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Comment by Alan Hodges on August 11, 2010 at 7:41am

Hi all, can anyone give me some info on building a resonator? Cant seem to find out too much info on the cone and bridge/biscuit set up. Also what alternatives can be used for the expensive cones? £40+ for one cone is way too much. Thanks, Alan.

Comment by smojo on August 9, 2010 at 9:13pm

Stella - mine didn't need the neck resetting. It's in pretty good shape apart from the soundboard has started to bow outwards slightly in the area either side of the neck near the soundhole. Don't know why that should happen but it seems sound enough. I've taken the precaution of detuning the strings down a couple of semitones to lessen the tension.

Comment by ChickenboneJohn on August 9, 2010 at 7:00pm

Hi..another little note on the Stella thing... I've had perhaps dozens and dozens of the Harmony-made Stellas thru' my hands...and I use them as my regular stage guitars. They are tough cheap little guitars, and as Smojo says, they are a different animal to the older Oscar Schmidt ones. Almost everyone I've had has needed a neck reset, so do be aware if you are buying one it will probably need some work to make it playable...so your $50 bargain can get expensive. I saw one on eBay in the UK..and it was one that had gone thru my workshop...neck reset and fitted pickup, they were asking £200, which I thought was OK..but only because I know it was totally sorted..there are some people asking that for one that hasn't got that provenance of restoration, and it's simply not worth it. If anyone has any Stella related questions..feel free to ask me.

Comment by MrRandomWritings (Backwater Bri) on August 2, 2010 at 10:40pm

Reading Rand's comment about metric/imperial wood measurements I remember when we went metric and in usual Brit fashion it nearly worked. When you needed a piece of timber about the size we would want now for guitar necks it was a case of asking for 2 metres of 2 by 1!

Comment by Sherb on August 2, 2010 at 10:34pm

Hi Rand, Thanks for the comments. The strap is actually a single strand of thick string , what we used to call one string plating. It was only meant to be tempory.Still attempting to get used to playing on this fretting although its interesting to just randomly strum.

Comment by smojo on August 2, 2010 at 9:37pm

Peter and Stellas. I had a fancy for one and bought an 1960s model on the USA Ebay sight. Firstly these aren't the great sounding ones that the old bluesmen played on. They were the Oscar Schmitt made ones and you'd need to find a lot of money for one of those now. Mine was one of the very cheap instruments. The tone is quite nasally and lacking bass. Intonation is crap due to high action and basically it's not a good guitar to play. Having said that I love it. It looks real sweet, I never expected any more of it than that. It's a nice small parlour size ideal for sitting on the sofa and messing about on. I am happy to have it in my collection. A word of warning though if you intend shipping one from abroad. The shipping costs plus import duties and delivery in this country rack up the cost. I bagged mine for about £60 but by the time i got it, that had doubled. Yoiu rarely see them in the UK and when you do, they tend to be £200+ so if you are still keen to get one - importing still works out cheaper.

Comment by Rand Moore on July 31, 2010 at 2:39am

Now that I'm a member, I'll offer a second comment - this time to Mark Wright aka "Lefty ": I agree with what Mark of Junk Box Instruments has to say. However, I have noticed (in America) two common spacings for home made 3-stringer instruments and I hope people can standardize their builds to these.

The first spacing is what I call "stick dulcimer (aka strum stick) spacing" which has 3/8'' spacing between strings and 3/16" spacing between the outer strings and their respective edges of the neck. This works well on a neck that's 1.5" wide. This spacing is also used for many ukuleles.

The second spacing is what I call "Cigar Box Guitar spacing", where the spacing between the 3 strings is 1/2'' with a separation of 1/4'' between the outer strings and their neck edges. This works best on necks that are 2" wide.

That said, much of the world works with wood measured and cut in millimeters or centimeters (metric), so if there is any validity to my observations, it's probably only true for American built instruments. But, I'll leave you Brits with my measurements in inches so you'll have to dig out and dust off your old English/Imperial scaled rulers;-)

Comment by Rand Moore on July 31, 2010 at 2:15am

Howdy All... With my name, an American mongrel like me must have a bit of Brit blood in me, certainly some Irish. But, I'm not shy about joining groups if that's what I have to do to make a comment. This comment is for Sherb and his Worktown Dulcimer: Nice work and a nice photo! The great idea I got from looking at your photos is that I can build a guitar strap by braiding together two or three chords (light weight rope, boot laces, or whatever) like my wife does for my 5 year old daughter's pig tails. Why didn't I think of that before?

Comment by Mike Willmouth on July 28, 2010 at 11:01am

Maybe I can be a honorary (honourary) Brit?
I lived at RAF Upper Heyford for 4 years, and my last name is an English name.

Comment by Mark on July 21, 2010 at 1:04pm

There are no real rules - not even in mainstream guitar making. A Fender is different from a Gibson is different from a Rickenbacker is different from a classical guitar is different from a flamenco guitar...etc.
I think string spacing and the other features you mention are very much a matter of personal taste based on things that are particular to you, such as your playing style and the size of your hands and so on. I tend to use slightly wider string spacings than on conventional guitars - I just happened to start out with that as a guess on my first build and it worked well for me.
Maybe one reason for my choice is that, in contrast to my regular guitar playing (where I tend to strum chords), I don't find myself wanting to fret chord shapes on a CBG so much so I've no particular need to have the strings close together. The wider string spacing means I'm less likely to accidentally catch a string I didn't mean to play.
Features such as radiused fretboards and tapered string alignment evolved to aid particular aspects of playing. On a 6-string guitar, a radiused fretboard helps you get even pressure when fretting a barre chord and also aids certain aspects of picking. On a 3-string you can achieve those things reasonably well with a flat arrangement. Also, having the strings in a flat plane facilitates use of a slide across all the strings at the same time
One very good reason for a flat finger board and parallel strings is simplicity - and that's a reason which should never be under-rated. If you want to make CBGs with tapered string alignment and radiused finger boards then give it a shot and see if you like the result. The downside is that it'll complicate the geometry a little and be a little more demanding in terms of the accuracy of your workmanship.

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