yahmon Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 I am a newb. I would like to build a new kind of travel guitar(I think). This would be based on a cut down acoustic bass neck with a wide fretboard, but shortened by lopping off the top few frets for a total string length of 24 inches. Steinberger bass tuners, electric pickups, headless design. What I am getting at is a bass/baritone uke idea (4 strings), heavy strings for a lower sound, more like the middle 4 of a six string., but shorter for travel, solid body. Am I pushing the physics too much. Any good design books out there? I am looking for that Dick Dale sound. Any help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILL-GREEN Posted September 30, 2018 Report Share Posted September 30, 2018 Well Dick Dale uses a Stratocaster unless you planning to create a uke sized Strat? For design inspiration, I can't recommend Google Images enough. You also might want to check out a Pignose PGG Deluxe travel guitar for inspiration. Something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 Not sure if I'm confusing what you are saying, but you can't just cut off frets to make it shorter. The string length from nut to bridge is the scale length. The fret positions - regardless of the length of the fretboard or how many frets there are - are in predetermined positions based on that scale length. So, if you shorten the string length from nut to bridge, a whole new fret board with proper fret positions for the shorter scale length must be used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 Sure you can cut frets off to make it shorter. The relationship between fret spacings is the same no matter how many frets you lop off. Otherwise slapping a capo on the 5th fret would result in a guitar that would never play in tune. You just end up with a fretboard that has less frets at the top end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted October 8, 2018 Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 On 10/5/2018 at 8:02 PM, komodo said: Not sure if I'm confusing what you are saying, but you can't just cut off frets to make it shorter. The string length from nut to bridge is the scale length. The fret positions - regardless of the length of the fretboard or how many frets there are - are in predetermined positions based on that scale length. So, if you shorten the string length from nut to bridge, a whole new fret board with proper fret positions for the shorter scale length must be used. On 10/5/2018 at 11:04 PM, curtisa said: Sure you can cut frets off to make it shorter. The relationship between fret spacings is the same no matter how many frets you lop off. Otherwise slapping a capo on the 5th fret would result in a guitar that would never play in tune. You just end up with a fretboard that has less frets at the top end. It depends which end of the board you lop off 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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