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String-Through Plus Curved Box

I'm gonna use a Tele-style bridge and a Duncan '59 single-space humbucker on the CBG that I'm about to assemble. As a result of the bridge, I'm going to make it a string-through... easy enough, I'll just add a block on the inside of the box to reinforce it. This should work, right?

Since I'm doing a string-through, I'm wondering if I should still bring the neck all the way through, or just glue and bolt it where it meets the box at the bottom.

Also, the box has curved outer edges, and I can see that being problematic when notching the neck to fit. Does anyone have any advice?

Here's a link to an ebay listing of the same box that I'm going to use

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on April 22, 2012 at 2:03pm

It is a stronger build if you make the neck all the way through, also consider that the with the neck through you can have something to screw the bridge to. With a through neck sort of like building a semihollow, if not it would like building a electric guitar out of a acoustic. Both doable, but the through neck is easier for me anyways.

Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Scott P on April 22, 2012 at 4:21pm

Hey thanks for the reply... I believe I wasn't clear about my question

I meant, since I'm doing a string-through-body design, do I need to have the neck go into the body and come out the other end? Or can I just have it terminate inside the box?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 22, 2012 at 5:41pm

Scott,

Now, will your strings also be coming through the soundboard on top (or bottom) of the box?

You can have the neck terminate inside the box. I do mine this way, even though they are not string-throughs, but trapeze tailpieces. Or you can have the neck come through the end of the box - it isn't necessarily stronger this way; in fact from a structural standpoint, neck-through is slightly less structurally sound (but these are CBGs, so no one really cares that much), but it gives you the rather convenient option of doing strings through the neck at the tail end, which makes string changes easier than if they are strung through the neck and the top (or bottom) of the box as your soundboard. If they are done the latter way, you'll have to open the box up every time you need or want to change strings. Mungo Ron is right, it's just like building a semi-hollow guitar; take a look at Les Paul's Log, and you'll see a plank with two halves of an Epiphone acoutsic attached to the sides of the plank.

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Permalink Reply by Scott P on April 23, 2012 at 5:17am

Ok Oily, you've answered my structural integrity question. Now here's the thing: I have a tele bridge (pictured) and a pickup to put in it. I'm making a 4-string, so I'll just remove the 2 outer saddles. Thing is, the end of the bridge has a lip where the saddles connect to the bridge assembly, which makes it difficult to have the strings come through the end of the neck, over the lip of the bridge. This is why I want to do a string-through.

Since I'm using a traditional guitar pickup, I'll have to cut a notch in the neck to allow the pickup to go down to a usable depth. My plan is to add a block of wood to the back of the neck, inside the box, to (a) reinforce the neck where I had to notch it and (b) provide a continuous piece of wood for the strings to go through up to the bridge. Then I can just drill holes through the back of the box all the way up through the extra block, the neck, and the soundhole beneath the bridge. That way I won't have to open the box to change the strings.

I get that this adds a few extra steps to the process, but I LOVE the idea of using this bridge and the single-spaced humbucker that I have lying around.

Any thoughts or warnings regarding my plan?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 23, 2012 at 6:29am

Scott,

Aha! The more you find out, the more interesting it gets. You know, you could do what you're suggesting, but make it a bolt-on neck instead, just like a Strat neck. Here's what I'm thinking: glue in a neck-width block of wood from one end of the box to the other, inside the box on its long axis down the center line along the back panel. You're gonna amplify this baby, so acoustic resonance isn't your primary concern. Then you shouldn't have to chop a slot for the pickup, if you get the depth / thickness of this piece right, and you can drill string holes through it from the back, like you're suggesting. You should probably add string ferrules, which can be made from pop rivets.Then, give yourself the proper amount of neck overlap to put 4 bolts into it from the bottom; this will also allow you to shim the neck if you need to, to adjust for a low action if you want one- about 2 degrees should do it.

I have Wichita Sam build #268, a 4-stringer tuned G-B-g-d, which is built almost exactly this way, with a Fender Lace Sensor pickup in the neck position, but with a simple piece of 1/4" rolled steel for a bridge; it is a string through, but just through from the underside of the top, not all the way from the bottom; I think your idea is an improvement which will give you great sustain, and make string changes easier. My git can be pretty easily played both slide and fretted.

Whaddaya think?

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Permalink Reply by Scott P on April 27, 2012 at 10:08am

Yeah this is interesting. I'm not quite sure which way I'll go... I've ordered a pre-made neck because I wanted one that felt more like a traditional guitar neck than I had confidence in my ability to create. The neck I'm getting is made for CBG's, and I'm not sure how I would accomplish the "bolt-on neck instead, just like a Strat neck" suggestion that you gave me. To what would I be bolting the neck?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 27, 2012 at 10:47am

A block of wood inside the box, that would run lengthwise through the box along the centerline. I'll try to draw a picture or find one here on CBN tomorrow.