Scale Length

[azzy989]

Hey guys..I've been reading this forum for a while now and its inspired me to start building a of my own. Its going to be a neck thru superstrat with an original floyd rose and it'll have a scale length of 25.5(yea yea it might be a little boring but i wanted to start of simple, no crazy figured maple tops yet lol). I've already got the majority of the cutting done.. the 2 wings have been glued to the neck piece and they are about ready to be flush trimmed. My question is regarding the scale length. Where would i put the bridge in relation to the scale length? Would I line it up so when the saddles are centered then that will line up with the scale? Thanks in advanced

Azlan

Edited March 26, 2006 by azzy989

[wardd]

Azlan,

On my last project I did this:

I made a "movable" bridge by placing the main bridge piece on some wood strips with the saddles centered and a center line drawn on the strips.

Then I strung the guitar up to tune and moved the bridge around checking the intonation until I had a postion that allowed for enough saddle movement to allow for the needed settings.

This then gave me a center line for the bridge.

It worked for me, might work for you, or at least generate some other advice posts giving you other options.

Good Luck,

d ward

[brian d]

Azlan,

Check out stewmac fret calc . It will show you where to mount just about any bridge according to the scale length (25.5" in your case) and taking into account the compensation you need.

Brian.

[azzy989]

Thanks for the fast replies Thats exactly what I was looking for. I'll post a couple of pics soon when I get a chance. Thanks again.

[j. pierce]

I did what Wardd did on one my guitars, worked well for a TOM-type bridge, but I don't know how you'd work it out like that with a floyd! The stew-mac calc. linked above is the best bet.

[Mickguard]

I found Stew Mac's scale calculator so accurate that the guitar was pretty much intonated from the get go (and I even changed bridge). I believe their measurement is for the high E saddle/slot. I don't see any need to build a special structure for that.

In fact, Stew Mac's calculator is so accurate that I don't really see a need for moveable saddles. I've become converted to compensated wraparound bridges... It makes sense to me that the fewer pieces of metal rattling around down there, the better. In fact, what would be really cool would be to have a bridge assembly made out of a single piece of metal.

For getting the alignment of the bridge, I used a laser guide to sight along the neck from the E saddles to the nut slots --the laser line emulates the line of your strings, you can set the bridge EXACTLY where it needs to be that way. (The laser wasn't my idea, but it's a great one!)