Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey all! So, my question is about scale length and bridge position. The scale length I'm using is 25.5", so that distance has to be from where the first fret starts, (ie the fretboard side of the nut), to where the string crosses the saddle, yes? I'm using a hardtail bridge, (plate with 6 saddles). I'm getting to those critical points, so I want to be sure!



*Edit: added additional info.

Uh huh.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Awesome. Just wanted to be sure. I've been planning out my routing, got a ton of stuff going in.

From another thread.

I don't build regular electrics anymore,
but lap steels only.
The bridges on laps are straight across.
What I used to do was figure out the string length compensated,
on the bass and treble strings,
(you could use the Stew Mac chart for that)
Then move the saddles all the way back and forth with the screws,
and set it where it will work.
Most electric bridges have a lot of latitude that way.

Use StewMac's chart if you can. What type of bridge are you using? If it's a tunomatic, you're going to want to angle it or you may have trouble getting enough compensation on the saddles.

edit: nevermind the last part...I see you're not using a tunomatic.

http://www.stewmac.com/fretcalc

Ender appropriate digits, and it will give you recommended positions for string intersect points (i.e. leading edge of the nut and saddle) as well as hole drilling locations for most of the (types of) bridges they sell.

Alright, great, I'll be sure to look at that.

Jw, make sure that you understand what these folks are trying to tell you. The scale length is the distance from the back side of of nut to the saddle WITH NO COMPENSATION. It is also two times the distance from the nut to the 12th fret.

Because strings are stretched when they are pulled down to the fret they play a little bit sharp. The amount of sharpening is a function of, among other things, the diameter of the core wire (or diameter of a plane string) and varies from string to string. To make the guitar play more or less in tune you need to move the saddle a "little more" away from the nut - the amount for the bass side is more than the treble. Some people use a rule of thumb, some use something like the StewMac calculator and some do the actual math (there was a good article in American Lutherie a year or so ago). When I built my Lester I used both the measurements from the plans AND the SM calculator - they gave slightly different locations, but very close.

The nice thing about electric bridges is that most of them have some sort of fore/aft adjustment that lets you dial it in after the guitar is finished, but you want to be close to the middle of that range when you anchor the bridge. The SM calculator will do that for you.

I see, so even if the scale length is 25.5", I have to put the saddle a bit further away from nut. The saddles do move fore/aft, but you're right, I do want to be close to the middle of the range so I can actually adjust it. On the SM fret calculator, it says to put the 25.5" mark where the front mounting screws are on the hardtail bridge, is this a good reference point?

If you put a 25.5" scale into the calculator, I don't find one bridge that has the mounting screws at 25.5". Are you talking about the 25.25" for the Gotoh hardtail? I guess I'm not really sure what you mean by a reference point. It's just telling you where to put the screws so that the saddles end up in a comfortable position for adjusting the intonation.

On most electrics, it's really not all that critical because they have a huge amount of adjustment. It's pretty important to get it really close on a tunomatic, though, because you will run out of room REAL fast. Strive to nail it. It's good practice.

I'll tell you how I do mine. I have to give credit to Cumpiano for showing me this, thought I've expanded it for my own needs. I make a full size template of the neck, starting at the nut. I just make it from a piece of poster boards. On this, I mark important things, like pickup locations, body locations, scale length, etc. Then I measure out for the various bridge locations I use.

Then I make a sharp, right angle bend in the paper right at the nut location....sorta' like a little hook. When it's time to layout various things, I can just hook the template over the nut slot, and mark. This is way simpler than futzing around with big rulers because it's so much easier to measure on a flat piece of paper.