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Hello,

As a novice builder, was it a mistake for me to order a pre-slotted fretboard with my classical kit? As a player, intonation is pretty important to me, and even though I've never built a guitar, I've done my share of messing around with saddles over the years to fix intonation problems.

What I'm thinking is, with a pre-slotted fretboard, surely that locks you in to getting bridge/saddle placement right on the money -- something that might be beyond the capabilities of a novice. Am I right in thinking that if you cut your own slots towards the end of the build, you give yourself more wiggle room to stretch or squeeze their spacing slightly? Or am I revealing a lack of understanding about how things go together?

Best,
Greg

Cutting the slots to deal with the bridge\saddle is backwards thinking. A pre-fretted fret board is not a mistake as you would want to put the slots exactly where they are. Once the guitar is assembled then measure from the nut and put the bridge and the saddle to match the neck and fret board. It will not matter if the bridge moves a bit on the top from the plans to match the neck and nut location.

Thanks. I was thinking that somehow the bridge placement got locked in when you glued in the bridge plate under the top, long before you turned the guitar over and started thinking about fretboard and bridge placement. But after some further googling and a little more careful leafing through the Courtnall book, I'm seeing that some CG builders don't use bridge plates at all, while others use a brace in the bridge region that goes all the way across.

Anyhow, sounds like you're saying that there's some leeway in bridge placement no matter what's underneath. And with your input, now I can't see how it could be otherwise. It's just that the plans in the books make it look as if the bridge plate -- when there is one -- is always aligned exactly with the bridge. I couldn't figure out how a builder could second-guess him-/herself like that, knowing what little I do about the order in which things are done.

Also, some solera plans tell you to mark the location of the bridge before you do anything else. And I was reading those and thinking, "hey, wait a minute ..."

there is a certain amount of a fudge factor for that. Getting a fretted instrument to be perfectly intonated on every fret is not going to happen , but you can get things very well. Classical guitars take a different compensation length than a steel string. Be sure to follow the instructions .
Don't even think about setting the bridge till you have the neck attached. Be accurate in the lay out and you will be fine.

Dansereal wrote: Also, some solera plans tell you to mark the location of the bridge before you do anything else. And I was reading those and thinking, "hey, wait a minute ..."

Yes, I now build classical guitars with the assumption I know right where the bridge will be. My solera has index holes for the top, bridge and the neck. I have templates that allow me to drill matching index holes on my top, bridge and neck.

But still when the guitar is built with the neck on I measure if my indexed bridge is in the correct place before I glue it down. I will defer to the measurement for the final bridge placement. Even using a bridge plate you have some wiggle room in the bridge placement.