Perhaps there is someone else that might find this not so rigorous derivation of interest. The spacing of the frets on the neck of a classical guitar is determined from the equation d = (21.9)(2) 712 , where x = the fret number and d = the distance in centimeters to the x-th fret … f(n) = f0*(a)n (1). %PDF-1.4 %���� Place the end of a tape measure against the fretboard side of the guitar nut. NUT or ZERO FRET and run up the neck towards the the bridge. A value of 0 results in a perpendicular nut. ( Log Out / Planning and Design | Fret Spacing Calculation | Template and Workboard | Building the Neck | Making the Body Plates | Soundhole Rosette | Soundboard Bracing | Bending the Sides | Gluing Sides to the Soundboard | Creating and Installing the Back Plate | Binding the Body | Making the Dovetail Neck Joint | Carving the Neck | Making the Fretboard | Making the Bridge | Creating the Headstock Inlay | Finishing | The End Product. Well, you shouldn’t worry at all. To calculate an appropriate value for any fret, simply divide the distance of the fret from the nut by the total length of the string. In their book Guitarmaking authors Natelson and Cumpiano included a table containing pre-calculated fret spaces for a guitar with a scale length of 25.4 inches, which is the scale length I chose to use. Note that only diatonic notes (no sharps or flats) are named on the fretboard chart above. FretFind2D. (Note that when I mention fret distances, I’m talking about two notes played on the same string. I found their book to be very complete reference also. 34 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<032750C2BD7B0F4C87CABF10C896BE40><5179167198C13647A6493FE9722EDBE5>]/Index[7 52]/Info 6 0 R/Length 117/Prev 57446/Root 8 0 R/Size 59/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream distance from the take off side of the nut to the centre of fret 1. Note: The scale length of a guitar is always twice the length from the front of the nut (or zero fret) to the 12th fret. I am tired of typing 1.05946309436, so let's just call it TR, for the Twelfth Root of 2. Figure that the tail end of your neck will be located 1” forward from the back edge of your box’s lid. A guitar's scale length is calculated by measuring the distance from the front edge of the nut, where it butts against the end of the fingerboard, to the center of the 12th (octave) fret, then doubling that measurement. Related Entries This will also provide you with nut-to-fret and fret-to-fret dimensions. you are both eccelent luthiers. %%EOF Enter you scale length and other info and click Submit. Now I had an equation to describe the relationship between a frequency n steps or notes away from a reference frequency which followed the rules of western music. hX�R��}���s�R�|�FU[�2&.1��$�����nlɑd���{$�X�x7[ �h�3=��}�RF�!\s"�-. (pun slightly intended). If you’re looking for a guitar with wide string spacing AND a wide neck….chances are you’ve noticed that the pickings are kind of slim. If you can find the same two notes on different strings, it won’t change the interval.) Calculating fret distances. It works great in some sort of spreadsheet program. 58 0 obj <>stream Continuing.... Set your compass with the point at the intersection of the arc and the long leg, … Now comes the first design choice, determining the fret scale, or the distance from the nut to the bridge. 7 0 obj <> endobj Now if we divide our scale length by the distance from the nut to the first fret we can find the ratio: Let’s try it: Equation 3 gives the scale length of the nth fret number (distance from the nth fret to the saddle), where L 0 is the guitars total scale length (distance from the face of the nut (zeroth fret) to the saddle). A value of 1 results in a perpendicular bridge. These are lists of fret positions for a selection of popular scale lengths used on stringed instruments. From there, click on the "calculate" button and the fret slot measurements will be displayed. endstream endobj startxref Take a measurement at the 12th fret, which is where the midpoint of the scale length crosses. Plug in the desired scale length, L0, and the desired fret number, n, and you get the distance from the face of the nut to that fret. All measurements are in millimetres and start at zero position i.e. When people think they have small hands, they are usually worried that they won’t have the reach to play notes. To calculate the frequency at the second fret, you multiply the note at the first fret times the twelfth root of two. To get the frequency of the string fretted at the first fret, you would multiply the frequency of the open string times 1.05946309436. In terms of practicality Equation 3 isn’t very useful, it makes much more sense to measure the fret distances from the face of the nut, the top of the fretboard in my case, rather than the saddle. So what’s that function of n? Divide an scales open string length b., and the result is the distance from the front edge of the nut to the rst fret. Measuring the distance from the nut to the saddle(s) is not exact because the saddles where moved during setting the intonation. But I couldn’t do that, I wanted to understand how those numbers were being calculated, so I set off to try and figure it out for myself. Fret 4 (F4) = 51.5 (SL) – [ 2.9(F1) + 2.7(F2) + 2.6(F3) ] / 17.82 = 2.4cm. A whole step, also known as a whole tone, is a distance of two frets. or several centuries, this number was rounded to and referred to as the rule of. Again I found the Physics department at MTU to be quite helpful. Improve this answer. Is that vital? p 2 : 1 with, or, equivalently, a frequency p 2 times larger than the frequency of the open note (the note sounded by plucking the string without pressing down on the string anywhere), we will need the length of the string we pluck to be1. I also knew that there were 12 steps or notes in western music and that they are arranged such that each note in a lower 12 note set will have half of the frequency of its partner in the 12 note set directly above it, and likewise each note in a higher 12 note set will have twice the frequency of its respective partner in the 12 note set directly below it. Using Equation 2, Equation 1 can be written only in terms of string or scale length, L, so that the frequency terms in Equation 1 can be replaced as, and when inserted into Equation 2 produces, L(n) = L0 /2n/12 (3). The next step was to try and find a relationship between Equation 1 and the fret spacing on a guitar. lets you print a multiple page template.… h�bbd``b`Z$@��@����s,� V ��I)� $���X �.�� ��$�$���8A� !p$a$�݀W%��30��H�;3012L��H?�?�+� �L| There’s really not very many choices, but the choices that are out there are prime. But it was no matter, I found out everything I needed to know and then some through good ol’ Wikipedia. I had taken a couple physics courses in college and somewhere in there I had learned how the frequency of a vibrating string could be represented by string length, tension and some other factors, but all that information had since been forgotten. The Vibrating String article provided the equation below (with a good derivation) for the frequency of a vibrating string, where L is the length of the string (the scale length in my case), T is the string tension and μ is the linear density of the string. This is the smallest fret wire out there, most commonly used on vintage guitars pre-dating the ‘60s. Our Fret Calculator also gives you compensated bridge placement -- only at stewmac.com! 1”. So I knew I needed an equation that would give me an nth frequency, a f(n) = frequency as a function of n so to speak, where n represents some number of steps or notes away from the base or reference frequency, f0, like the equation below. Here's a simplified diagram showing a guitar with one fret: From your deleted answer: I got to know now how it works. Fret scales can be anywhere from 22” to 25 1⁄4”. At the finish I really dont care about the spacing being a tad tighter, after all it is 1 & 3/4 inch neck width. d = s – (s / (2 ^ (n / 12))) where: Having additional frets on the guitar means that you will have extra high playable tones. Here is one example: a scale length of 25.5" (650mm) divided by 17.817 gives 1.4312173" (36.482011mm), which can be rounded down to 1.431" (36.48mm). I tried for a while to figure it out by myself and finally gave up and looked around on the internet for some help and to see if I was on the right track. Change ). lets you print a multiple page template. To do that L(n) in Equation 3 can be redefined as the distance from the face of the nut to the fret of interest, or in other words the result of Equation 3 must be subtracted from the guitars total scale length, as shown in Equation 4. In particular, old school Fenders tend to have 6230 fret wires built in to support the rounded radius of the fretboard. If you divide any scale length by the constant 17.817, you will get the distance from the front edge of the nut to the first fret. The guitars are designed to be accommodating to different people. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Jan 14, 2014 - There are a few online fret calculators that will give you the fret spacing for any given scale length. Think of it like this. 0 The 24th fret allows you to play a higher E note. Fret Calculator If you find this utility useful, please link your site to this page. Equation 3 gives the scale length of the nth fret number (distance from the nth fret to the saddle), where L0 is the guitars total scale length (distance from the face of the nut (zeroth fret) to the saddle). On the high E string of your 24-fret guitar (assuming it is on standard tuning), you have two more halftones than on a 22-fret guitar, giving you two full octaves. FretFind2D . A typical Board Nut Offset (the distance from the end of the board to the nut slot) is .250″ (1/4) but it … Rockin Cowboy Rockin Cowboy. It would have been perfectly fine for me to take this information without giving a second thought as to how it was obtained and go on my merry way with the layout of my fretboard. Then select how many frets the instrument will have. Simply enter the the number of frets and the scale length in millimetres then … endstream endobj 8 0 obj <>>> endobj 9 0 obj <>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC/ImageI]/Properties<>/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 612.0 792.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 10 0 obj <>stream The fret is raised above the fingerboard, so if you place your finger behind a fret, the string will become 'stopped' at that fret such that the 'speaking length' of the string is the length between the bridge and the fret. h�b``�d``*` ��R���Y8��$���������m�#&&���̞yam◣[��)�z�����WI9�k�^�jff`�wj�;� ��� In calculating fret positions, the objective is to divide the vibrating string length in the same way the octave has been divided above. I have really big hands & long fingers and since most production guitar necks tend to conform to standard Gibson or Fender specs (generally speaking) they're just too narrow for me. f = 1/(2L)*√(T/μ) (2), It should be mentioned that Equation 2 relies on the assumption that vibrational movements normal to the axis of the string are small compared to the length of the string, which is the case for a guitar. Nut width refers to the width of the guitar’s neck at the nut. There are a few online fret calculators that will give you the fret spacing for any given scale length. or eample, a tpical guitar scale length ender Telecaster is 25.5 inches 64 mm. A half step, also known as a semitone, is a distance of one fret. Follow edited Jan 2 '20 at 21:21. answered Dec 30 '19 at 21:33. I knew a little bit about music theory when I started, but I was by no means an expert (and I’m still not). This page accurately calculates the position of the fret slots for guitars and basses. ( Log Out / i’ve your book (guitarmaking tradiction and tecnology) and as far as i’m concerned is one of the best guitarbuilding book .i build guitars and mandolins just for pleasure i’m a totally self tout guy the only guide i ever hed was your book.well done.i leave in the south of italy,in calabria .every thing of the best,regards, Franco Rodi. It turns out I was on the right track, the base equation I got from MTU below is exactly what I was looking for, where a = 2 and n is replaced with n/12. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. And that’s all there is to it. Always measure the new fret from the nut down! These days, modern guitars tend to have thicker varieties in place, so 6230s are a bit of a rare find. To use the calculator, simply enter the desired scale length of the instrument and designate whether this value is in inches or millimeters. If your 1930's Gibson L-OO, for example, measures 12-3/8" at the 12th fret, then your guitar's scale length is twice that—a 24-3/4" scale. While preference in fret spacing exists, in general, you should have the hand development to play 99% of the stuff out there. *For an explanation of the Gibson scale length changes over the years see www.stewmac.com. Some manufacturers take this measurement at the 14th fret, while others take it … 12. p 2. times Lthe length of the whole string (from the nut to the bridge). Whelp, it's taken me nearly 20yrs to come to this conclusion, but I just can't get along with "normal" width necks & string spacing anymore. Locate this point on your neck. For a more detailed explanation of how fret spacing is calculated you may click this link Math for Guitar Fret Spacing Share. The default 0.5 results in a perpendicular octave fret. Calculate fret placement for guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, and more in inches or metric. But before cutting fret slots I think its a really good idea to check your work against an online calculator (I like Stewmac’s) or an existing table. I guarantee you’ll fall in love with AT LEAST one of the guitars on this list. Guitar building tips. For example, the open fifth string of the guitar normally tuned to A2, when fretted at the 12th fret will produce A3 an octave higher and the frequency will double from 110 Hertz to 220 Hertz.
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