Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by gary sheldon on August 22, 2016 at 10:59am

I have never tried a distressed box (on purpose).  I think yours looks just fine.  Maybe you are looking for the perfect distressed look  : )

Permalink Reply by gary sheldon on August 22, 2016 at 11:00am

P.S. Let us see how it looks when it is finished and you have the graphic on.

Permalink Reply by The Bane on August 22, 2016 at 11:36am

Will do. I was thinking of using this thread as a 'Progress Build' thread, but I guess I should use the 'Blog' portion of the site ~ if I can figure it out. I am a bit of an OCD perfectionist, so I might be looking for that 'perfect distressed look'. But dang if it isn't fun doing these.

Thanks for the response,

The Bane

Permalink Reply by Michael Hagen on August 22, 2016 at 11:02am

If it looked perfectly weatherbeaten, it would stink of phoniness. Randomness equals authenticity!

Permalink Reply by The Bane on August 22, 2016 at 11:37am

Thanks, it's appreciated. I think it might turn out okay once I stain it and get more of it done so it's not so much the focal point.

Best,

The Bane

Permalink Reply by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on August 22, 2016 at 12:16pm

I think I'm with the others here too. I really like the look. Like you I really like the dirty, gritty, beat up, distressed look but having said that I think you've accomplished that well from what I see in the photos. Understood though that often times if it's not exactly how we see it in the mind then it's not right. In time I think we learn when enough is enough and let that over ride the mental image. I still say you're coming up roses with it as is but you yourself will know when it's right.

Hooked, ey? Yep, that's the warm feeling good stuff. I sometimes think I'm as hooked on getting that warm feeling as I am hooked on building and playing these things. You're part of the addicted family now. Pull up a chair, it doesn't have to be a rocking chair. Spitoon's on the right, beer's on the left. Try not to get those two mixed up :) Keep on enjoying and remember to share your results again. Looking forward to it!

Bear

Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on August 22, 2016 at 12:47pm

I've never built a distressed look myself. I'm tempted though. Throw everything at it and see what pops out in the end. When I eventually find out how to make tuners not be tuners and look like something completely alien then I think I will give it a go. I think I would want it to look like it's been found in a barn 50 years after the civil war has finished. Not quite a guitar, more like how someone would make a guitar after someone had described it to them but only using stuff they could find in a land fill.

Looks like a lot of fun. It's looking good already.

Permalink Reply by The Bane on September 4, 2016 at 10:20am

Well, this one has kind of been scrapped. Made a few dumb mistakes with it. Might return to it after I finish the current one, which is almost done, but having a HUGE problem getting it strung.

I wanted to string the second build and tune it to GDG, using (what I have read) the A, D, and G strings from a normal pack of guitar strings. The D and G strings (Middle and High strings) went on and tuned in easy enough with some adjustment after they stretched some. However, I have broken two A strings trying to tune it to G! 

Any idea what I am doing wrong?! Getting 'expensive' (not really, just more than I want to pay per CBG) going through A strings... The tension just seems too much trying to get an A string to play G.

Best,

The Bane

Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on September 4, 2016 at 10:38am

I've very often found I break strings trying to reach those notes with the high E string. Yup, I'm not paying any more for them. That last string stretch kills strings.
If I want a build to reach that high then I drop my scale length down to 24" (this is still pushing it) but this is a building hack and not a solution. The solution is to buy expensive strings.

I'm sure my method is just all wrong but at the end of the day I don't give a..

Permalink Reply by The Bane on September 4, 2016 at 11:00am

I am confused. Guitar strings: E, A, D, G, B, E.  So I get taking an Low E to a G is a stretch E - A - D - G, But why am I breaking A strings? A - D - G, one whole note less.

Or is it based on notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A,

It is a one note change. 

So confused...

By the way, I have a 25" scale and modest break angles. Strings break in the middle to two-thirds from the bridge.

The Bane

Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on September 4, 2016 at 11:21am

That jump in tuning, I jump string and miss one from the packet for the high string.
Or if looking at it going down tones.. I skip a string and tune the bass higher.

The thing is that strings are made to tune to fourths between them and CBGs have a jump to be tuned to a fifth. Try skipping a string at this jump point 1. 2 & 4.. 2 3 & 5.. Depending on where you make that jump.

I tune upside down from everyone because I'm learning 4 string. Mine has tunings built on a fifth a fourth and a fifth.

Like.. My bass string, I follow up the fretboard 7 steps, that's the next string tuning.. Then 5 steps.. That's the 3rd string.. Then 7..

5 steps is a fourth.. 7 steps is a fifth.

It's that jump between strings that you have to adjust too by either missing a string from the packet or making a string "highly strung".

It takes a bit of getting used to and it's handy to know tuning a guitar by the notes on the fretboard or harmonics.
I don't think there's a perfect solution because scale length is different between guitars and quality of strings vary wildly coupled with string weight and tension tolerances.

Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on September 4, 2016 at 11:27am

If someone says you can bring your string up to a note without breaking or down to a note without string flapping and doesn't ask you your scale length or your string weight (or quality) then they haven't thought about it and can only say it might work.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page