Andy40's TLA-1R Build

[wokkaboy]

good job Andy, the MOP inlays look great. Always order spares ! If you drilled out a bit of rosewood best thing to do is mix glue and some sawdust to build up the level. With practice you will get the depths as close as possible, so the inlay is just a little proud to minimise the sanding.
The job is 100 times easier if it's a scratch neck and the frets aren't installed or if it's a fretless neck !

[WeirdBits]

Andy, when you are measuring your scale length are you measuring from the fretboard side face of the nut to the peak (crown) of the fret wire of the 12th fret? That is, measuring down the centre of the neck to the middle of the actual fret wire?

Just want to be certain that your values are correct before you commit to your bridge placement.

[Andy40]

Hey Weirdy,

Yes, yes and no. I measured from the fretboard side of the nut, yes. I measured the centreline down the neck, yes but I measured to the dead centre of the 12th fret (not the crown). I think I followed Gavs instructions on neck positioning for that (also backed up by Stewmac). I think there's a dichotomy of thought there, some people measure to the dead centre of the 12th fret and some measure to the middle of the actual fret wire of the 12th.

Which is right?

Should I have measured to the middle of the actual fret wire? If so that would allow a longer length the the saddles, which would be great.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Andy, you should be measuring to the centre of the 12th fret wire, not the dot marker.
Typically nut to 12th fret on an F type (scale 25.5") should be 323/324mm

[WeirdBits]

Yep, nut to crown/peak/middle of fret wire of 12th fret, like this:

[tonyw]

As above, you measure to the center of the fret wire, not the marker, then to the center of your saddles.

[Andy40]

YUSS! (air fist pump)

Well that is good news. 323mm from nut face to middle of the 12th fret wire. If I double that measurement to get the scale length, that gives me sufficient room to position the bridge with saddle play for intonation. I don't think I'll need to rout or anything!

Thanks guys for clearing that up.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Andy, generally the low E string saddle will end up being about 326-329mm from 12th fret and high E will be around 323-325mm so as long as your saddles will meet those measurements you should be cooking with gas

[Andy40]

You win some, you lose some...Scrap wood string through fail



The inaccuracy stems from having to clamp the drill guide to the wood drill one hole, then unclamp, re-clamp drill the next...each time reclamping alters the tilt of the base plate which i did not measure with a spirit level each time. The scrap wood is also smaller than the body would be so it will be less stable than actually clamping to the body. nevertheless test 2 will follow sometime this week.

[tonyw]

Mount the bridge to the scrap Andy, and it will stay in place, if thats what i am thinking is going on?