"Longer" neck (14th or 16th fret meets the body) possible?

[Bart van Weperen]

Hello to all here!

 

Still working on my "cuban Très" but now I think I run into real problems.

The sides are bent and glued, back is bookmatched and thinned and soundboard is starting to become a soundboard.

I wanted to know where on the soundboard the soundhole would be and where (approx) the bridge would end up. (Plan was for the neck to meet the body at 12th fret)

So I measured (and measured again) and got confused at first and realy worried later.

The situation is that the center of the soundhole would be just a bit lower than the waist and the bridge would end up about 5 cm (1.97 inch) from the bottom. (see attached picture)

 

The only thing I can think of -in order to get the soundhole and bridge to move up to the neck- is making a "longer" neck, meaning that the 14th or even the 16th fret will meet the body.

The wood I have to make the neck would allow this (it is long enough) as does the "raw"-fretboard.

 

This Très will have nylon strings and I planned for a "3-point" bolt on neck.

I now that accoustics can have the 14th fret meeting the body, but would this also be possible for the 16th, without having to use a truss-rod? Or will this "exaggerated long neck" get me into new problems?

(Neck: Brazilian Cedar, fb: ebbony)

 

Thanks for reading this and if you think you can help/ advise: please do!

 

 

[William F.Eden]

If you don't mind me asking were did you come up with the layout of this Guitar? You first have to know how many frets you are going to have left on the F.B. to know were you will have the sound hole And then you have to know what scale the board is and if you want to have it enter the body at the 14th or the12th fret that alone will tell you were the Bridge will end up. As  an ex. if you use to enter at the 14th fret it will bring the Bridge closer to the neck and the 12th farther a way .Most guitars have the hole at a 4" centre from were the neck joints the body ,but it can very weather you have 18 frets or more. P.S I know that I am going out on a very thin limb here as I don't know anything about the kind of Guitar you are trying to build.  But it shure looks odddd.Bill..................

[William F.Eden]

Sorry Bart that would be 4" to the start of the hole from were the neck enters the body. And I don't think I would have the Bridge set past the center of the bottom bout In any case Bill...............

[Bart van Weperen]

Even I couldn't agree more with your views on bridge positioning, William/ Bill

PS please read the reply I wrote on my first post (bottom of page) I think it will explain what kind of amateur I am

[Eric Steven Johansen]

I'm currently in process on an acoustic baritone with a 27 3/4" scale and neck to body at fret 15 1/2. Rosewood and maple lamination with a 1/4" X 1/2" graphite non adjustable truss rod. It's the first one so I can't speak of success just yet, only that there are others of us out here trying it. As I recall the idea, for me anyhow, came from Mike Doolin, many years ago.............

[Eric Steven Johansen]

Just took a look at Doolins website. His necks join at the 19th fret...............

[Bart van Weperen]

Thanks for your input and for pointing out Doolins website. They lead me to belief a "longer neck" can be done. I will also have to re-think the bracing...

[Ned Knepp]

What's the scale length, Bart?  I'm thinking the scale length on a Cuban Tres is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 inches so I'm wondering if moving the neck out from the body is really going to force you to reinforce the neck.

 If you are using a longer scale length AND I correct about it being shorter, it would explain the odd placement of your sound hole / bridge.

[Bart van Weperen]

I was thinking of using 650 mm scale length, but traditionaly a Très has 550 mm sl. But now I'm no longer sure...

[Tim Mace]

Not based on experience but I would think that since nylon strung it would work. Can't you also shorten the scale  length some by cutting off the first fret/slot? That is if you haven't put the fb on...

[Bart van Weperen]

I haven't even started on the neck, Tim, so your solution could work. If only I had that knowledge/ insight on scale lengths. Can you tell where to begin learning about scale length?

 

[Bart van Weperen]

"That's another fine mess I've gotten myself into"

Thanks for the replies and the advise!

By now I know I started this project far too soon in my "carreer". (This would be my 2nd build and I only did "partial research" on tresses).

The fact that I came across some guitars that had been "transformed" into a Très made me think that building a Très would be like building a guitar. So that is where the idea of 650 mm scale length came from. And to add to that, my "plan" never even showed the bridge-position... So much for my "planning".

I realy have to dig into things as scale lengths, propperly drawing plans and much, much more! (The ease with witch Tim is speaking of "shortening the scale" is far beond my reach, any tips on how/ where to aquire that knowledge?)

To answer William's -Bill's- question: the layout for this project came from my brain... mostly fed by my ego wanting to show off (sad, but true)

Not that I consider this project a complete failure: I will complete this build...

I now know (and understand) what I did wrong so far (and hey: that is good, verry good in my book)

 

What I further read in the responses is that 16th fret-to-body can be done. There is no guarantee so maybe some sort of re-enforcement would be wise.

 

But first I have to contact the guy I was building this "Très" for.. it seems we have a lot to talk about/ resolve. ( And I personally have a lot of learning and traing left to do).

[Eric Steven Johansen]

Gotta love it when the lights come on. Experimentation is fun and rewarding but should be preceded by intense hands on study and exposure to as much information as you can get.