frets, scale length, and quantity

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0v3nm4n

New member
Hello all,

I've been pondering about the math behind scale length and frets when I came up with a question that maybe one (or some) of you can (or have) answered:

So, if we were to continue the fret-board well past the 22nd fret and all the way to the bridge saddles with no obstructions (pickups) how many frets would we have? Would there be a difference in number due to each saddle being different in distance along with the fret spacing being so close at that point?


Thanks!
 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

0v3nm4n said:
So, if we were to continue the fret-board well past the 22nd fret and all the way to the bridge saddles with no obstructions (pickups) how many frets would we have?
Click to expand...

I did this with 36 but you could go more. maybe 40 :sleeping:

 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

Not even pedal steel guitars are marked out much past fret line #30.
 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

There comes a point where the frets would be so closely spaced that you wouldn't really get a fretting effect . . . it would be more like playing a fretless.
 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

GuitarStv said:
There comes a point where the frets would be so closely spaced that you wouldn't really get a fretting effect . . . it would be more like playing a fretless.
Click to expand...

and require the ears of a cat to hear the different frequencies ;) lol
 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

apparently the highest I can go on a 25.5" scale is the right above the 7th octave which is the 96th fret (as predicted) to the 99th fret. The the 96th fret is 25.400" from the nut and the 99th fret is 25.416" from the nut. So with a .016" difference you guys are right: I'd need to be slide playing cat with tiny fingers...or paws. :p
 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

why have a guitar with almost as many notes as a piano, when you can have a piano with almost as many notes as a guitar?
 
Re: frets, scale length, and quantity

I did the fret calculator and the highest number of frets it can calculate is 99 and I got up to 24.669" taken of the 24.75". So I think it would have gone to around 108 frets, but as they pointed out above, the frets would be so close together that it's not realistic. But if you had a guitar sizeable enough or fingers small enough and the ability to hear all the notes, then 9 octaves is about what you can expect from the guitar.
 
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