fret calculator

[Nic Hambas]

Once upon a time on MIMF there was a mountain dulcimer fret calculator called e-fret. Over the years, I downloaded it several times, but the darn thing was in the habit of deleting itself after a while. Now it disappeared for the last time, and I can't find it anywhere, not even in my back up files! Weird! Can anyone send me the file?

[Bill Snyder]

Well it is not for download but you could use the one from StewMac. It has several instruments to choose from including dulcimer.

[Charlie Schultz]

I believe it will be in the library when we get that up, but it is still being worked on.

[Bryan Bear]

This reminds me, I assume W-Fret will be there as well? I would be really sad if the next time I have a computer melt down on me I can't get a new copy of this handy little program!

[Alan Peterson]

Doug Sparling has a freebie out there for Windows, and it has a preset for dulcimer:

http://www.dougsparling.com/software/fretcalc/

Back in 1982 when the Timex Sinclair ZX81 home/hobby computer was popular, I wrote a simple Basic program I called "Fretzz" which allowed you to put in a scale length and it would return a two-octave measurement table, without a compensation factor. I submitted it as an article to several popular guitar publications of the era but heard nothing back. Ah well...

[Bill Snyder]

Bryan, you don't have to wait for the archives, the links page still has Wfret listed. BTW a link to the links page is at the top of the forum along with a link to the MIMF book store and tool store.

[Charlie Schultz]

Yes, the link is there but the archive is empty.

[Jim McConkey]

Nic found that he had a copy of Wfret after all. I also have a copy if anyone desperately needs it, or just wait until the archives come back up shortly.

[phil chestnut]

I think found the link Nic was looking for, the only trouble is when I click on it I get a 404 not found. I think thiw isthe one I have been looking for too.

Brian Ramsey's online Mountain Dulcimer Fret Calculator.

[Michael Sankey]

I know it's not designed for mountain dulcimrs, but my new favourite fretting program is http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/
That should work. It's also java-based, so it works on my mac.

[Kirk Schwartz]

I too have used the fret cal on here before and yep, it's gone...I have searched many other sites and there are soooo many discrepancies that I am leery of using any now, so can anyone suggest a good site. I know StuMac has been suggested but there again, theirs seems to differ from others when comparisons are made.
Any suggestions would be wonderfully appreciated. Kirk

[Charlie Schultz]

Ok, on our ftp site I've discovered:
fret.zip (runs in a DOS window, by Jon Whitney)
fretcalc.xls (universal fret calculator by Chuck Kish)
fretcomp.zip (a set of 3 .xls files, by C. P. Franklin)
wfret.zip

I'm not sure if these are what you're looking for? Maybe one of the other mods knows a bit more? To log into our ftp files, use "anonymous@mimf.com" with no password.

[Steve Senseney]

wfret is the program for routine guitar fretboard lay out. I highly recommend it.

[Jon Whitney]

fret.zip, being DOS-based, is pretty useless and I wouldn't be offended in the least if you just dropped it.

I just installed WFret on my new Windows 7 machine and it still works just fine, so it's got a few more years (at least) of life in it.

There is a nice web-based application out there called FretFind2D - http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/ - that I like a lot also.

[Steve Senseney]

I just googled for wfret.zip and found a site that has it for download. I don't see that Jon Whitney was credited.

[Simon Magennis]

If you are a mac user with "numbers" is is easy to make a spreadsheet for the calculation. Then you can manually set the height of each cell to equal the distance between each fret. Print it out, glue it onto the fret board and cut along the lines. Does't work with any excel version I have had - the cell heights can't be fine tuned enough. Only down side is that you have to manually set the cell sizes each time you calculate a new scale.

[Michael Lewis]

The fret calculator on StewMac works just fine. I have a rule divided in decimal inches that makes it even easier to use, or you could use any rule for the nearest inch and then a dial or digital caliper for the decimal parts of the final portion that is smaller than an inch.