Where To Find A Pre-slotted Fretboard?

[dawnofzion]

I am in the process of building a shortscale fender clone guitar. I have been searching for a pre-slotted 24" scale fretboard but I cannot find one anywhere. Does anyone know where I can get a pre-slotted 24" scale fretboard?

[mattharris75]

Jon (www.jonsbasses.com) can slot a scale length of 24.07". He also has an interesting slection of fretboard woods. Also, a 24.07 scale is just a fender 25.5 with the first fret cut off, so you could purchase a pre-slotted fender scale from stew mac or somewhere like that and cut off the first fret.

[dawnofzion]

I thought there was a slight difference in a true fender 24" scale fretboard and a 25.5 with the first fret cut off? Is this not true?

[thegarehanman]

I thought there was a slight difference in a true fender 24" scale fretboard and a 25.5 with the first fret cut off? Is this not true?

Yes, apparently it's .07."

[mattharris75]

He heh. Apparently

Unless you intend to work from a very strict set of plans it should be quite simple to add .07" to your scale length. And using 24.07 gives you a much wider range of options.

[dawnofzion]

Well I already have the body cut out, routed (pickups & control cavity), and contoured. I will be using a TOM so I have not done anything with a bridge yet on the body. I haven't routed a neck pocket either. I guess I could use a 24.07 board. I will just have to redraw my plans out in cad and see how it effects everything. So it is just basically .07" longer?

[dawnofzion]

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bodies,_necks,...ingerboard.html

I could use this fretboard and cut off the first fret and it would be a 24.07" scale? I could just move the bridge back to the correct position based on a fretboard calculator and it would be right?

[Jon]

Yep, 24.07" scale precisely.

[dawnofzion]

ok I was just worried about it intonated correctly and things like that. But I guess it will work properly.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't that mean that you could put a capo on the first fret of a 25.5 scale guitar and tune it down to standard EADGBE, you would essentially have a 24" scale?

[Jon]

Essentially, yes! I think I explained how to figure the scales within a scale in a previous post. If not, I do not mind explaining that here to help with figuring the different kinds of scales you can get out of your templates or slotted fingerboards.

[dawnofzion]

Well if you all think it will work properly I think i'm going to cut down a 25.5 board instead of trying to make my own 24" board.

I was planning on getting this to make my neck. which will be a fender style shortscale neck.

This for the neck

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bodies,_necks,...eck_Blanks.html

This for the fretboard

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bodies,_necks,...ingerboard.html

and this for the truss rod.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Truss_rods/Adj..._Truss_Rod.html

Does this sound like it would all work out properly?

[tubab0y]

If it's your first neck, I might do the Hot Rod, it's much easier to work with and rout and all that jazz.

And the rest of it looks good, and if you did wanna do a 24" scale, I'm guessing you'd be able to intonate .07".

[Jon]

No problems at all, but I also recommend using a hotrod trussrod. It will be a bit easier on you for your first go at a neck.

[dawnofzion]

Which hot rod truss rod should I get? I was considering doing a bullet tip truss rod but not sure which rod to get and which length.

[Jon]

The length will depend on your build, you will either need a 14 1/2" truss rod or a 18" truss rod. I am not sure if your neck will be significantly shorter because of the 24.07" scale, so I can't say which would work. But your best bet is to draw out the guitar to full scale and go from there.

If you're adjusting from the nut end, stick with a 1/8" allen wrench adjustable rod. If you're adjusting from the other end of the neck, the spoke wheel would probably work out best.

[mattharris75]

I've drawn out plans for a 24" build and discovered that an 18" truss rod is pushing it in terms of length. This is with a spoke wheel truss rod. Definately go with 24 frets to give yourself a little extra length. I think I may have to send my fingerboard back to get two more slots cut in it for that very reason.

[dawnofzion]

That shows the length of the 18" vs. the 14.5" in a full scale drawing of the guitar I'm building. What would you recommend? I can't add any frets to the board because it will hit the pickup. The red lines are just to show the length in comparison to the neck and fretboard.

Edited August 2, 2007 by dawnofzion

[Jon]

I just measured a couple of the 18" rods I have laying around. The truss rods measure right under 18" from one end to the other, so I think the 18" one would be a perfect fit. If it were one brass insert to the other, you'd be in trouble.

[dawnofzion]

I just calculated it up on stew mac and it doesn't look like the 18" would actually fit in the neck.

24.07" fret scale Printable

fret from nut fret to fret

1 1.351" 1.351" (nut-1)

2 2.626" 1.275" (1-2)

3 3.830" 1.204" (2-3)

4 4.966" 1.136" (3-4)

5 6.038" 1.072" (4-5)

6 7.050" 1.012" (5-6)

7 8.005" 0.955" (6-7)

8 8.907" 0.902" (7-8)

9 9.758" 0.851" (8-9)

10 10.561" 0.803" (9-10)

11 11.319" 0.758" (10-11)

12 12.035" 0.716" (11-12)

13 12.710" 0.675" (12-13)

14 13.348" 0.638" (13-14)

15 13.950" 0.602" (14-15)

16 14.518" 0.568" (15-16)

17 15.054" 0.536" (16-17)

18 15.560" 0.506" (17-18)

19 16.038" 0.478" (18-19)

20 16.488" 0.451" (19-20)

21 16.914" 0.426" (20-21)

22 17.316" 0.402" (21-22)

I may need to redraw the neck in cad again to make sure it is correctly drawn.

[mattharris75]

Also keep in mind that you will have some distance after the 22nd fret (say a half inch or so) as well as the nut slot which sits sits on a flat area of the neck( 1/8" or 3/16"). You can add all that in, but like I said, it's close. That's why i've decided to lengthen my neck slightly and go with 24 frets. All this will do on your design is slide the bridge a bit closer to the neck end of the guitar. Unless you're building an exact replica, this probably isn't a huge deal.

[dawnofzion]

OK, I took a cad drawing of a telecaster neck and basically cut it down like I would the real fretboard. Then I put the neck into my guitar drawing at the correct scale. Here is where the 18" truss rod sits. will this work?

*right click and view image to see it not distorted.

Edited August 2, 2007 by dawnofzion

[dawnofzion]

Jon, do you think it will still fit?

also how do you cut for the nut since I will be cutting the 1st fret off?

Edited August 3, 2007 by dawnofzion

[Jon]

I will get back to you tonight with a detailed picture and description to help your decision, sorry for the wait!

[dawnofzion]

I will get back to you tonight with a detailed picture and description to help your decision, sorry for the wait!

ok sounds good.