82cabby Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Hi all! I have the first of what I am sure will be many dumb rookie questions, so thanks for your patience. I am planning to build a strat type guitar as my first build. I was planning on going with Stew-Macs Fender Scale Compound Radius fingerboard. I have the 50's stratocaster drawings from the download section printed out full size and two things jumped out at me.... first off, the fingerboard in the drawing has 21 frets and the fingerboard has 24. Second, the fret spacing on the drawing gradually varies from the fret slots on the fingerboard. Not alot, but it varies. I know the nut to bridge distance needs to be dead on for the scale length. The fingerboard I have is for a 25 1/2 inch scale length which I thought was standard Fender. So here are my questions (again, sorry for the rookie questions) Are the drawings from the download section titled 50sstratocater for a 25 1/2 inch scale length? I can't really just measure it because the drawings don't show the neck and body together. If so, do I just cut off the highest 3 frets to make the fingerboard fit on the neck? Thanks in advance for your insight and advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Dont know about the drawings, they are probably not to scale or something. But yes, all you do is cut off the extras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buter Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Hiya It is pretty much accepted that most home printers won't print to scale with the accuracy required to make perfect templates from. You can increase/decrease the scale of your print until your drawing exactly matches your fb. There's a tutorial in the tutorials section that deals with making accurate scale templates from pictures, there's probably something in that thread that might help. Nail your scale length, everything else is just icing! Good luck Buter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stereordinary Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 (edited) Yeah, as Buter said it's probably just your printer. Definitely check it with a ruler. In fact, if you have a drawing program to manipulate the drawing that you have, draw a 1x1" reference box on it and then re-print it. Then you can just measure the box. But really you should measure the fret distances anyway. And I would not recommend simply cutting off the higher 3 frets. The heel of a Strat is 0.5" to the end past the last fret, and the distance from the 21st to 22nd fret on your board is only 0.425". So if you just cut it you will have a slight flat spot. A better thing to do would be to put a fret saw in your 22nd fret slot and saw it all the way through, then butt the two pieces back together and glue them up. The seam will be nearly invisible if you are careful. Edited June 16, 2010 by stereordinary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Like they say. However: I know the nut to bridge distance needs to be dead on for the scale length. The fingerboard I have is for a 25 1/2 inch scale length which I thought was standard Fender. makes me a bit nervous. The distance from the nut to the theoretically correct position of the bridge should be exactly 25 1/2". However you need ot take string stretch ing compensation (intonation) into consideration. So the actuall distance from nut to bridge sadle will be slightly longer. However the distance from the nut to the 12th fret will be exactly half the theoretical distance from nut to bridge, i.e. 12 3/4" (unless you're not using Buzz feiten, Earvana or other similar nut compensation systems, I know I probably just making you confused here, sorry...). So that should be your refference in stead of the nut to bridge measurement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82cabby Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 Thanks for the information everyone! I should have been more specific about the drawings, I printed them at work on a large format printer so its on one sheet of paper, not tiled. Also I added dimensions and checked those with a ruler when I printed it and they are accurate. Based on SwedishLuthier's comment: "However the distance from the nut to the 12th fret will be exactly half the theoretical distance from nut to bridge, i.e. 12 3/4"' I placed dimensions on the drawing from the edge of the nut closest to the fingerboard to various points on the twelfth fret. They are as follows: Nut to fret wire at 'beginning' of 12th fret: 12 3/64ths, Nut to center of one of the two dots in the middle of the fret: 12 27/64ths, Nut to fret wire at the 'end' of the 12th fret: 12 51/64ths. "And I would not recommend simply cutting off the higher 3 frets. The heel of a Strat is 0.5" to the end past the last fret, and the distance from the 21st to 22nd fret on your board is only 0.425". So if you just cut it you will have a slight flat spot. A better thing to do would be to put a fret saw in your 22nd fret slot and saw it all the way through, then butt the two pieces back together and glue them up. The seam will be nearly invisible if you are careful." Stereordinary, I'm sorry but I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Are you saying I should place the 'left over' fingerboard on the body? Sorry for the simpleton questions, but this really helps. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 "And I would not recommend simply cutting off the higher 3 frets. The heel of a Strat is 0.5" to the end past the last fret, and the distance from the 21st to 22nd fret on your board is only 0.425". So if you just cut it you will have a slight flat spot. A better thing to do would be to put a fret saw in your 22nd fret slot and saw it all the way through, then butt the two pieces back together and glue them up. The seam will be nearly invisible if you are careful." Stereordinary, I'm sorry but I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Are you saying I should place the 'left over' fingerboard on the body? . Thanks! He is suggesting that you cut fretboard in two pieces at 22 fret and then join the pieces back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82cabby Posted June 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 "And I would not recommend simply cutting off the higher 3 frets. The heel of a Strat is 0.5" to the end past the last fret, and the distance from the 21st to 22nd fret on your board is only 0.425". So if you just cut it you will have a slight flat spot. A better thing to do would be to put a fret saw in your 22nd fret slot and saw it all the way through, then butt the two pieces back together and glue them up. The seam will be nearly invisible if you are careful." Stereordinary, I'm sorry but I am having trouble picturing what your saying. Are you saying I should place the 'left over' fingerboard on the body? . Thanks! He is suggesting that you cut fretboard in two pieces at 22 fret and then join the pieces back together. Ah! I get it. So I'm not ending the fretboard just short of a slot. Got it! Thanks, I would have screwed that up for sure. I'm slow but I'll get there eventually.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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