Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on April 21, 2014 at 8:09am

Wow great job mate. Looks like it'll play well too!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Mullen on April 21, 2014 at 12:32pm

Great looking build.   Do you play already?

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Permalink Reply by Matt Quinney on April 21, 2014 at 3:15pm

No, that is the next thing to work on...

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Permalink Reply by Sachi Weaver on April 22, 2014 at 5:56pm

WOW, what a beauty! thats your FIRST build? Newbies eat your heart out! lol. 

I'm a brand spanking newbie on this forum, but i've been lurking for a while and am currently waiting on 4 cigar boxes (i plan to do a 4 string guitar, tenor uke, baritone uke and eventually, a fiddle for my 10 year old friend who was born without a lower jaw. They have been doing a ton of surgeries to MAKE her a lower jaw out of parts of her ribs and cartalage, but as much as she loves playing the violin it can sometimes hurt her little unformed or unfinished jaw. So i figured, we can probably figure out some really fun materials for the chin rest when i do a fiddle. I was blown away at how good some of the CB Fiddles sound, i actually like some of them far BETTER then the traditional.

All of this started with me wanting to make and learn to play the ukulele, tenor, and after a lot of research i thought i should try a CB version first - and then i got into all the OTHER instruments that can be made, and now i'm thouroughly adicted.

I do have a couple of questions about your build. So here goes my questions :-)

1. Did you do a thru-box neck, glue on neck, or bolt on neck? Why did you make that particular choice? Will you try another type of neck in the future?

2. Do you have much woodworking experience? Was it easier or harder then you thought it was gonna be to successfully pull off?

3. What are the dimensions of your box? I have a few really nice boxes arriving within the next day or so. And i am thinkin of ordering padauk from woodcraft.com (The only place that ships for reasonably priced) because its on sale and is really beautiful. deep rich red color. I'm disabled RL so its hard to get to any wood stores. 

Do you have any advice to a complete and utter newbie with limited woodworking skill but LOTS of research under her belt ? Any little things that gave you more trouble then you thought and how you overcame such issues?

Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures. You did a fantastic job. Next i hope to see a link to a youtube video so we can hear it :)

Sachi

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Permalink Reply by Matt Quinney on April 23, 2014 at 2:41am

Sachi,

Thank you so much for your  kind comments!!

As to your questions...

1. Thru neck, screwed to bottom of box.  I did this because it is easy and I didn't have to worry about bracing the box - the neck carries all the string tension.

2.  I've built a hutch, a desk, and a linen storage cabinet, a playing card holder for my wife when she had hand surgery and couldn't hold cards (and then two more for friends who thought it a great idea).  The actual woodwork was pretty easy, it was deciding what to do that was hard, many choices in what you do.

3.  Box is  roughly 8"x8"x2.5".  I chose it mainly because it sounded good when I tapped on the top.  Also, it is a deep box.  I understand that helps with volume when playing.  I was wondering about getting two identical boxes and putting the bottoms together to get greater depth.  Re getting wood, the poplar neck was a 1"x2" from Lowe's, I spent some time looking at the stock to get the straightest piece I could find.  The 1/4" thick walnut fretboard was left over from the card holder project.  I got it at a hobby shop.  They also had cherry and mahogany, I used cherry for one of the card holders.  You could probably order from an on line hobby shop.

As for your friend with the jaw problem, she could play with the fiddle held in the crook of her arm or against her chest, easier since you could make the fiddle to the right dimensions to accommodate that hold. 

see here.... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoIUVjEm8VA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0DZ152UhcU

There also may be the possibility of playing held upright on leg, like this gadulka player

here.... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKBxvxdcuMs

Best of luck with your builds!!!

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Permalink Reply by Matt Quinney on April 23, 2014 at 3:17am

Sachi,

A few in progress pics, I didn't take many

Attachments:

• Clamped scarf joint.jpg, 121 KB
• Fret jig.jpg, 88 KB
• Head.jpg, 54 KB

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