Where does every fret land?

Guitar fretboard showing fret positions and scale length

Enter a scale length and get exact nut-to-fret distances, fret spacing, and a to-scale fretboard diagram — in inches or millimeters.

Your Instrument

Scale Length

inches

Fret Count

Display Unit

Fretboard — to scale

Swipe sideways to see every column

Fret From nut Fret spacing To bridge

🎸 Reading the Table

From nut is the distance from the nut to that fret wire — what you'd mark on a fretboard blank. Fret spacing is the gap between consecutive frets, which gets smaller as you go up the neck. To bridge is the remaining vibrating string length from that fret to the saddle.

These are ideal theoretical positions. Real instruments add intonation compensation at the saddle — not by moving frets — so the effective scale ends up a hair longer at the bridge. The fret positions themselves are exact equal-temperament math.

Once you know where your frets land, the next step is matching your saddle height to the curve of your board — or locking in pitch with the Intonator.

Radius Matcher → Intonator →

Radius Matcher Setup Assistant Intonator String Tension Calculator

The Idea

Where fret positions come from

Fret spacing isn't a design choice. It falls out of one piece of arithmetic: each fret shortens the string by a fixed ratio, the twelfth root of two, because that's the interval a semitone represents.

That's why the gaps shrink as you climb. Each fret takes the same proportion off what's left, not the same distance — so the twelfth fret always lands at exactly half the scale length, on every guitar ever built.

The old workshop shortcut, dividing the remaining length by 17.817, is the same maths rounded off. It's close enough for marking a board by hand and slightly wrong by design, which is a fair summary of most lutherie rules of thumb.

Good to Know

Fret position questions, answered

What formula does this use?

Distance from the nut to fret n is the scale length minus the scale length divided by two to the power of n over twelve. Equal temperament, no approximation.

My guitar measures slightly differently. Is it wrong?

Probably not. Measure from the nut to the twelfth fret and double it — that's your real scale length, and it's often a little off the number on the spec sheet.

Does this include intonation compensation?

No, and it shouldn't. Compensation happens at the saddle, not by moving frets. These are the ideal positions the saddle then adjusts around.

How do I find my scale length?

Measure nut to twelfth fret, double it. 25.5 inches is most Fenders, 24.75 inches most Gibsons.

Can I use this to build a neck?

The maths is exact, so yes for marking out. Fret slotting itself is a precision job where small errors compound quickly.