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Octave mandolin scale length with electric guitar neck?

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(@lostarrowynp)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 2
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Ok- I have an old Jay Turser electric guitar. I broke the truss rod years ago, but I want to make something out of it anyway. Its a bolt on neck. If I put a capo on the 11th fret the fretboard spacing is nearly the same as my mandolin.. However if I tried cutting down the neck in order to make it a mandolin neck the neck would be too close to the body making it nearly impossible to play. I was wondering- does scale lenght matter in relation to fret spacing? Or in other words- could I figure out the scale length of an octave mandolin- adjust the bridge- cut down the neck- and have an octave mandolin neck? Or would the fret spacing mean it would not work?


   
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(@alangreen)
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Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

There's a mathematical consistency to fret spacing, using the 12th root of 2 - I sat down and worked out that fret spacing when I was at Uni so it's not a difficult calculation. So long as you've got that bit bang on then the sound will be fine - "nearly" won't give you the right intervals

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(@timtheshredder)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 16
 

Yes, scale length determines the fret spacing. The longer the scale length, the further the frets are from one another. Think about a guitar versus a bass guitar.

If you shorten the neck, the frets would have to follow. Just google fret spacing formula or fret calculator and you will be able to figure out what spacing you need for this project.

It's not hard. Good luck!

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