# Are multiscale guitars harder to build?



## thedarknightshreds (Jan 25, 2014)

I'm thinking about carrying out a build and want a fanned fret guitar, so I was wondering is making a fanned fret neck any more difficult to build over a normal neck?
Any other advice on building multiscale guitars would be very much appreciated 
Thanks guys


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## patata (Jan 25, 2014)

the word you're looking for is fretboard.The neck is the same thing,the fretboard is different.
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Now,I've not built a FF myself but,you're gonna need one of these:





Here in Greece they cost about 70EUR.
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You can find fretboard templates here:
http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/
Save it as PDF and print it.Glue it on your fretboard and cut the slots.


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## Obstsalat (Jan 25, 2014)

> Now,I've not built a FF myself but,you're gonna need one of these:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



obviously a troll.....you only need the same saw that you would need for a regular fretboard. regarding the fan....go to fretfind2d and make yourself a template. done  just as "easy" as a normal fretboard


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## patata (Jan 25, 2014)

Obstsalat said:


> obviously a troll.....you only need the same saw that you would need for a regular fretboard. regarding the fan....go to fretfind2d and make yourself a template. done  just as "easy" as a normal fretboard



uhm...

For more stability,you gonna need something to hold your saw in place.
For fanned frets,you obviously gonna need something that can provide sawing at an angle.

Stanley Clamping Mitre Box with Saw (20-800) at Aubuchon Hardware


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## TylerRay (Jan 25, 2014)

The saw blade on most guided miter saws like that Are too thick for frets. They won't seat properly. You can slot a ff no problem with a regular frets and a template for your cuts. You could pretty easily design a miter guide for the fret saw too. In my experience, having only built one guitar and now in the process of the second (one fanned, one standard), fanned frets aren't any harder to do, things are just a little more tedious in terms of fret slotting and bridge mounting.


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## pondman (Jan 25, 2014)

If you've built a normal neck before you'll be fine.
The thing most people find awkward is the head-stock has to be slightly twisted unless you use a Zero fret.
I had a problem with the frets twisting when hammering them in due the combination of a neck radius fighting against the angle of the fan ( you wont get this if you use an infinite radius). I got past this problem by not pre-cutting the frets and just putting them in straight from the roll and using the extra length to guide them into the fret slots.


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## Obstsalat (Jan 25, 2014)

> uhm...
> For more stability,you gonna need something to hold your saw in place.
> For fanned frets,you obviously gonna need something that can provide sawing at an angle.


If you are incapable of doing a straight cut by hand, you would need a jig anyways. If using a jig, there is absolutely no difference in the difficulty of sawing the frets, since your saw is perfectly guided.
the guy wanted to know if it is more difficult, not what jig he has to use....


considering the guy is refering to cutting everything without a jig, there is still no differnce since the way of dealing with it reamins 100% the same.  

you draw a line with the pencil, maybe clamp a block of wood to each side of the fretboard so that the edge of that block meets the drawn line to use as a guide. then take your saw and well....saw!

so the only difference would be to draw a slanted line instead of a prependicular line.....dealing with that is no problem either when you just print out a template from fretfind.


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## Necromagnon (Jan 25, 2014)

pondman said:


> The thing most people find awkward is the head-stock has to be slightly twisted unless you use a Zero fret.


You can imagine how I hate to say this but: I think you're wrong.
Zero fret and "standard" nut are, in this case, exactly the same. You can do a twisted or a straight slanted headstock as well, for both of them.
But the fact that the headstock is strangely twisted might not be easy to imagine without a good drawing, and might look a bit akward. But it's as easy as a regulare fb/headstock to do (if you don't have a jig like the Stewmac's fret slot box or something).


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## FIXXXER (Jan 25, 2014)

talking fretted instruments in general, INTONATION IS A BITCH and even if it's a DIY project i'd never cut any fretboard by myself if it's not absolutely necessary. 
i prefer CNC or laser cut fretboards so yeah, i freak out whenever 
i see anyone cutting fretslots by hand...just a well-meant advice


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## XxJoshxX (Jan 25, 2014)

Patata, that's not really necessary, you just have to clamp something straight on the fretboard and use it as a guide


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## pondman (Jan 26, 2014)

Necromagnon said:


> You can imagine how I hate to say this but: I think you're wrong.
> Zero fret and "standard" nut are, in this case, exactly the same. You can do a twisted or a straight slanted headstock as well, for both of them.
> But the fact that the headstock is strangely twisted might not be easy to imagine without a good drawing, and might look a bit akward. But it's as easy as a regulare fb/headstock to do (if you don't have a jig like the Stewmac's fret slot box or something).



Hmm , you cant have an angled (fanned) nut without without shaping (twisting) the head-stock to one side otherwise you'll have the higher strings sitting on the head-stock at the back of the nut,
A classic example is on the last picture of the Etherial thread today where he got the head-stock twist wrong.


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## Kammo1 (Jan 26, 2014)

To make the angled nut part is correct what Pondman said,the headstock has a slight twist to compensate. Overall what you need is whats called a compound cut.


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## OmegaSlayer (Jan 26, 2014)

pondman said:


> The thing most people find awkward is the head-stock has to be slightly twisted unless you use a Zero fret.



Not English native here, can you please explain like if you're talking with an idiot? 
I understand the Zero fret part though. 
Thanks


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## pondman (Jan 26, 2014)

OmegaSlayer said:


> Not English native here, can you please explain like if you're talking with an idiot?
> I understand the Zero fret part though.
> Thanks



This should explain it .
Headstocks on fanned fret guitars? - LuthierTalk.com


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## RV350ALSCYTHE (Jan 26, 2014)

^ I'll definitely give a twisted headstock a try this summer. I never considered the effects between a nut and an angled headstock on a FF.



Multiscales are not more difficult to make. They can be more time consuming as it may take you more time to set up between cuts and aligning everything to the correct angle and distance.

Save your http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/ template as a PDF, print it out with Abode, stick it down to your fretboard. Use a piece of straight stock as a guide and clamp it beside each fret line and cut the slot by hand with a fretting saw and depth guide.

That's probably the easiest and cheapest method by hand.


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## Necromagnon (Jan 26, 2014)

pondman said:


> Hmm , you cant have an angled (fanned) nut without without shaping (twisting) the head-stock to one side otherwise you'll have the higher strings sitting on the head-stock at the back of the nut,
> A classic example is on the last picture of the Etherial thread today where he got the head-stock twist wrong.


Oh well, I see! Yes, you're right in fact, I didn't see the things like that. I thought that with a twisted headstock, you can have both. But didn't think of this in the opposite way, and you're totally right. My bad.


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## pondman (Jan 26, 2014)

Necromagnon said:


> Oh well, I see! Yes, you're right in fact, I didn't see the things like that. I thought that with a twisted headstock, you can have both. But didn't think of this in the opposite way, and you're totally right. My bad.


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## Necromagnon (Jan 27, 2014)




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## Deegatron (Jan 27, 2014)

The other thing to cconsider when building a multiscale is the bridge... individual saddles are hella expensive unless you can get your hands on some of the surplus agile saddles.... and building a multiscale baseplate for std saddles can be a royal pain in the ass....


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