Posted on February 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by Dale Phillips It Worked For Me: Nut Spacing It Worked For Me: Nut Spacing by Graham McDonald Originally published in American Lutherie #127, 2016 Getting the correct string spacing at the nut on mandolin family instruments can be tricky. The nut width is often quite small and you need to fit four or sometimes five double courses of strings. It is not only the distance between the courses which is important, but also the distance between the strings of each course (the intracourse distance) which can make a real difference in the feel and playability of the instrument. A friend who has an early Steve Gilchrist A-5 mandolin brought it to me a few years ago for a nut replacement. He was insistent that I duplicate the string spacing, as it was about as good as it was going to get. This mandolin had a 30MM (1 3/16") nut. I needed to document the spacings in order to be able to replicate the nut. The best thing I could think of doing was to slide a short steel ruler under the strings in front of the nut and take a photo. This was a few cameras back so the maximum resolution was only 1600×1200 pixels, but still, it clearly shows where the strings sit in relation to the edges of the fretboard and to each other. A printout at maximum resolution is a handy thing to have stuck on the wall above the bench. Photo by Graham McDonald. Of course, it is not just mandolins that this can be used for. I am sure we have all found guitars or other instruments where the strings just sit comfortably on the fretboard under the left hand. Building up a small collection of such digital images could come in quite handy. ◆
Posted on January 19, 2026February 23, 2026 by Dale Phillips Calculating Fret Intervals with Spreadsheet Software Calculating Fret Intervals with Spreadsheet Software by Wayne Kelly Originally published in American Lutherie #43, 1994 Luthiers who own or have access to a personal computer will find spreadsheet software useful in calculating fret intervals. Spreadsheet software is commonly used for accounting, budgeting, and presentation of tabular data. It is invaluable for testing “what if” scenarios because a change made to one cell of a spreadsheet will cause a “ripple effect,” automatically changing values in other cells dependent on that cell. This feature of spreadsheet software makes it possible to calculate fret intervals for a given scale length instantly. Change the scale length value and “presto,” another set of fret intervals is automatically and instantly calculated and displayed. Results can be printed if desired. Within a few minutes one could create a book of fret interval tables for dozens of different scale lengths. I created a spreadsheet to calculate fret intervals using the “fret factors” found in a popular textbook on guitar building (Cumpiano, William R. and Natelson, Jonathan D., Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology, Rosewood Press, Maine, 1987, p. 268). With fret factors, each fret’s distance from the nut is determined by simply multiplying the fret’s factor by the chosen scale length. My spreadsheet allows one to enter a given scale length, expressed in decimal inches, and it then calculates and displays the distance from the nut to each of 21 frets, as shown in the accompanying figure. The fret intervals are displayed in three columns expressed in centimeters, decimal inches, and sixty-fourths of an inch, respectively. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips Partial Refrets Partial Refrets by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007 Partial refrets are a somewhat different matter than a full refret. Full refrets are often done for reasons other than worn frets, such as a compression refret to take excess relief out of a neck with a nonoperative or nonadjustable truss rod, or to allow a fretboard hump at the body joint to be dressed out. Partial refrets are usually performed on an instrument that has been played exclusively on the first few frets. Those frets have been grooved by the strings to the point where the strings buzz on the seldom-used frets. Most of the time I like to replace a couple of the unmarred frets as well just to play it safe. Occasionally a fret in the middle of the fretboard gets damaged and must be replaced. The procedure for this is similar to a partial refret for worn frets. There are other reasons to perform a partial refret, such as installing taller frets by the nut to make a slightly back-bowed neck playable, but these considerations are not covered here. I used to dislike partial refrets and tried to talk the customer into a full refret. This insured that the same fretwire covered the entire fretboard and also put more money in my pocket. After a slight mental adjustment and some practice at partial refrets I have come to look forward to them. The money involved is less, but partial refrets are normally far less complicated than a full refret and take a predictable amount of time. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on January 15, 2026January 15, 2026 by Dale Phillips Slotting Fretboards Slotting Fretboards by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #70, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume Six, 2013 Many luthiers skip the tedious chore of slotting their own fretboards, and with good reason. Preslotted boards are readily available in most of the common scale lengths, and I’ve never used a prepared board that wasn’t accurately made. However, if you wish to escape the use of ebony or rosewood, or if a strange scale length is calling your name, you may have no choice but to slot your own fretboards. Accuracy and neatness are the attributes of a properly slotted board. Completing the job efficiently while keeping your temper under control requires a few basic tools. Be warned, however, that the frustration factor is harder to control than the necessary accuracy. Fretboard wood is usually the hardest and most abrasion resistant that can be found, and it doesn’t give in to slotting politely. It’s possible to buy your way out of this situation. It’s ironic that the cost of machine slotting is hardly more than a dedicated miter box, and can be a lot cheaper than a deluxe miter box. Assuming, that is, that you haven’t invested in a table saw just to cut fret slots. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 3, 2025June 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Resurrecting the Family Banjo Resurrecting the Family Banjo by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Though the title says banjo, this could as easily be about any stringed instrument. We’ve all seen them, the family “heirloom” that some relative has decided deserves to be played again, perhaps because they think it will be cheaper than buying a comparable new one, but more likely for some sentimental reason. The number of such beaters you actually get to work on may vary with your locality. Sentimentality didn’t count for much in New Jersey, and I had a collection of junky guitars that had been abandoned once the concerned relative learned what the cost of resurrection would be. Virginians, on the other hand, seem to put more stock in sentimentality and I’ve had the chance to rebuild several instruments that probably weren’t worth the fee I charged. Though this is about restoring an instrument to playability, please understand that we’re not talking about restoration as a vintage specialist would understand it. That sort of restoration often requires specialized knowledge and may demand a lot of research as well as the exchange of hefty sums of cash. It’s not much fun, either, unless you suffer a certain type of personality. In fact, some of what you and your customer may decide to do may interfere with future restoration, so it pays to have some idea of what’s collectable and what’s not. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
