Best way to mark out fret positions?

[Thunderpaws]

Hello everyone,

Just drawing out my plans for my first bass build. Marking out fret positions. I've used Stew Macs calculator to get distances, but there are two decimal places. For example, distance from nut to first fret is 48.47mm. I can be pretty accurate with a sharp pencil, but not that accurate!! My steel rule is divided into half millimetres. How will this effect my neck and will it raise any tuning/intonation issues!

Cheers for any help, suggestions!

g

[Mikey R]

I just use FretFind:

[url="http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/"]http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/[/url]

Just print out the PDF then prit-stik it to your fingerboard. I line a block of maple next to each line to guide the saw and keep it square.

You can print it out on multiple sheets of A4 - thats what I did - but Ive been looking for a print shop that can print out the whole thing on one sheet.

Good luck!

Edited February 20, 2010 by Mikey R

[Al Heeley]

Good advice from Mikey. I reckoned accuracy to within 1/2mm was fine for me, same steel rule. You want to be as accurate as possible, but don't get too hung up on it. After all, someone with a heavier hand is going to squeeze the string maybe 1/4 a semi tone more when fretting, so your tenths of mm's are not significant. I reckon within 1/2 a mm is within human hearing tolerance for a bass.

[Thunderpaws]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='752428' date='Feb 21 2010, 12:59 AM']Good advice from Mikey. I reckoned accuracy to within 1/2mm was fine for me, same steel rule. You want to be as accurate as possible, but don't get too hung up on it. After all, someone with a heavier hand is going to squeeze the string maybe 1/4 a semi tone more when fretting, so your tenths of mm's are not significant. I reckon within 1/2 a mm is within human hearing tolerance for a bass.[/quote]


Thanks for the help from both of you. I think that method sounds fine. Just so happens as well that my brother is a graphic designer for a print company who might be able to print out the whole sheet for me if I'm lucky. Super. Try finding a print company in your area.

Once again, thanks for your help.

g

[karlthebassist]

You should be able to acurately mark out acurately between 1/4 and 1/2mm. As Al said, its going to be affected by other matters anyway. Advice when marking lines that you are going to cut - use a stanley knife or scalple. A prencil line can be left in or taken out when cutting/sanding/planeing up to it, so there can always be a bit of error. Dont mark tempoary lines with a knife thought or you'll have a bass covered in cuts!

[Mikey R]

Just out of interest, what saw are you planning on using to cut the slots? The kerf needs to match the width of the fret tang almost exactly.

I got an inexpensive gents saw and removed the set with a hammer. Its probably due a sharpenning now which will be a bit of a challenge, cross cut with no set may be tricky.

Alternatively, there may be Japanese saws that have the correct kerf width. Depends if you get on with the pull stroke thing - I just cant seem to get it.

[Thunderpaws]

[quote name='Mikey R' post='752634' date='Feb 21 2010, 11:17 AM']Just out of interest, what saw are you planning on using to cut the slots? The kerf needs to match the width of the fret tang almost exactly.

I got an inexpensive gents saw and removed the set with a hammer. Its probably due a sharpenning now which will be a bit of a challenge, cross cut with no set may be tricky.

Alternatively, there may be Japanese saws that have the correct kerf width. Depends if you get on with the pull stroke thing - I just cant seem to get it.[/quote]

Hello there,

I was planning on getting a pull saw. David dyke sells them,as do tonetech. I'll decide later this week. I don't think there's anywhere here in Scotland that sells any of the luthier tools I need, so it'll no doubt be online.

Cheers,

g

[BigRedX]

If you're going to use a print out make sure that your printer is actually outputting to the correct size. Most cheap (sub £500) printers are at least 0.5% if not more out which might will make a difference to the scale length at the very least. I'd go with a good steel rule used within it's temperature tolerance and a sharp knife for marking.

[Mikey R]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='756281' date='Feb 24 2010, 05:44 PM']If you're going to use a print out make sure that your printer is actually outputting to the correct size. Most cheap (sub £500) printers are at least 0.5% if not more out which might will make a difference to the scale length at the very least. I'd go with a good steel rule used within it's temperature tolerance and a sharp knife for marking.[/quote]

Good point! I used the A4 printer at work - nobody knows where the A1 printer is - and checked the scale length before starting.

Im still looking for a print shop - no luck over the weekend.

[Thunderpaws]

Decided to make a template first. I have used a strip of aluminium and marked it out using a steel rule (tried to be as accurate as i could). Tomorrow I should be able to cut notches on the edge using a hack saw then I'll be able to use this to start the cuts on my finger board without worrying too much if it's in the right position. Wonder if I should make a fret slotting jig...any ideas?

Listened to Vapour Trails on the way home....how'd Geddy play so fast?!