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jeff Holloway Male Bozeman, MT United States: Like

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jeff Holloway's Groups

CBG wiring & electronics.

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The Beginners Club

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Introduce Yourself!

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jeff Holloway joined Andy Stone's group

CBG wiring & electronics.

Want to plug that thing in? Here's a place to share ideas about pickups (Both magnetic and piezo) and wiring in volume and tone control, the best options in output jacks, and more!Remember that C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply is the one-stop shop for all of your CBG Electronics needs!See More

Nov 28, 2012

349 Comments 24 Likes

Emmy DePolo replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"fretted"

Sep 21, 2012

Dan Sleep replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"And, is it a fretted or fretless model?"

Sep 21, 2012

Dan Sleep replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"I made a beginners video that is posted on my page. It may help answer some of your questions. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/string-action But, essentially you need to lower the nut, or the bridge, or both.What kind of nut and bridge does…"

Sep 21, 2012

Emmy DePolo replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"I have a new CB gitty guitar..strings are extra light and high off the neck. Playing individual notes are muted. I'm told I should lower string height at nut and bridge. How do you do that?"

Sep 21, 2012

jeff Holloway replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"Thanks guys for the input. So since first posting this question I've decided to go ahead and make this first CBG a fretted model. I like the idea of using a trial nut and bridge and then adjusting it as necessary. I'm…"

Feb 26, 2011

Der Groovemeister replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Feb 26, 2011

MichaelS Country Boy Guitars replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"Les Paul started with a 4 by 4, I think our cigar box's amy be a step better. lol "

Feb 26, 2011

Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"I thought it might, but it seems not to, or at least not to a noticeable extent. I use wood glue to stick it on, so perhaps once that is absorbed it sort of becomes a different substance. As this is only for determining the height of the final…"

Feb 26, 2011

Der Groovemeister replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"I don't know about paper... Doesn't it muffle the tone a little bit? In the cigar boxes i got from cigar shops there are sometimes very thin sheets of wood. I use that for when i cut something too low. But then again... it's a Cigar…"

Feb 26, 2011

Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"Hi. On all that I have done so far (grand total or three), I have started with a temporary bridge and nut. Too high, sand/file some off. Too low, add paper. My latest one had so much cardboard glued under the wood that it was looking a bit…"

Feb 26, 2011

MichaelS Country Boy Guitars replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"On my fretless I like to fret the strings so I try to get them low, at the nut I can hold a medium pick under the string. Bridge needs to be higher or you will get some buzz off the neck. We all like them different, you can always adjust to suit…"

Feb 22, 2011

Der Groovemeister replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"I find that for a fretless it is nicer to have high string action. Then you can just whack the bottleneck on!"

Feb 22, 2011

Rusty Shackleford ( Mike ) replied to jeff Holloway's discussion suggestions for string height in the group The Beginners Club

"I used a guitar for myown CBG build and it looked like the strings are about the same height as a guitar, so I went with that and it sounds pretty good...Good Luck!"

Feb 21, 2011

Rusty Shackleford ( Mike ) left a comment for jeff Holloway

"Welcome to the Beginners Club Jeff...Good luck with your CBG builds...Rusty Mike"

Feb 21, 2011

jeff Holloway added a discussion to the group The Beginners Club

suggestions for string height

Hello all Jeff from Montana here, I'm building my first CBG which will be a three string fretless model. My question is what height should I set the nut and brige at? I imagine for a fretless CBG the height isn't that critical but for a freted instrument I assume there is some rule of thumb that works. Any suggestions for a newbe?

Feb 20, 2011

13 Comments 0 Likes

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At 7:06am on February 21, 2011, Rusty Shackleford ( Mike ) said…: Welcome to the Beginners Club Jeff...Good luck with your CBG builds...Rusty Mike

At 12:03pm on February 7, 2011, Eric Townsend said…: hey man, I feel ya on not wanting to get hung up on next level buidl issues like frets right off the bat...my own thought would be -- Build your first one or two as fretless (I used a saw to cut low grooves for markers, and the stain/sealer just naturally darkened in the grooves and made for nice looking 'fret's --- cleaner than burning them in with an iron or other --- (but you could probably use a Sharpie and get nice clean 'painted' lines?) -- as for your playing, the slight drag with slide is that it takes some feel and finesse and an ear to get notes to sound good. Be patient enough to just work on a simple simple three note phrase over and over until you get it to sound good...once you can slide into a note and give it a little slight vibrato wiggle to give the note some life...THEN you'll be able to expand on that a little at a time and be psyched to keep playing --- and the fretless build would at least allow you to have fun and learn building your CBGs and have them be viable instruments right off the bat, without having to worry about doing decent usable fretwork (I'm a little terrified to going to the next level and doing frets myself...but will do some cheapo caveman frets first) best of luck, (you can get some great starting pointers on 3 string slide from Shane's or other's instruction clips ) ET

At 11:35am on February 5, 2011, MBliss said…: Hi Jeff and welcome!

Your question appeared as a personal group message. To get better results and more answers may I suggest you visit some of the appropriate sectiona and groups. In this case perhaps the group "CBG building 101", or the "building for begginers" group, and study the sections under the "building a CBG" banner near the top of the home page as well for other information and links. If you dont find your answers there, asking in the forum and discussion sections will likely get you many helpful responses. People here for the most part seem to thrive on helping each other.

In particular, your question to fret or not depends on your playing style and building ability. If you want to play mostly slide style, fretless works out fine.

If you are intimidated at first by this area by all means build one fretless and while you are messing with that study the many sources for information and tips on fretting. You will likely to be building another anyway, and then you can take on the additional effort and tools to lay out and add frets.

Some information on fretting is posted in several good groups, including one I host "Intermediate building" feel free to join, I expect to be adding more content on the subject in the near future. Study and ask questions if you have them. Like others here I will help as best I can.

Have fun!