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how many frets can you have on an archtop?


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Hey, I have made a few guitars in the past, but now, I want to build an archtop/ jazz box kind of guitar. Since I am used to playing 22/24 fret necks, I want to build an archtop that'll have 22/24 frets. Most archtops I have seen/owned have had 20 fret necks, and sometimes 21. I was wondering if this is possible, because I don't see why it wouldn't be...unless you would have to go with a longer neck, and that might throw things out of proportion a little bit.

Thanks

~John

Also, for those of you who are building archtop guitars, and use Ebay a lot, check out the ebay store for the member "inlaidartist", he offers tons of inlaid fingerboards, pickguards, headstock veneers, and tailpieces for cheap prices, some even with no reserve!

Thanks again

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There are probably a couple of reasons.

First, the mellow jazz sound comes from placing the pickup fairly far away from the bridge. Put a ton of frets on the guitar and you're going to push the neck position pickup closer to the bridge.

Second, archtops are fairly traditional instruments. Putting an extended fretboard on a jazz box means you have to deepen the cutaway to get access to it (and/or configure the neck joint differently) which would throw off the aesthetics of the guitar.

But don't let any of that stop you. The tone can always be tweaked with pickup and electronics, and there's always room for innovation in guitar design. I say go for it.

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Also, for those of you who are building archtop guitars, and use Ebay a lot, check out the ebay store for the member "inlaidartist", he offers tons of inlaid fingerboards, pickguards, headstock veneers, and tailpieces for cheap prices, some even with no reserve!

Thanks again

His inlays are kinda thin, just to warn ya.

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