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fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:17 am
by mike-p
Can't quite get my head around this but I'm aiming for;

1 13/16th nut width, which is where i've got my fingerboard to

2 1/4 Saddle spacing on the bridge which Ken sent me.

On the link to the Martin site it says 2 5/16 width at the 12th fret for 1 13/16th nut.

http://www.martinguitar.com/featuresmat ... hapes.html

Trouble is;

I've ended up, after flush sanding the frets etc, with 2 9/32 at the 12th fret, which is 1/32 off.

I'm also worried that the Martin spec is for 2 1/8 bridge pin spacing, not 2 1/4.

Do we think i will encounter problems with the strings too close to the edge of the FB?

My thoughts are;


reduce nut width to 1 3/4

Use an old stock Gibson bridge i have with 2 1/8 pin spacing.

Any thoughts?

Re: fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:02 am
by ken cierp
Non-issue

Re: fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:08 am
by mike-p
Thanks Ken, it's very hard when it's your first time doing something to work out what measurements are the important ones and which ones will be fine a little off.

Re: fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:16 am
by ken cierp
Wait -- I re-read your post and see that you sanded the FB too narrow at the 12th.

Re: fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:36 am
by mike-p
yeah, it's tricky to get my head around, lots of info seems to say 12 fret width can be the same as the string spacing at the saddle in which case i'm probably ok.

Re: fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:54 am
by mike-p
confusingly enough the old gibson bridge i have is 2 1/16th spacing, real nice looking though.

Re: fretboard taper

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:07 am
by ken cierp
OK -- engineering invoice to follow -- jsut kidding

If you space "E" strings at the nut .10 from the edges the 2 1/4" bridge will yield a 2.06 spread at the 12th fret .11 at the edges -- perfect.