The only way is to get an accurate 1m or 36in ruler and measure it.Originally Posted by thyoungscientist
Popular practice is to measure from the fretboard side of the nut to the PU side of the strings point of contact on the 12th fret, then double that figure to get your specific scale length.
The high E will often be very close to exactly that scale length figure that you just calculated, however due to the different thickness of the string the low E will usually be 5mm or so longer. This difference in length is needed (because of different thickness's of the strings) and is the reason why the bridge (or saddles like on a Strat build) often appears to "lean" slightly away from dead square to the strings.
Typically if you place the fretboard (when you set your neck) so that your scale length on the high E string falls approximately centre (or slightly fretboard side) of the adjustment range of your bridge then when it comes time to tune and intonate your build all your 'adjustments' will come together nicely and fall about mid range. Ideally this will also have the end of the fretboard very close to lining up with the PU cavity although it is not always the case.
On my PRS-1H build I did all those calculations and measurements and it worked out for me that the fretboard is about 1mm shy of the PU cavity, which leaves me with some handy shoulders for the PU rings to rest on and a fraction more wriggle room when mounting the PU's..... but as for how it will ultimately tunes up I won't know until I get some strings on it, which I suppose is the challenge we all face in building a guitar ...
Reply With Quote