A New Tenor Scale Length?

Out of curiosity I ordered a pre-slotted tenor fretboard from a vendor. However I didn't read the fine print and the thing came as a 17 3/32 fret interval length board. When I contacted the vendor why they added a 3/32 to the the standard 17 inch fretboard the reply was, and I quote:

"Many modern builders use that scale length even though it is not traditional."

Is this true you "modern" builders? I find that the added 3/32 throws off my neck length and bridge patch calculation locations ever so slightly. I suspect the difference is probably trivial, but maybe not...I suppose the theory is that this might give a tenor a little more power and projection? I don't know, but I'm skeptical. I do suspect that the person who calculated fret intervals inadvertently added compensation to the calculation. Any thoughts?

17 3/32" is about the total scale length for a 17" board with added length for compensation. See the Stew-Mac fret calculator. Are you sure that your vendor isn't telling you lay out a total scale length of 17 3/32" from nut to saddle?

The 17 3/32" is a side effect of using a guitar scale fret cutting template and finding the closest fit for 17"

I also don't see any problem at all as a few well known fellas on here use that exact length.

I'd certainly be fine with recalculating the bridge position based for the slightly longer scale length. That's easy peasy. Ignore that number and double the nut to twelfth fret, then add compensation.

RPA_Ukuleles said:

The 17 3/32" is a side effect of using a guitar scale fret cutting template and finding the closest fit for 17"

Click to expand...

That is what is going on. I suppose it is not a big deal that the nut to saddle length is 17 3/16 (adding compensation to the 17 3/32 length) rather 17 and 3/32. The nut is pushed back 3/64 of an inch and the bridge back by the same amount. Probably insignificant and trivial. I was just puzzled why the 3/32 got added. Now I know it comes from the guitar template. Thanks RPA.

saltytri said:

17 3/32" is about the total scale length for a 17" board with added length for compensation. See the Stew-Mac fret calculator. Are you sure that your vendor isn't telling you lay out a total scale length of 17 3/32" from nut to saddle?

Click to expand...

I suspect also that this is the right answer but we could be wrong. Far too many builders in the past have simply glued the saddle on at 17" so they are now calling it a 17 3/32" scale.

There is about a half hours work involved in doing this but much easier than removing and reinstalling a bridge.

Anthony

Actually, its probably not that hard. Use the stewmac calculator. Put your guesstimate figures in. Calculate the distance from the First fret to the last fret, measure from centre to centre and see if the distances agree. If they don't line up you enter another figure into stewmac, do the calculations and try again until they do agree.

If your doing this process blind then remember to try both Imperial and Metric measurements. Don't measure from the board end to start with as this could be wrong so start from fret 1. After you know what the scale length is go back and see if the end of the board is cut correctly.

EDIT: I'm referring to a computer cut board here and I'm assuming the intervals are even. If its a hand cut board your going to have to take quite a few measurements and average them out.

Anthony

the player isn't going to notice or have to adjust much so there's not much mischief there. you should be flexible enough to recalculate the bridge position.
i've been thinking about my builds nearly all of which will be tenors and have come up with a ~17.6" scale, couple reasons, mirrors one of the ancient cubit measurements, more string tension for low G tuning. it won't be that radical a departure from the norm. it shouldn't be hard to adjust the bridge and sound hole position. the advantage of custom built is doing whatever hits your fancy. i didn't get a template for this very reason. it should be fine doing manual layout for very low volume production.

What means 'compensation'? What are you compensating? Where does it go?

Newbie...

ChuckBarnett said:

What means 'compensation'? What are you compensating? Where does it go?

Newbie...

Click to expand...

The secrets lie here:

https://www.lmii.com/scale-length-intonation

Your probably talking about Stew Mac. I emailed them about it (about their fret slotting templates which are the same strange 17 3/32") saying they got mixed up adding the compensation to the 17" scale and thinking that was the scale length. They acknowledge my point and the logic behind it but said they wouldn't change it.

"Many modern builders use that scale length even though it is not traditional" is just BS.