to my surprise). I'll let you know tomorrow if I did it wrong. I used the Cumpiano/Natelson book as guide in cutting my slot, and since the center measurement from fret twelve equalled the nut to twelve, I figured this must be the way. (hope that made sense)...

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"What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish?"
-Herman Melville, "Moby Dick".

Well, if I understand your statement correctly, it won't be right. The distance between the nut to the 12th fret should be slightly shorter than the distance from the 12th to the saddle (a little from the high E, a little more from the low E). What you will end up with is a saddle that is not compensated, therefore your guitar will sound sharper and sharper as you move up the fretboard.

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Alain Moisan
Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
www.guitaresmoisan.com
Facebook

Yep. Don't know what I was on that time, but I had to re-set my bridge, after checking it with my other guitar.

I eventually want to get some of those stewmac scale rules, and maybe learn how to figure out any scale length but for now I'm keeping it simple.

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"What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish?"
-Herman Melville, "Moby Dick".

I have one of the old IBEX rules, and the "standard classical scale" is some wierd scale that is more than 650, and the compensation is too much for the scale, but it works fine. I used it on my first few, and it came out just fine. Intonation was perfectly good. That's a classical. Don't know about the other scales.

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Waddy

Waddy Thomson Guitars

Waddy's Guitar Build Albums 13 done - #14 in process.

Sound Clip from #1: Barrios' "Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios" (An Alm for the Love of God) -Not me playing! I could never.....!

I just checked out your build pictures and am quite amazed Waddy. I have a loooong way to go.

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"What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish?"
-Herman Melville, "Moby Dick".

Thanks, Nick. I have build threads over at LuthierCom.org for all but the first. There is a bit more discussion along with the same pictures. The first is archived here in multiple posts.

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Waddy

Waddy Thomson Guitars

Waddy's Guitar Build Albums 13 done - #14 in process.

Sound Clip from #1: Barrios' "Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios" (An Alm for the Love of God) -Not me playing! I could never.....!