Fingerboard and Bridge relationships

[Ken McKay]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Really? Well for me, to see the Bow clearance you need to draw a line under the 1st and 3rd string and see how high the 2nd string is over that line and then the 2nd and 4th string to see how high the 3rd string is.

I don't know where those drawings came from or the thought of fingerboards being too thin but I have not had a problem with set-up unless the Board was old and worn down from many dressings or a luthier just did it wrong.

Most people I know are used to a gradual hight increase from the G to the E string above the end of the fingerboard and with a bowable bridge arch.

I wasn't aware that there was a fingerboard spec problem. I thought it was just bad set-ups that caused it.

Oh? Well I didn't see over there that you mentioned it being posted here. Why is that?.. lol

These are my drawing. Yep there is a problem, I have seen a quite a few, especially in school basses. Is it bad set up or just general misinformation? Well, the Strobel book Usefull Measurements for Stringed Instruments is what a lot of luthiers use to for templates, especially for instruments they are not used to setting up. The first drawing is the exact templates from that book.