Calculating Bridge Position. Measure from the fretboard side of the saddle, where the high E string crosses, to the fretboard edge of the bridge. Subtract the above result from the scale length. Measure the resulting distance from the guitar nut to find proper bridge placement. Most electric guitar bridges have adjustable saddles. Positions on the fingerboard so that the strings resonate as close as possible to the correct pitch regardless of their stopping position. Guitar makers use a standard formula to calculate fret positioning.Difficulty:ModerateInstructions Things You'll Need Calculator. Determine the instrument's scale length. This is the distance bet.
Cigar Box Guitars, or CBGs, have been made in the U.S. since at least the late 1800s. People without enough money for “proper instruments” have historically made CBGs from cigar boxes, along with other make shift materials that could be found or purchased inexpensively? The calculations for placement of frets on a CBG are based on a mathematical formula based on dividing by 17.187, the mathematical constant for equal temperament of tones in western music. On line fret calculation programs that allow you to enter your design specifications work for CBGs. Some of these are free to access.
Measure the scale length of your CBG. Scale length is the distance between the bridge and nut of a stringed musical instrument.
Divide your scale length by 17.817. The answer is your first fret’s offset from the nut. The nut is the piece, just under the headstock, that keeps your strings up and off the fret-board. The bridge serves this function at the back of the CBG’s body. All frets are calculated in distance from the nut.
For example, if your CBG’s scale length is 24.5 inches, which is common for a CBG, divide 24.5 by 17.817 to get 1.375. It’s pointless to calculate beyond three decimal places since you are not able to cut the frets any more accurately, nor are you able to hear difference in tone beyond that tolerance. Position your first fret at 1.375-inches from the nut.
Subtract the distance between the nut and the first fret from your scale length and divide that number by the constant, 17.817. Add this result to the distance between the nut and the first fret. The answer is the second fret’s offset from the nut.
For example, subtract 1.375, your first fret’s offset from the nut, from 24.5, your scale length, to get 23.125.
Divide 23.125 by 17.817, yielding 1.297.
Add 1.297 to 1.375, your first fret’s offset from the nut, to get 2.672. Position your second fret 2.672 inches from the nut.
Subtract the distance between the nut and the second fret from your scale length and divide that number by the constant, 17.817. Add this result to the distance between the nut and the second fret. The answer is the third fret’s offset from the nut.
For example, subtract 2.672, your second fret’s offset from the nut, from 24.5, your scale length, to get 21.828.
Divide 21.828 by 17.817, yielding 1.225.
Add 1.225 to 2.672, your second fret’s offset from the nut, to get 3.897. Position your third fret 3.897 inches from the nut. Classroom management examples.
Continue using the same series of formulae for each fret up the neck.
Tip
You can find free-use, online fret position calculators, good for CBGs, at the Cigar Box Guitars website and the Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information website.
A multi-scale fingerboard is an instrument fretboard which incorporates multiple scale lengths. The scale length is the vibrating length of the strings.
Guitars, including bass guitars, generally employ a single scale length for all of the instrument's strings, though the employed scale length varies significantly between manufacturers (electric guitar scale typically falls between 24' and 25.5'). This measure is the effective length of each of the vibrating strings, not counting compensation for adjusting intonation.
A multi-scale fingerboard or fretboard is typically based on two scale lengths, but could potentially incorporate more. The most typical use is one (long) scale length for the low string and a different, usually shorter, scale for the highest string. This could be achieved by angling the nut, and bridge, and fanning the frets. Strings between the highest and lowest would also each have a unique scale length.
2Fanned-fret guitar
History[edit]
illustration of a bandora from Syntagma Musicum Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia, Wolfenbüttel, 1620CE.
The bandora is a late 16th-century instrument with a longer string length for its bass strings than for its trebles. It is depicted in Praetorius' music dictionary Syntagma Musicum published in 1619.
The concept of the multiscale fingerboard goes back to at least 1900, when the first patent for such a fingerboard was filed by E. A. Edgren. (Patent #652-353, E. A. Edgren)
In his 1900 patent Edgren describes in his claims: “… a musical instrument the combination with a sounding body or box, of the following instrumentalities, to wit: a neck approximately in the form of a double convex in cross section…” a plurality of frets secured to said neck, said frets being positioned at an angle one to the other so that the first and last frets incline in opposite directions “.. it will be noted that the bottom flange of the head C runs at an angle so that one side of the neck B will be longer than the side opposite. The frets diverge, running from the center outward, so that the lower frets extend slightly in a direction opposite to the upper frets”. This patent is no longer in force. When it was, it affected only instruments with a curved fingerboard, such as most steel-string guitars.
Possibly the first modern multiscale fretboard was used on an instrument called a StarrBoard, invented by John D. Starrett in 1977. Starrett developed a tapping instrument that employs a matrix of halftones, fretted horizontally with strings spaced vertically, to allow one fingering to cover all scales. Because of the large range of notes from low B below E on a bass, to high B four octaves above, however, he needed a way to have a long scale for the low B, but a shorter scale for the high B. He simply laid out the two scales he thought would work and connected the dots.
Fanned-fret guitar[edit]
U.S. Patent 4,852,450 drawing by Ralph Novak
Ralph Novak's fanned fret guitar
Fanned-fret guitars have a multi-scale fingerboard because of 'offset' frets; that is, frets that extend from the neck of the guitar at an angle. This is in contrast to the standard perpendicular arrangement of other guitars. Proponents of this style of guitar claim such benefits as comfort, better ergonomics, better intonation, and better control of the tension of the strings across the fretboard.[1]
An example of a multi-scale bass guitar with fanned frets. The instrument is a 'Dingwall Prima Artist', made in Saskatoon (Canada) by Sheldon Dingwall.[2]
Ralph Novak[edit]
Ralph Novak set out to provide an 'ideal' electric guitar for blues musicians.[3][4]intending it to provide better tonality and to prevent his fingers from sliding from the end of the fret when bending the high E string.
The fanned-fret idea actually started out from a very simple and very selfish notion …. As a blues guitar player, I liked to do a lot of note-bending, and at the same time I liked to have a crisp, crunchy sound on the low strings. … From doing repairs for a number of years, I knew it wasn’t the construction, the stiffness of the neck, or the types of wood causing these tonal things. And it wasn’t the pickups.[4]
Novak recreated an old method of fret positioning to provide the natural scale length for each string and thus achieve better intonation across all strings. In 1989, Novak patented a fret arrangement that he called the “fanned fret”.[1][5] The patent has expired, but Novak retains the trademark term 'fanned-fret'.[6][7]
Traditionally, guitar frets are arranged perpendicularly to the guitar’s neck. Novak's design aligned the frets in a non-parallel pattern, or 'fanned.' The slanted frets effectively lengthen the low strings and shorten the high-pitched strings by placing the bridge at an angle to the nut such that the distance between the nut and bridge on the side of the fretboard for the low E string is longer than it is on the side of the high E string. Novak claims this results in uniform string tension across the neck of the guitar,[8] easier adaptability to altered tuning, enhanced definition of harmonics, and the elimination of non-harmonic overtones and unwanted noise.[4] On a traditional guitar, the G string sometimes feels like it has a higher tension than the other strings; on fanned-fret guitars, the G string retains normal tension and has a somewhat warmer tone.[4]
See also[edit]
Bandora (instrument);
Orpharion, another early modern instrument, similar to the bandora;
Charlie Hunter, an American jazz guitarist who has performed and recorded with a “fanned-fretted”, eight-string electric guitar built by Ralph Novak;
Jean Baudin of the band Nuclear Rabbit plays nine and eleven string bass guitars which feature fanned frets;
Brahms guitar, an eight-string classical guitar with slanted frets, originally developed by guitarist Paul Galbraith and luthier David Rubio.
References[edit]
^ ab'Novax guitars.' Novax guitars website. Accessed 17 October 2012.
^http://www.dingwallguitars.com
^'Ralph Novak.' Vintage Guitars website. Accessed 17 October 2012.
^ abcd[1] Greenfield guitars website. Accessed 11 December 2012.
^'Patent US4852450A Fingerboard for a stringed instrument.' Accessed 29 August 2013.
^'Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)'. tmsearch.uspto.gov. Retrieved 2015-10-04.
^'Why fanned-frets?' Dingwall Guitars website. 25 August 2008. Accessed 16 June 2013.
External links[edit]
A calculator to calculate fret locations for a multiscale fretboard can be found on the Calculating Fret Positions page of the Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website.
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