How to make a Kite Guitar: Difference between revisions

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===Nut width===

This is a crucial decision when there are 7 or 8 strings, as too wide a nut is hard on the wrist, but too narrow a nut makes fretting cleanly difficult. Nylon strings need a wider nut not only because the strings themselves are wider, but also because they vibrate more widely than steel strings and need more room. See [[How to make a Kite Guitar#String Spacing]] below. See also [[Extended range guitar#Nut and saddle widths]] and [https://guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width/ guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width].

This is a crucial decision when there are 7 or 8 strings, as too wide a nut is hard on the wrist, but too narrow a nut makes fretting cleanly difficult. Nylon strings need a wider nut not only because the strings themselves are wider, but also because they vibrate more widely than steel strings and need more room. See the [[How to make a Kite Guitar#String Spacing|String Spacing]] section below. See also [[Extended range guitar#Nut and saddle widths]] and [https://guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width/ guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width].

===Number of frets===

The following discussion does not include any "in between" frets, e.g. a-fret, b-fret, etc.

In any given key, the Kite guitar has multiple "rainbow zones" on the neck. Assuming the tonic falls in the "sweet spot" between the 4th and 11th fret, it takes about 28 frets to provide 2 zones in every key, but it takes the full 41 frets to provide 3 zones. This 3rd zone increases the range the lead guitarist has to solo in by a 5th or so. The highest frets are very tight, but still playable melodically. Chording is very difficult. Having a 41st fret makes intonating the guitar easier, see below. In general, if you can fit in 41 frets, do so.

In any given key, the Kite guitar has multiple "rainbow zones" on the neck. Assuming the tonic falls in the "sweet spot" between the 4th and 11th fret, it takes about 28 frets to provide 2 zones in every key, but it takes the full 41 frets to provide 3 zones. This 3rd zone increases the range the lead guitarist has to solo in by a 5th or so. The highest frets are very tight, but still playable melodically. Chording is very difficult. Having a 41st fret makes intonating the guitar easier, see [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Saddle%20and%20Nut%20Compensation|Saddle and Nut Compensation]] below. In general, if you can fit in 41 frets, do so.

There is a 'home zone" around the 14th fret that is the rainbow zone when the low open string is the tonic. There is a 2nd home zone around the 28th fret. To get a complete 2nd home zone, one needs about 32 frets. This should be the minimum number of frets even on an acoustic or classical without a cutaway. Fortunately this translates to almost 19 conventional frets, which almost all guitars have.

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| 0.032"

|}

Removing the entire fretboard also has the advantage that you can get a pre-slotted computer-cut fretboard fairly cheaply that has extremely accurate slot placement (see below).

Removing the entire fretboard also has the advantage that you can get a pre-slotted computer-cut fretboard fairly cheaply that has extremely accurate slot placement (see [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Fret%20and%20Dot%20Placement|Fret and Dot Placement]] below).

When building a guitar, the bridge is positioned relative to the fretboard. When converting a guitar, it's crucial to place the fretboard accurately relative to the bridge. One method: first put the frets on the fretboard. Then clamp it to the neck using narrow wooden blocks that won't interfere with the strings. Then string it up, test the intonation, and adjust the fretboard placement as needed (see Saddle Compensation below). Finally, mark the correct position, remove the strings, and glue down the fretboard. These pictures illustrate the clamping on a standard 12-equal guitar:

When building a guitar, the bridge is positioned relative to the fretboard. When converting a guitar, it's crucial to place the fretboard accurately relative to the bridge. One method: first put the frets on the fretboard. Then clamp it to the neck using narrow wooden blocks that won't interfere with the strings. Then string it up, test the intonation, and adjust the fretboard placement as needed (see [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Saddle%20and%20Nut%20Compensation|Saddle and Nut Compensation]] below). Finally, mark the correct position, remove the strings, and glue down the fretboard. These pictures illustrate the clamping on a standard 12-equal guitar:

[[File:Positioning a Kite Guitar fretboard.jpg|thumb|alt=|none]]

[[File:Positioning a Kite Guitar fretboard -2.jpg|thumb|alt=|none]]

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On an even-frets layout, dots (fretboard markers) are placed every 4 frets in a cycle of single-double-triple. So, the 4th fret has a single dot, the 8th fret has double dots, the 12th fret has triple dots, and then the 16th fret is back to single, and so on. Thus, a 36-fret guitar (pictured) has 18 dots on 9 frets, and a 41-fret guitar has 19 dots on 10 frets.

[[File:Ovation fretboard.jpg|none|thumb|538x538px]]

The small dots on the side of the neck follow the same single/double/triple pattern. The double and triple dots are oriented like the usual 12-equal double dots. ~~Further up~~ the ~~neck~~, the triple dots are too wide to fit between the frets~~, but this~~ is not a problem.

The small dots on the side of the neck follow the same single/double/triple pattern. The double and triple dots are oriented like the usual 12-equal double dots. At the 36th fret, the triple dots are too wide to fit between the frets. This is not a problem if there is no binding and each fret's tang stops short of the edge of the fretboard, as is the case with the removable b-fret shown [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Even-frets vs. odd-frets|above]]. Otherwise, the triple side dots can be placed in a triangle.

Because the frets get closer as one goes up the neck, the double dots are closer to the triple dots than the single dots. As a result, if the distance between the double dots is the same as the distance between any two of the triple dots, the side of each "kite" formed by the dots is a concave line. To make a nice straight line, use the spreadsheet from ~~the previous section~~.

Because the frets get closer as one goes up the neck, the double dots are closer to the triple dots than the single dots. As a result, if the distance between the double dots is the same as the distance between any two of the triple dots, the side of each "kite" formed by the dots is a concave line. To make a nice straight line, use the spreadsheet from [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Fret and Dot Placement|above]].

== DIY Frets ==

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'''Method #2:''' The first method serves as a rough check of the saddle points. But it's much safer to check multiple frets. The cents table below (printable pdf [http://tallkite.com/KiteGuitar/KiteGuitarNotes.pdf here]) has the pitch of every single note on the fretboard. The 2nd page of the pdf omits some redundant information to make room to pencil in discrepancies in cents. But the open strings aren't reliable, because the nut is not yet compensated (nut compensation must be done after saddle compensation). Use a capo to remove the nut issue. Capo the string at the 1st fret (or 2nd or 3rd, if the capo doesn't fit your 8-string very well). Tune the capo'ed string to the table, then compare the other frets to the table. Important: do not remove the capo during this process, as that will change the tension, and thus the pitch. It's usually sufficient to check every 4th fret, i.e. every dot. Look for the general trend. If the saddle point is too far back, the higher frets will be increasingly flat. Too far forward, and they will trend sharp. If there's an outlier that breaks the pattern, check its neighboring frets. No guitar is perfect. If some frets are sharp and some equally flat, that's the best you can get. Once you find the trend, estimate how much cents error would be expected at the 5th dot, which is almost an octave. That's roughly how many cents to compensate by. (To be super-precise, you could increase the cents by about 3%, so that 6¢ becomes 6.2¢.) Compensate as in method #1 with the scaleLength/1731 formula.

'''Method #2:''' The first method serves as a rough check of the saddle points. But it's much safer to check multiple frets. The [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Cents|cents table]] below (printable pdf [http://tallkite.com/KiteGuitar/KiteGuitarNotes.pdf here]) has the pitch of every single note on the fretboard. The 2nd page of the pdf omits some redundant information to make room to pencil in discrepancies in cents. But the open strings aren't reliable, because the nut is not yet compensated (nut compensation must be done after saddle compensation). Use a capo to remove the nut issue. Capo the string at the 1st fret (or 2nd or 3rd, if the capo doesn't fit your 8-string very well). Tune the capo'ed string to the table, then compare the other frets to the table. Important: do not remove the capo during this process, as that will change the tension, and thus the pitch. It's usually sufficient to check every 4th fret, i.e. every dot. Look for the general trend. If the saddle point is too far back, the higher frets will be increasingly flat. Too far forward, and they will trend sharp. If there's an outlier that breaks the pattern, check its neighboring frets. No guitar is perfect. If some frets are sharp and some equally flat, that's the best you can get. Once you find the trend, estimate how much cents error would be expected at the 5th dot, which is almost an octave. That's roughly how many cents to compensate by. (To be super-precise, you could increase the cents by about 3%, so that 6¢ becomes 6.2¢.) Compensate as in method #1 with the scaleLength/1731 formula.

'''Nut compensation''' can be done similarly to a standard guitar, by comparing the open string to the fretted notes. But extra care might be taken here too. One can shorten the fingerboard by around 0.030" (more if the nut action is high) to slightly overcompensate, then de-compensate empirically by filing the front of the nut to move the exit points back. One can determine the exact amount to file by finding the sharpness in cents with a tuner, then using the scaleLength/1731 formula. The front of the nut can be filed lengthwise to move all the exit points at once, or up and down to move individual exit points.

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===Cents===

Every note on the Kite Guitar fretboard. The outer columns show the dots on the fretboard. The low note is vD and the tuning is in downmajor 3rds. The note names in the table are 12-equal, not 41-equal. The low vD is written "D -29.3", meaning 12-equal D minus 29.3¢. The 7 natural notes in 41-equal are '''''bolded and underlined italic'''''. The full set of 41-equal names are here: [[:File:The Kite Tuning 5.png]]

Every note on the Kite Guitar fretboard (printable pdf [http://tallkite.com/KiteGuitar/KiteGuitarNotes.pdf here]). The outer columns show the dots on the fretboard. The low note is vD and the tuning is in downmajor 3rds. The note names in the table are 12-equal, not 41-equal. The low vD is written "D -29.3", meaning 12-equal D minus 29.3¢. The 7 natural notes in 41-equal are '''''bolded and underlined italic'''''. The full set of 41-equal names are here: [[:File:The Kite Tuning 5.png]]

{| class="wikitable center-all"

| colspan="2" |

Line 1,440:

===Frequencies===

41-equal frequencies in Hertz. D is tuned to standard A-440 pitch. vA is roughly 432hz, and vvB is roughly the ubiquitous 60hz ~~mains~~ hum.

41-equal frequencies in Hertz. D is tuned to standard A-440 pitch. vA is roughly 432hz, and vvB is roughly the ubiquitous 60hz electrical hum.

{| class="wikitable"

|

@@ Line 246: / Line 246: @@
 ===Nut width===
-This is a crucial decision when there are 7 or 8 strings, as too wide a nut is hard on the wrist, but too narrow a nut makes fretting cleanly difficult. Nylon strings need a wider nut not only because the strings themselves are wider, but also because they vibrate more widely than steel strings and need more room. See [[How to make a Kite Guitar#String Spacing]] below. See also [[Extended range guitar#Nut and saddle widths]] and [https://guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width/ guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width].
+This is a crucial decision when there are 7 or 8 strings, as too wide a nut is hard on the wrist, but too narrow a nut makes fretting cleanly difficult. Nylon strings need a wider nut not only because the strings themselves are wider, but also because they vibrate more widely than steel strings and need more room. See the [[How to make a Kite Guitar#String Spacing|String Spacing]] section below. See also [[Extended range guitar#Nut and saddle widths]] and [https://guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width/ guitarplayerhq.com/7-string-guitar-nut-width].
 ===Number of frets===
 The following discussion does <u>not</u> include any "in between" frets, e.g. a-fret, b-fret, etc.
-In any given key, the Kite guitar has multiple "rainbow zones" on the neck. Assuming the tonic falls in the "sweet spot" between the 4th and 11th fret, it takes about 28 frets to provide 2 zones in every key, but it takes the full 41 frets to provide 3 zones. This 3rd zone increases the range the lead guitarist has to solo in by a 5th or so. The highest frets are very tight, but still playable melodically. Chording is very difficult. Having a 41st fret makes intonating the guitar easier, see below. In general, if you can fit in 41 frets, do so.
+In any given key, the Kite guitar has multiple "rainbow zones" on the neck. Assuming the tonic falls in the "sweet spot" between the 4th and 11th fret, it takes about 28 frets to provide 2 zones in every key, but it takes the full 41 frets to provide 3 zones. This 3rd zone increases the range the lead guitarist has to solo in by a 5th or so. The highest frets are very tight, but still playable melodically. Chording is very difficult. Having a 41st fret makes intonating the guitar easier, see [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Saddle%20and%20Nut%20Compensation|Saddle and Nut Compensation]] below. In general, if you can fit in 41 frets, do so.
 There is a 'home zone" around the 14th fret that is the rainbow zone when the low open string is the tonic. There is a 2nd home zone around the 28th fret. To get a complete 2nd home zone, one needs about 32 frets. This should be the minimum number of frets even on an acoustic or classical without a cutaway. Fortunately this translates to almost 19 conventional frets, which almost all guitars have.
@@ Line 294: / Line 294: @@
 | 0.032"
 |}
-Removing the entire fretboard also has the advantage that you can get a pre-slotted computer-cut fretboard fairly cheaply that has extremely accurate slot placement (see below).
+Removing the entire fretboard also has the advantage that you can get a pre-slotted computer-cut fretboard fairly cheaply that has extremely accurate slot placement (see [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Fret%20and%20Dot%20Placement|Fret and Dot Placement]] below).
-When building a guitar, the bridge is positioned relative to the fretboard. When converting a guitar, it's crucial to place the fretboard accurately relative to the bridge. One method: first put the frets on the fretboard. Then clamp it to the neck using narrow wooden blocks that won't interfere with the strings. Then string it up, test the intonation, and adjust the fretboard placement as needed (see Saddle Compensation below). Finally, mark the correct position, remove the strings, and glue down the fretboard. These pictures illustrate the clamping on a standard 12-equal guitar:
+When building a guitar, the bridge is positioned relative to the fretboard. When converting a guitar, it's crucial to place the fretboard accurately relative to the bridge. One method: first put the frets on the fretboard. Then clamp it to the neck using narrow wooden blocks that won't interfere with the strings. Then string it up, test the intonation, and adjust the fretboard placement as needed (see [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Saddle%20and%20Nut%20Compensation|Saddle and Nut Compensation]] below). Finally, mark the correct position, remove the strings, and glue down the fretboard. These pictures illustrate the clamping on a standard 12-equal guitar:
 [[File:Positioning a Kite Guitar fretboard.jpg|thumb|alt=|none]]
 [[File:Positioning a Kite Guitar fretboard -2.jpg|thumb|alt=|none]]
@@ Line 342: / Line 342: @@
 On an even-frets layout, dots (fretboard markers) are placed every 4 frets in a cycle of single-double-triple. So, the 4th fret has a single dot, the 8th fret has double dots, the 12th fret has triple dots, and then the 16th fret is back to single, and so on. Thus, a 36-fret guitar (pictured) has 18 dots on 9 frets, and a 41-fret guitar has 19 dots on 10 frets.
 [[File:Ovation fretboard.jpg|none|thumb|538x538px]]
-The small dots on the side of the neck follow the same single/double/triple pattern. The double and triple dots are oriented like the usual 12-equal double dots. Further up the neck, the triple dots are too wide to fit between the frets, but this is not a problem.
+The small dots on the side of the neck follow the same single/double/triple pattern. The double and triple dots are oriented like the usual 12-equal double dots. At the 36th fret, the triple dots are too wide to fit between the frets. This is not a problem if there is no binding and each fret's tang stops short of the edge of the fretboard, as is the case with the removable b-fret shown [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Even-frets vs. odd-frets|above]]. Otherwise, the triple side dots can be placed in a triangle.
-Because the frets get closer as one goes up the neck, the double dots are closer to the triple dots than the single dots. As a result, if the distance between the double dots is the same as the distance between any two of the triple dots, the side of each "kite" formed by the dots is a concave line. To make a nice straight line, use the spreadsheet from the previous section.
+Because the frets get closer as one goes up the neck, the double dots are closer to the triple dots than the single dots. As a result, if the distance between the double dots is the same as the distance between any two of the triple dots, the side of each "kite" formed by the dots is a concave line. To make a nice straight line, use the spreadsheet from [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Fret and Dot Placement|above]].
 == DIY Frets ==
@@ Line 490: / Line 490: @@
-'''Method #2:''' The first method serves as a rough check of the saddle points. But it's much safer to check multiple frets. The cents table below (printable pdf [http://tallkite.com/KiteGuitar/KiteGuitarNotes.pdf here]) has the pitch of every single note on the fretboard. The 2nd page of the pdf omits some redundant information to make room to pencil in discrepancies in cents. But the open strings aren't reliable, because the nut is not yet compensated (nut compensation must be done after saddle compensation). Use a capo to remove the nut issue. Capo the string at the 1st fret (or 2nd or 3rd, if the capo doesn't fit your 8-string very well). Tune the capo'ed string to the table, then compare the other frets to the table. <u>Important</u>: do not remove the capo during this process, as that will change the tension, and thus the pitch. It's usually sufficient to check every 4th fret, i.e. every dot. Look for the general trend. If the saddle point is too far back, the higher frets will be increasingly flat. Too far forward, and they will trend sharp. If there's an outlier that breaks the pattern, check its neighboring frets. No guitar is perfect. If some frets are sharp and some equally flat, that's the best you can get. Once you find the trend, estimate how much cents error would be expected at the 5th dot, which is almost an octave. That's roughly how many cents to compensate by. (To be super-precise, you could increase the cents by about 3%, so that 6¢ becomes 6.2¢.) Compensate as in method #1 with the scaleLength/1731 formula.
+'''Method #2:''' The first method serves as a rough check of the saddle points. But it's much safer to check multiple frets. The [[How to make a Kite Guitar#Cents|cents table]] below (printable pdf [http://tallkite.com/KiteGuitar/KiteGuitarNotes.pdf here]) has the pitch of every single note on the fretboard. The 2nd page of the pdf omits some redundant information to make room to pencil in discrepancies in cents. But the open strings aren't reliable, because the nut is not yet compensated (nut compensation must be done after saddle compensation). Use a capo to remove the nut issue. Capo the string at the 1st fret (or 2nd or 3rd, if the capo doesn't fit your 8-string very well). Tune the capo'ed string to the table, then compare the other frets to the table. <u>Important</u>: do not remove the capo during this process, as that will change the tension, and thus the pitch. It's usually sufficient to check every 4th fret, i.e. every dot. Look for the general trend. If the saddle point is too far back, the higher frets will be increasingly flat. Too far forward, and they will trend sharp. If there's an outlier that breaks the pattern, check its neighboring frets. No guitar is perfect. If some frets are sharp and some equally flat, that's the best you can get. Once you find the trend, estimate how much cents error would be expected at the 5th dot, which is almost an octave. That's roughly how many cents to compensate by. (To be super-precise, you could increase the cents by about 3%, so that 6¢ becomes 6.2¢.) Compensate as in method #1 with the scaleLength/1731 formula.
 '''Nut compensation''' can be done similarly to a standard guitar, by comparing the open string to the fretted notes. But extra care might be taken here too. One can shorten the fingerboard by around 0.030" (more if the nut action is high) to slightly <u>over</u>compensate, then <u>de</u>-compensate empirically by filing the front of the nut to move the exit points back. One can determine the exact amount to file by finding the sharpness in cents with a tuner, then using the scaleLength/1731 formula. The front of the nut can be filed lengthwise to move all the exit points at once, or up and down to move individual exit points.
@@ Line 585: / Line 585: @@
 ===Cents===
-Every note on the Kite Guitar fretboard. The outer columns show the dots on the fretboard. The low note is vD and the tuning is in downmajor 3rds. The note names in the table are 12-equal, not 41-equal. The low vD is written  "D -29.3", meaning 12-equal D minus 29.3¢. The 7 natural notes in 41-equal are '''''<u>bolded and underlined italic</u>'''''. The full set of 41-equal names are here: [[:File:The Kite Tuning 5.png]]
+Every note on the Kite Guitar fretboard (printable pdf [http://tallkite.com/KiteGuitar/KiteGuitarNotes.pdf here]). The outer columns show the dots on the fretboard. The low note is vD and the tuning is in downmajor 3rds. The note names in the table are 12-equal, not 41-equal. The low vD is written  "D -29.3", meaning 12-equal D minus 29.3¢. The 7 natural notes in 41-equal are '''''<u>bolded and underlined italic</u>'''''. The full set of 41-equal names are here: [[:File:The Kite Tuning 5.png]]
 {| class="wikitable center-all"
 | colspan="2" |
@@ Line 1,440: / Line 1,440: @@
 ===Frequencies===
--equal frequencies in Hertz. D is tuned to standard A-440 pitch. vA is roughly 432hz, and vvB is roughly the ubiquitous 60hz mains hum.
+-equal frequencies in Hertz. D is tuned to standard A-440 pitch. vA is roughly 432hz, and vvB is roughly the ubiquitous 60hz electrical hum.
 {| class="wikitable"
 |