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PostPosted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 6:14 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:51 am
Posts: 280
Location: Where Palm trees grow
First name: Jeremy
Last Name: Wood
City: Galveston
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77554
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Well it's Christmas and I've got my first acoustic guitar built and now I'm ready for build two. Of course the first part of any build is procuring the materials needed for construction. I'm good on everything but the fret board. All I can find online are either the wrong size or they haven't been cut to the nut and heel widths. This is fine for most but I don't trust myself to cut it right and I'm not even gonna attempt cutting the fret slots. What I'm looking for is either some one that wouldn't mind making me a fretboard to the dimensions I need and cutting the slots or for someone to point me out to a place that sells exactly what I need.

Scale length-----25.5

Nut width---------43.3mm

Heel width---------57mm

Slots---------------20-21

Thank you

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 12:50 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:32 pm
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First name: Alex
Last Name: Kleon
City: Whitby
State: Ontario
Zip/Postal Code: L1N8X2
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Try Andy Birko. He is a member here, and gets raves for his work! http://www.birkonium.com/

Alex

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 3:33 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:51 am
Posts: 280
Location: Where Palm trees grow
First name: Jeremy
Last Name: Wood
City: Galveston
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77554
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
All right sounds good. But there are a lot of parameters I've managed to get most of the measurements as you'll see below but I need a lil help on radius. I actually did not know about the neck radius at all. I thought it had something to do with where the fretboard meets the neck. Lol stupid me!!! Any way if someone could explain the neck radius a lil and help me find the correct radius for my neck I would really appreciate it.

Scale length-------25.5
Fret slot depth-----.085
Frets---------------20
Width at nut--------1.6875 or 1 11/16
Joins body----------15th fret
Width at joint-------2.125 or 2 1/8

Radius at nut------???????
Radius at end------???????

Length of board-----18
Thickness of board----.250

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 4:12 pm 
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Second guitar. It could be time for instructional resources :)

Radius is very individual, but of course there are standards depending on the type of guitar you're planning to make.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 4:51 pm 
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Cocobolo
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Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:51 am
Posts: 280
Location: Where Palm trees grow
First name: Jeremy
Last Name: Wood
City: Galveston
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77554
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Yes I am ordering the cumpiano book soon. I kept putting it off thinking I could go without it but I think I want to do some more reading. My first guitar works great but I used cheaper materials and experimented and learned a lot. The only thing on it that really needs work is the fretboard. So this time I have bought a few more tools to make things easier. But the problem is still my budget on but not on the parts that matter like fret board. Also I'm almost paying as much for the fretboard as I am for the neck by having one CNC'd. Any way I'm building an acoustic/electric double cutaway if that helps. Thanks again.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 5:32 pm 
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Duhjoker wrote:
Yes I am ordering the cumpiano book soon. I kept putting it off thinking I could go without it but I think I want to do some more reading.

[:Y:]

Duhjoker wrote:
I'm almost paying as much for the fretboard as I am for the neck by having one CNC'd. Any way I'm building an acoustic/electric double cutaway if that helps.

Traditionally, acoustics have a 16' radius.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 6:20 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:51 am
Posts: 280
Location: Where Palm trees grow
First name: Jeremy
Last Name: Wood
City: Galveston
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77554
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Ok did a lil reading. Is the 16 all the way through or does it need to start at 12?

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In order to make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 7:56 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Traditionally, acoustics have a 16' radius.

Shouldn't that be 16" radius if you are talking about the fretboard ? [:Y:]

Some fretboards will use the same radius throughout and some vary it from end to end.



These users thanked the author Clay S. for the post: gxs (Fri Dec 27, 2013 2:42 pm)
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:10 pm 
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Clay S. wrote:
Shouldn't that be 16" radius if you are talking about the fretboard ? [:Y:]


The question was about fretboard radius, so I presumed it was a given.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 10:31 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:51 am
Posts: 280
Location: Where Palm trees grow
First name: Jeremy
Last Name: Wood
City: Galveston
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77554
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
All right so do I myself need the compound radius? Does my style of playing reflect on the radius I need. Like I play everything from classical to metal and drop D. And the guitar will be made to accompany those styles.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 11:44 pm 
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That depends on what you like not what other people like. Same as with the nut width, everyone has their own preference which comes from playing a lot of different guitars.

For instance. I much prefer a 24.XX scale over a 25.XX. and I prefer a 12" radius, but that is just my preference and if you talk to 20 guys you will probably get 20 different answers.

We can tell you that a 12" radius is "best" but you may find out you actually prefer 20, so it is totally personal preference.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 2:53 pm 
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Cocobolo
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Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 10:58 pm
Posts: 198
Location: usa
First name: george
Last Name: s
Country: usa
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
You can always take more off, hard to put it back on


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 4:26 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 12:51 am
Posts: 280
Location: Where Palm trees grow
First name: Jeremy
Last Name: Wood
City: Galveston
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77554
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Ok so I'm very comfortable with the fret board on my starcaster acoustic. So after a lot of researching I couldn't find was I was looking for. Fender makes two different starcaster models. A full electric version like a strat and the acoustic model. Well the info on the strat model doesn't help of course. Also people don't like these acoustics. One person actually called his a POS. I've played and owned many a guitar throughout the years and let me say I wouldn't trade my SC for the world. It may not be top of the line but it sounds better than any guitar in its price range and I've learned more music on it than any of the others because of its playability. That's just my opinion though. Any way I decided to call fender straight up and they very graciously told me that my fretboard had a 12" radius through out. So that's what I'm going with.

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In order to make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe.
- Carl Sagan

Check out F.O.F. Custom guitars on Facebook.

Www.fofcustomguitar.weebly.com


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:15 am 
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Cocobolo
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Location: usa
First name: george
Last Name: s
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Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Beauty is in the eye of thru beholder. All that matters is that you like it.
GS


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