Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on March 9, 2014 at 10:36am

Yea, that is what I was referring to, but now that I see a closeup pic, the angle looks pretty good. Maybe the buzz is coming from something else.

You can test that theory by plucking a string, and then pressing down on the string between the lego and the fork and see if it goes away.

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Permalink Reply by Amy O'Donnell on March 9, 2014 at 11:27am

They are like Whack-a-mole--get one to stop buzzing and the next one goes off.

After I took the cottonballs out for that picture, everything stopped buzzing! Then I tried a few slides, and it went random-crazy.

Maybe it's because we tried to build a guitar with Legos? ; )

I know you get the point of the project, and I truly appreciate all your help.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on March 9, 2014 at 11:38am

ROFL!!

So, everything was NOT awesome?!  It's all good. My grandkids are staying with us, and they help me in the shop all the time, so I know how much fun it is to work with them. My older one is the same age as your son.

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Permalink Reply by Amy O'Donnell on March 9, 2014 at 12:21pm

It is awesome to my son! He isn't bothered by the buzzing at all. I had 14 heart attacks during this project around band saws and belt sanders, but I think my lad learned a lot of things from this project (as did I).

So you understand why the Legos are not negotiable just yet . . .

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on March 9, 2014 at 12:38pm

http://youtu.be/StTqXEQ2l-Y

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on March 9, 2014 at 11:27pm

The break angle looks fine. What I suspect is causing the string buzz is the flat top surface of your lego bridge. When making bridges and nuts, they always say to make the string break over a narrow sharp or  rounded edge rather than a flat surface to avoid buzz. So, most often, I use machine bolts for nuts and bridges. However, I also have used hardwood for nuts and bridges; and when I shape them, I narrow the top edge of the bridge (or nut) as shown in the following diagram (the one labeled "Good Bridge"). Some builders put a piece of fret wire on the top edge of their bridge for the same reason. Some builder notch their bridge (nut) so each string will be held in place so the inter-string space is preserved. When notching the bridge (or nut) only go as deep as 1/2 the diameter of the string or the string may bind and also cause buzzing.

Good luck. Buzzing problems can be very frustrating, but with some persistence the cause can usually be found.

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on March 11, 2014 at 11:13am

Hi

I think Dan may means at the neck end?

if you replace the lego by the neck with a bolt resting on the fret board (or cut 1/2way in) recon that may sort it for your buzzin.

The bolt threads also keeps the strings in the right place.

The bridge end looks ok but the tail pieces might be rattling on your body?

 

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on March 14, 2014 at 7:31am

Wow! That's a great job!

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Permalink Reply by Jantan ux on March 9, 2014 at 9:42am

I recommend nylon strings, bolt or hardwood as nut and l bracet or hradwood as bridge .

Steel strings will bend neck without truss rod.

Frets are measured from end of the fretboard to the bridge strings brake angle. Also the scale lenght is measured same way.

Best info for making guitar is on http://www.stewmac.com/

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 9, 2014 at 3:56pm

Amy,

Awesome first build! Your break angle at the bridge is fine. The bent fork tailpiece looks like one of mine ;-). The buzz is coming from a couple of sources. The first is looping the strings through the ball ends of the strings; this will cause some rattle and hum, because those ball ends, unless they are pulled up really tight into the smallest loop you can make, will vibrate against the string. I just push the ball end onto the individual fork tines. The second source of buzz is side to side vibration of the string against the edges of the Lego saddle / bridge. Ideally, you want a a string to run across almost a knife edge saddle, to create a single node for the vibrating string. One way to reduce some of this, since the Lego is a key build component, would be to cut string slots; only problem is, the slots would be be pretty long, and still probably buzz inducing. Even though you cut a hole in the center, you could still mount a piezo under the bridge with some hot glue or silicone sealer, if you wanted.

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Permalink Reply by Darren Wolbold on March 9, 2014 at 10:23pm

Also if you google

"cigar box guitar frets bobby pin method"

You should get an interesting post my anonymous pick and a meathod he has used ,

I tryed it and it worked quite well

My blog

http://darrenscigarboxguitars.blogspot.co.uk/

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on March 9, 2014 at 11:42pm

Yeah, if you are looking for a simple way to fret the instrument, you can try those nylon tie-wraps that they use to tie up wiring harnesses with (can buy at Radio Shack, and most hardware stores). You can wrap them around the neck and tighten down once their location is decided upon. If you have a digital tuner, you can tune each fret and that way not even need to bother calculating where each fret should go (but fret calculators aren't hard to use and if you use one, they will allow you to get the tie-wrap well within the ball park (as they say), and you can then fine tune it.) I also recommend using a slightly thicker tie-wrap for fret 0 (the nut) as a metal or hardwood nut will ring out louder than the nylon ones. The only real downside of the nylon tie-wraps is that they tend to mute the instrument some what (maybe a blessing if your kid plays these guitars they way my kid does, maybe I'll switch the strings to wet noodles;-) )

-Rand.

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