Official Luthiers Forum!

Reconditioning an archtop and the fretboard broke and is a little warped. I would like to replace it but how critical is getting the exact scale as the original fretboard? Since the bridge is floating would it really make a huge difference if the scale was 24.75 or 24.34? Also, what about the total frets...this one has 19. Is it bad to do 20?

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma

You should be able to determine the scale length from the fretboard incraments or the nut to the 12th *2. The relative position of the bridge is + compensation and a little fine adjustment for intonation

Yes, but how important is it to change that ( the original fretboard scale length) since the bridge is floating?

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma

I don't think it wise to change the scale length too much. However, a quarter inch would probably not affect anything.

Many archtops are made with notches in the f-holes which are used to line up the position of the bridge. And this will be off if you change the scale length, but not a big deal.

Changing the number of frets should not be a concern as long as your fingerboard length covers the neck extension adequately.

As long as it fits I imagine adding another fret wouldn't cause any problems if the fretboard extension is cantilevered.

Don't know about swapping the current fretboard out with a different scale length board though. I know it'd most likely be a bad idea on a flat top.

What sort of bracing is on the archtop?

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Evan McCartney

It's the normal parallel bracing...i think that's what you call it

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Bro. Matthew A.
Oklahoma