Any tuning of the open strings may be used: conventional (EADGBE), slack key, alternative etc. yet each string will need to be referenced to A4 = 440 Hz. and other notes fine tuned (+/- a few cents). This may be done by matching to frets on adjacent strings, using "harmonics", or an electronic tuner. The tuning needs to be very precise, yet when you have got correct, it will be very apparent, for chords you play will sound very "in tune".

Using conventional tuning the changes are:

Getting your own LucyTuned guitar

New Neck and fretboard

New necks can be manufactured for most solid guitars with any specified fretting by: John Carruthers, 346, Sunset Ave, Venice, California 90291. Phone1 (310) 392-3919 contact Jim Hetal.

Magnetic Fretboard Kits

Mark Rankin can provide interchangeable fretboards. They are are made using Tom Stone's design, which is a laminate of 5 separate layers consisting of 5 different kinds of material. The fretwire used is of a unique shape without a tang which Mark pays to have custom-manufactured to Tom's original specs.

He suggests:

"If you want to encourage people to make their own interchangeable fretboards, you could tell them to make wooden interchangeable fretboards and then glue them to magnetic rubber sheet, or you could tell them to do what Ghost Linnen in Oregon has done, which is to make wooden interchangeable fretboards and then attach them directly to the neck using little levers. This eliminates the sound-robbing problem, but makes for a thicker neck."

Rankin Interchangeable Fretboards
P.O. Box 201
Alderpoint, California 95511
U.S.A.
MarkRankin95511@yahoo.com

Refretting

You can get an existing guitar refretted by any competent luthier. I use and recommend: Colin Noden at Andy's Guitar Shop, Denmark St. London W1. He is very experienced and usually busy, yet does an excellent job. Most luthiers will charge a couple of hundred dollars for the work, and will need the exact fret positions which depend upon your nut to bridge distance.
If your instrument has other than 650 mm from nut to bridge, you will need to pro-rata the distances, or EMail Charles Lucy from here (info@lucytune.com) with your nut to bridge distance (in inches or millimeters) to get the AmigaBasic or spreadsheet program or a file of the output.

DIY

Doing it yourself is the least expensive route. Remove all the frets. Fill the holes with Plastic Wood. Allow to dry overnight. Sand the board and stick masking tape over it so that you can mark out the fret positions. Draw a straight line from the centre of the nut to the centre of the bridge as a reference for fret alignment, and mark each fret position. Cut fret grooves; remove the masking tape, insert the frets; secure them; trim; file; dress; set up guitar and enjoy playing your LucyTuned guitar.

I suggest 19 frets per octave initially, so that you can add more frets later as you gain playing experience. Use mandolin fretwire for the second octave, so that there will be space for the extra frets later.