Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm hoping for some help from those who, like me, are working to the Scott Antes plan for a parlor guitar. This guitar has a scale length of 24.500 inches, and I am trying to figure out how to accurately lay out the frest when the time comes.

Earlier this year, I purchased the StewMac fret slot miter box and Japanese fret saw. Looks like a good unit, though I am unhappy to see it has been upgraded since I purchased mine. Anyway, the easy way would be to use a scale template, but StewMac doesn't offer one for this scale. LMI does, but it appears theirs will not work with the StewMac miter box, and I can't part with the cash to buy another system right now.

So what is the best option? I know several others on this forum have built to these plans, what did you do? I'm not quite ready to start this yet, but hope to before long.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

These guys offer a plastic template with Gibson 24.562
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Scale-Fing ... 564893e083
I use their templates with my stewmac jig, just has to take a hair off the width to make it a snug fit.

I'm glad you pointed out these templates Jeff. I have bought from this seller before and didn't notice those...Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

Here's my plan.... Thanks to Todd Stock ( I think) for commenting in another thread that the shorter scale of a Terz guitar is actually just a Martin dred fretboard cut off at the third fret. Got me thinking.... After trying unsuccessfully to trade a Stew Mac classical-scale fret slotting template I obtained in a package deal for a 24.5" template, I started moving the template around. If you use a 660mm classical guitar (long classical) fret scale, and align the nut slot at the second notch instead of the first, you wind up with a scale length of 24.566", which is close enough for me. I was having difficulty coming up with the 24.375" template that my Antes Bruno plan calls for. I will just use the 24.56" setup I discovered, and call it good. Hope that helps!!

--Jaybird

It's not hard to lay it out with a ruler and pencil (measure all from the nut, not fret to fret) and cut them. Use stew mac's online fret calculator to give you locations. Printing a template is better, but my printer is often a bit of a saboteur. Measure your printout to double check it's accuracy before you cut.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

+1 for wfret! Measure to check your printout. It is so easy it is almost cheating. The best part is you can do any scale you want.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I built my own fret miter box and use the LMI templates. I think Todd's suggestion is probably your best bet.

I used a 27.5 baritone template from LMI, if you use the 2nd fret as the nut, you have a 24.5" scale. At least you end up with two other different scale lengths and their other possibilities.

Chuck

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We also make a number of Fret board layout templates and ours will fit the older StewMac jig not sure about the new.

Blessings,

Kevin

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MESE:IT

http://www.waldronmusic.com/product_mod ... all&cid=50

The link for wfret on MIMF doesn't seem to work anymore. I had another link which also didn't work.

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Another day, another dollar.

I looking into the WFRET issue at MIMF and will report back when I learn what's wrong.

Here, try this.

http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=921#p8805

Also, here is a link to FretFind2d, which is a pretty powerful web based app.

http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/

Ditto on the wfret program. If you're only going to build one of that scale length then a template isn't really worth the money

Hey, thanks for the suggestions. I'll see if I can get the Wfret to work. I got it downloaded (I think) and my Macafee keeps asking if I'm sure I want to trust this.

So far, I am making two like this. If successful, I plan to make more. So I still have a couple of questions. First, is it OK to use a 24.562 scale instead, when the plans call for a 24.500? That does shift everything, including the 12th fret location and the bridge (or at least the saddle.) What effect will that have on play, etc?

Also, as for checking for accuracy, how do I measure it? The most precise instrument I have is a dial caliper, but it is only a 6 inch model. Other than that, I have a tape measure and carpenter's square, both nowhere near the precision I need.

If I could measure it really well one time, I could make a legend stick out of wood and use it to mark the fretboards, but what to measure it with? Does anyone make a precision ruler that lenght? And how close do I need to be? I figure I'm going to introduce enough error simply by marking and cutting, so the more accurate the initial measurements the better.

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

Well if you keep the 12th fret at the body joint then the neck needs to be 0.031 longer and the bridge is 0.031 further away. Unless your design has a really narrow bridgeplate there is no need to change it's position.
No other noticable effects.

OK, I got Wfret working, I think. It prints across the page, so I will have to cut and fit three pieces of paper. Is this normal? Or should it print lenghwise? I did notice some frets are repeated for ease of alignment. Still need to check lengths, but this may give me what I need.

Thanks!

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

The beauty of wfret is that (other than verifying your print out) you don't have to do any measuring. I tape the template down and put my marking knife on each line and slide the board up to my square/saw guide. It doesn't matter that the saw doesn't enter perfectly on the line, every cut will be the same relative to the lines.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

When I used Wfret, I found my printout was often 1mm out measuring from nut to 12th and I had to adjust till I got that right
Using a template and not having to line up the saw with a mark is wonderful too