MIMF

Maybe this is not the right subforum, but it is hopefully the most suitable.

Some of You might be aware of the Gibson SG and Les Paul Junior DC basses. These have 20 frets and a large pseudo mudbucker adjacent to the end of the fingerboard. In solo stuff (i am playing in a duo vocals an bass) i feel surprisingly often the need of a 21st fret.

Between the fingerboard and the pickup cap there is a narrow gap, less than half a mm. The width of the wood beyond the 20st fret is exactly the length of a 21st fret; it is sharply cut at the position of the 21st fret slot. I measured this on my EB-11. Any chance to attach something like a fret to the end of the fingerboard? Has someone done something similar?

BTW: standard fret wire will probably not be usable, because of the dimensions of the tin but also because of the T-like cross section of fret wire, which might already be in the way of the pickup cap.

Thanks for any hints

Beate

Beate, you can attach a plate to the end of the fingerboard with a couple small screws, using the edge of the plate as the fret. It would require some fiddling but is not a complex problem. You might hae to remove a small amount of wood from the end of the fingerboard to allow sufficient clearance. Also you might have to bend the plate to achieve correct intonation.

Michael, thanks for the suggestion.

I actually thought about this but was not sure if its really viable. So it looks as if my idea was not crazy at all. Intonation should be not a problem at all in this case: the edge of the fingerboard is exactly where the fret slot might have been. So removing a bit in order to get place for a plate of, say, brass or aluminum can be done in a way leaving the center of the plate in the correct position.

Hi Beate,
I joined this forum a while ago and have not posted for a while so I hope this is still a valid question.

Michael Lewis has a good solution but I would add to it if I could... What I would do is make that same plate for the end of your fretboard but I would take a fret and remove the barbs from the tang. Make the plate so it only covers the tang of the fret and use it as a clamp for your "extra fret". If the end of the fretboard is exactly where the fret slot would be then you should be just fine since the overhang of the fret top will just come over the fretboard and will look like it was made that way and you shouldn't have any intonation issues since the fret is right were it should be.

Just an idea...

Cheers,
Bob

I've done this to extend a board that was a bit short. Basically I cut a shelf at the last fret and glued a new section on the end. At the joint point where the original last fret was I epoxied the fret in rather than hammering it.