Can Jo Consortium

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Comment by Order99 on January 28, 2013 at 12:24am

Do you have access to any of the standard Guitar fretting templates? Calculate Frets normally for Guitar...

Then just use the 0 or Nut position, frets 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19 etc guitar frets for your dulcimers. It's the same fret pattern, you just leave some out-then any Open Chord and you're golden!

Comment by Rand Moore on January 27, 2013 at 8:19pm

Hi All.

It's good to see all the activity in the Can Jo Consortium discussion group. I like those "new style" beer cans you've been using for resonators. Do they resonate as well as the old aluminum "coke" cans? I might try my hand at one if I can find a can here in China. The tapered neck looks like it might be easier to play. One objection to canjos is that they are a bit hard to hold. In one of my builds I used a tail extender board tailored to extend the end of the canjo neck into the crook of my arm (opposite side of my elbow). It was attached with a single bolt so it cold flex a bit and that worked out pretty well.

To help answer BrianQ's questions on diatonic fret placement, be aware that the diatonic scale is a subset of the chromatic scale, so if you have a chromatic fret template that you like (scale length, etc), then it's just a matter of skipping the unused frets. These are detailed in the following diagram:

These fret calculators always carry the calculations out to three decimal places, but in practice, if you measure and cut them to the nearest 0.1 it will be close enough. So, don't sweat it if you are a little off when measuring and cutting your frets. It will still sound good.

Well, happy canjo crafting...

-Rand.

Comment by C Cook on January 27, 2013 at 7:17pm

I've been using a number seven piano wire. Got a deal on a roll of it & havent ran out of it yet. Use whatever size or guage that you like there are no wrongs as it is builders prefrence. You could use a leather loop or put a snap instead for a belt clip anything to hold the can end up at a comfortable playing heighth. Good luck & happy playing.

Comment by Battmann on January 27, 2013 at 6:04pm

c cook,   yours are really nice . I like the belt clip idea. I'll have to work on that one next weekend.  what gauge strings do you use. I swithched mine out today to a wound .20. tuned to g. like the sound much better. complerted a 2nd with slight modifications.

Comment by BrianQ. on January 27, 2013 at 5:19pm

Cook, Love da Belt Hook!!!! Dat's Awesome!!!!!

Great alternative to a strap!

Comment by BrianQ. on January 27, 2013 at 5:12pm

Big Thanx to Thomas & Corbie for those conversion charts,

it really put it into perspective for me, now I get it!

I've gotta get dat hard-headed american we don't need no

stinkin' metric thinking out o' my head, it's kinda like algebra,

u think yer not gonna need it but later in life it's essential,Lol :))

Comment by BrianQ. on January 27, 2013 at 4:54pm

Thanx again, I didn't know they made a metric tape measure?

Comment by Thomas "Duck" Petry on January 27, 2013 at 4:40pm

You_can_always_just_get_one_of_these_to_measure_with._Please_excuse_the_underlines_the_space-bar_on_my_keyboard_just_quit_working!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_317494-77923-KBSL21425_0__?productId=3366976

Comment by Cigarbox Triplestrings on January 27, 2013 at 4:25pm

Go to the StewMac site. It gives you a choice of the measurements in either inches or millimeters.....no need to try and convert yourself :-)

Comment by Corbie on January 27, 2013 at 4:25pm

Don't fear the small increments, anything 1/32 or smaller is a smear of the pencil line and I still can't cut the line.  Corbie

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