fret diagram

I want measurements for slotting fingerboards on ukes. OK there are fret calculators. That's fine they ask you what scale length.. so if I'm making a tenor I want a 17" scale......but how do I know how many frets to put into the calculator. Say my nut to the edge of my instrument is only 10" or whatever, what do I put in the calculator for number of frets I want? Does that mean the number of frets I have space for or the number of slots I'm going to cut. Say I have a 17" scale but I only want to have 6 frets but still have 17"tenor scale, hypthetically.

I use this calculator which will give you the measurements for 24 frets. I doubt you could fit that many on a uke.

Start measuring from the nut, and stop marking when you have as many frets as you want.

Your uke will look better if the neck joins the body at a fret, sobearthis in mind when designing.

Most people think the frets should at least reach the body join - how many you add after that is up to you, though you'll need to stop at the soundhole.

Common number for frets to the body is either 12 or 14. It does look odd if you don't have that many installed. After that it's up to you. Generally there are around 18 - 19 if you go all the way to the soundhole on a tenor.

Adding more frets to the calculator doesn't change any of the caluclations you get other than adding more to the end. The spacing stays the same, which I think is what may be confusing you.

What Allen said. Whether you have one fret or 20, the fret spacing will be the same. The distance between the individual frets is determined by the scale length; that is, the distance between the nut and the saddle. The number of frets is up to you.

Lately I have been running the fretboard all the way to the soundhole and radiusing the end. That gives me 20 full frets with 2 more partial frets on a neck joined at the 14th fret. I have been thinking about Rick Turner's design where he cantilevers the fretboard over the soundboard and wondering if what I have been doing is damping some of the resonance of the top, but the ukes sound pretty good to my ear.

The only thing I would add is that a mock-up might help make this a bit more clear. Cut a piece of posterboard to the scale length and lay out the frets up to the 20th (or so) fret. Do this full scale (the width of the fingerboard and length from the nut to the saddle). Layout and cut your body design from another piece of posterboard. Lay the scaled fingerboard over the body and play around with where the neck would contact the body. The advantage of doing this full scale and in two pieces is that you can also see where the bridge will fall on the body.

I think it's homework time. I think you need to become more familiar with the language of lutherie, the theories behind a lot of this, etc. You may also be better off building from a kit before you try to make each part of the uke and then assemble them. You need to understand the math behind fret spacing, scale lengths, intonation and compensation, etc. There is a world of information on the Internet. You may have to be patient and read up on things you think do not apply to your burning desire to build a uke.

Another approach would be to take a course. Hana Lima in Hawaii is wonderful. If you're anywhere near the Bay Area, I teach a course "Build a Uke (or mandolin) in Four Days" at the Crucible in Oakland, CA. www.thecrucible.org If you're in Australia, check in with Allen here...he and I taught the course together in 2010 and he ran with it in 2011 in Cairns.

It doesn't matter how many frets you specify. It just stops calculating. The fret spacing for a 17" scale should be the same if you enter 5 or 24 frets into the calculator.

Or you could do what I did when I made my first playable instrument (a copy Fender Jazz Bass) I took a "rubbing" off the neck of a real one to make a template.

First, what Allen said - except that the number of frets to the soundhole depends on the soundhole position and the joint fret/position. The scale length. whether soprano, concert or tenor, increases or decreases the fret spacing proportionally, so you would get the same number of frets from nut to soundhole with a 210 mm piccolinissimo as you would with a 420 mm tenor uke if the joint position and design were comparable.

You can get accurate measurements for the fret spacing using the StewMac FretCalculator. For printable diagrams we've used the wfret program, but be sure to check the spacing on your printout against the values you get from the StewMac calculator. You can download wfret from behindthetone.com/johnfisher.

Hope this helps.

If anyone would like the math for fret-to-fret or nut-to-fret calculation, I'll be glad to share but... it can get kinda hairy.

Google wfret. It's a nifty little program that will let you enter scale length (inches or mm) and number of frets and then print out a chart with the measurements or a template you can glue to your fretboard (spray glue allows it to peel off) and then just cut on the lines.