Posted on July 1, 2024July 9, 2024 by Dale Phillips Questions: Single Fretting Fixture Questions: Single Fretting Fixture by Tim Shaw Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010 Mark French from West Lafayette, Indiana asks: Do people ever make a single fretting fixture and just pick off whatever section they need for a specific type of instrument? I started with a 25.5" scale length and added some frets to bump it up to about 34.07". It looks like I can use this set of positions to find fret spacing for everything from a bass to a mandolin. Tim Shaw from Fender in Nashville, Tennessee responds: You could also use this for both medium-scale bass, which is usually 32", and short-scale bass, which is typically 30" or so. Since Leo Fender had the 25.5" scale first, I don’t know if he actually “added” frets to come up with 34", but that was certainly possible on the prototype. The shorter Fender scales were also probably started by lopping frets off a standard neck. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
