Elevated fingerboard on a classical

[patrick.metzroth]

A friend of mine wants me to build a classical with an elevated fingerboard.  Is the best way to tapper the sides down on the soundboard side and tapper neck extension to nothing on top of the sound board.  It seems as if that is the only way without making a taller bridge.  Also, is there a standard elevation at the 12th fret from the sound board to the top of the neck blank.  Willing to give it a shot.  It maybe a paper weight at the end,  but I will learn from it.

[Karan Singh]

I haven't made one yet, but I would strongly suggest you draw out the entire instrument 1:1 on paper before starting. This will give you a sense of the neck angle needed, as well as the right taper on the sides. Keep the target bridge height fixed, as you really don't want to mess with that too much.

Cheers

Karan

[Sen Goh]

The tricky part is always the neck geometry.

There are 2 main ways of making elevated fingerboard.

Both did not really have high bridges.

It's a matter of how the neck is in relation to the body.

I think I covered this in my several previous post here.

One of which is this:

post 1

Do a search here on elevated fretboard fingerboard. 

There are quite a few topic with lots of info.

[JohnParchem]

Sen, I really appreciate your blog on making the elevated fretboard solera; quite detailed and informative. 

[patrick.metzroth]

On your extensions over the soundboard do you glue yours or bolt them on. Was wondering if it is an issue to remove with the thickness of fretboard and extension over soundboard.

[Sen Goh]

Mine is glued since it is based on traditional Spanish Guitar build.

But no reason why it cannot be based on bolt on design.

Or if you can interested can even take it a level higher, an adjustable bolt on neck.

Garette Lee has a quite good design for classical guitar that has an adjustable neck system.

His design is based on the Greg Smallman design but without the bulky "toilet seat"

[rolo]

Hi Sen,

When you are building in a traditional Spanish style and the elevated fingerboard, how do you attach the soundboard/top to the neck. Is the extension just a piece attached to the neck later? I would appreciate any clarification here.

Thanks,

Rolo

[Sen Goh]

I did 2 ways.

1st was to wedge the sound board onto the neck.

But the assembly and binding is a hard to do.

2nd way is my current way.

I build the heel and neck separately.

Heel onto top like normal Spanish guitar assembly

Finally after everything done (including binding) then the neck is attach.

I use some dowels to align the neck top and heel

Can see more of the sequence in detail on my #3

Elevated Neck Guitar Build

[rolo]

Sen,

Exactly what I wanted to know! The pictures are excellent.

Thanks a bunch. I couldn't quite visualize it before. There are many things I like about your method.

1. I can incorporate this on an existing solera

2. This method allows for getting the proper neck angle already

3. You don't see a splice from the top of the guitar. It looks like one piece.

Anyway, great information Sen! Just what I needed.

Best wishes always,

Rolo

[Sen Goh]

Actually there is one more advantage in this method which I didn't do in that build.

Technically it is possible to glue on the fret board onto the neck and fret it before the build.

That way you can easily install the frets at the 12th fret and above region.

The main reason is that I am used to my current way of checking the neck geometry with the neck on.

Of course the checking can be modify easily to accommodate the fret board then frets on first before gluing the neck.