Fretsmith

FRETSMITH — THE LUTHIER'S BENCH, IN YOUR POCKET

The nut isn't a nut. The saddle isn't a saddle. The action isn't exciting. Your guitar has been lying to you for years — and Fretsmith is here to translate.

Ever wonder why your guitar plays like butter at the shop and fights you at home? Why the low E only buzzes when someone's listening? Why a Les Paul feels nothing like a Strat, even though they're both just six strings and a stick? The answers are boring physics and very specific numbers. All of them are in here — so you don't have to become a luthier to find them. And if you already are one, it's the reference you keep meaning to write down.

Every spec, formula, and setup procedure a working tech actually reaches for — verified against manufacturer documentation and real bench practice, model by model. We're annoyingly accurate about the details. The jokes are free; the data is not.

WHAT'S INSIDE

• Brand Specs — 47 brands, 623 models. Scale lengths, nut widths, fretboard radii, truss-rod tools, saddle-slot dimensions, nut materials, and the model-specific traps that quietly ruin your afternoon. Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Ibanez, PRS, Rickenbacker, Warwick — and dozens more. Vintage models too; they didn't stop existing when they stopped selling. Where a maker doesn't publish a number, we say so, instead of making one up.

• Setup Checklists — 12 job-aware checklists, in the right order, because doing the nut before the relief is like frosting a cake before you bake it. Electric, acoustic, bass, and classical — plus fret levels, refrets, nut jobs, Floyd Rose, and neck resets.

• String Tension Calculator — physics, not vibes. Exact plain-steel math and verified published unit-weight data for wound strings, plus phosphor-bronze for acoustics. Any gauge, any tuning, any scale — electric, acoustic, bass. Balance a set before you buy the strings.

• Nut Slot & Intonation Calculators — file-target slot depth, and the exact saddle-compensation direction and distance. Yes, your guitar plays sharp. This tells you by how much, and which way to move.

• Measured-Spec Comparison — punch in your measured relief, action, and nut-slot depths. It flags each one against the model's published spec and the typical working range, so you know what's off before you pick up a tool.

• Acoustic Diagnosis — tells you it's a neck reset BEFORE you file $100 of saddle into sawdust.

• Diagnostics — tuning-stability and buzz decision trees, for when it buzzes and you've officially run out of guesses. Plus a truss-rod quick lookup so you never turn it the wrong way.

• Pickup, Tonewood & Quick Reference — magnet types and pickup heights, 32 tonewoods (tone tags + CITES status), and an action/relief/nut table across 16 instrument types.

• Chromatic Tuner — built in. Because your ears lie too.

NOT A LUTHIER? DOESN'T MATTER.

If you've ever tuned up and wondered what's actually going on down there, this is that. We're not trying to take advantage of you — honestly, we'd rather you learn this stuff. Fretsmith just skips the three-forum-threads-and-a-2009-PDF part. Something wrong or missing? Tell us. We read it, and we fix it.

WORKS EVERYWHERE, OFFLINE

iPhone, iPad, and Mac. No account, no subscription, no ads, no "sign in to continue." It loads once and works in a shop with concrete walls and zero bars — on airplane mode, wherever the guitar is.

FOR THE PRICE OF A PIZZA

One-time $9.99. The pizza is gone in twenty minutes. This is still on the bench a year from now.

We can't make you buy it. But you'll think about it next time you're elbow-deep in a setup, Googling a saddle-slot width for the fortieth time.

FOR PROFESSIONALS Fretsmith is a reference tool for trained luthiers and technicians. The procedures it documents can permanently damage an instrument if performed incorrectly. Always verify on the actual instrument; when in doubt, consult a qualified professional.