Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: sgmypod on February 02, 2011, 09:02:41 AM
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Putting new bridge on guitar not sure old one was original, how do you measure the scale length and when measuring do you do it of the e a g etc thanks for help
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Measure nut to twelth fret,double it,thats the scale length!
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silly question take it you mean to the fret on the left of 12th not the right
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The octave will be half the string length ... so you'd measure from the nut to the fret that is defining the octave ... if that makes sense.
If it doesn't make sense, it should be the fret under the 12th fret harmonic. In fact measuring to that harmonic and doubling it would be the most accurate way.
And if that doesn't make sense then here's a picture of Captain Picard with a silly moustache and a bucket on his head.
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It kinda did make sense thanks all
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Strings are not infinitely thin; each string has a different thickness.
Because of this, each string intonates at different points on the bridge side. This is why you have some saddles on the bridge further away or closer to the neck than other saddles. The distance from the nut to the bridge is going to be different for each string if the guitar is set up properly. This is why people measure from the nut to the 12th fret and double it; it's the same for all 6 strings.
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what guitar is it?
front of nut to centre of 12th fret x 2 gives you the number used to calculate fret position. This is the number almost everybody but gibson refers to as scale length and will do fine for what you want.
Strings are compensated (saddles moved back) to allow for the fact you bend the string slightly sharp when fretting, as mentioned above different strings (and set-ups!) require different amounts.
When placing a bridge i adjust the saddles about 7/8ths of the way forward and place the high E break point bang on the scale length measurement. some people set it to the middle of the bridges adjustment, which is often fine but i find it wastes the available saddle travel for setting intonation. you should never really need to move the saddles forward of the scale length - the 1/8 i leave in front is fudge room, i dont need 1/2 the bridges adjustment as fudge room! But you never know when someone will want heavier strings or a higher action so extra backwards adjustment can come in very handy
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gibson's scale length is not the number used to calculate fret position. they advertise 24 3/4" scale length but the 'nut to 12 fret x 2' number is actually closer to 24 5/8" or 24 9/16" depending on year. this often confuses people when checking the scale length on gibson's. The 24 3/4" they refer to is often called a 'compensated scale length' meaning that after compensation the string length is about 24 3/4"
its always seemed daft to me, because each string is a different length and none may actually end up being 24 3/4". the other way is just more accurate!
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Dunno Wez, however much the measurement is out, it'll be well within the tolerance levels of Gibson
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Appears to be 25.5 scale length is my odd curlee thing appears old bridge may be original. Have fitted bridge adjusted got intonation sorted it seems
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Also forgot to say is 24fret
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that wont affect bridge placement, just the amount of room between bridge and neck
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Thought it wouldn't decided to mention as new to me, loving the schaller I think its called bridge