Comment

Comment by Calim on November 8, 2014 at 2:04pm

great project !

Comment by Stephan Ziemba on November 2, 2014 at 10:46pm

...by competing, I mean doing in our garages what they're doing in their factories. HAH! Don't get even, get ahead! To everybody that MAKES STUFF! EVERYWHERE! Shipping stuff around the planet is just a huge waste of fuel. MAKE STUFF AT HOME! WHOOOT! You guys ALL ROCK!

Comment by Stephan Ziemba on November 2, 2014 at 10:36pm

It's a very cool concept and aesthetic, but the dowel tuners are going to be frustrating for a kid to tune. I wouldn't blame you for getting some bulk Chinese tuners. The rest is made in the USA, and if China's doing with metal what we're doing with wood, which is kinda grass roots nose to the grindstone making stuff, I think we should give 'em props until we're competing in metal. I've been looking at making metal parts myself, but 4 spinal fractures slows ya down. I'm six years behind on winterizing the house, but I keep my eyes and ears open, and one day, I'm gonna cut some gears... I've been developing a P90 pickup that should cost about $2 to make and sound killer. Not sure about the $2 since the math isn't in on the wire, but I got a pretty good price on  the biggest roll I could find. The rest of the materials are dirt cheap. Magnets come from China (sorry). Of course all of this is off until I find where the mice are getting in and slow the furnace down a tad. If I can't get the tractor running and have to pay someone to clear the driveway again this year, I'm screwed. Driveway's 900 feet. Any takers? Just blathering. Feel free to ignore.

Comment by JL on October 27, 2014 at 2:06am

if you don't mind investing in a violin, viola, or cello peg shaver and peg hole reamer, you can get dowels to hold well and tune more easily.  OR, see if you can buy violin pegs in bulk. 

Comment by Uncle John on October 27, 2014 at 2:02am

If you went one string and used those tuners, keeping things tuned would not be an issue and it would save money and simplify.   However you go, those are cool and best wishes.

Comment by Paulo Renato de Jesus Gonçalves on October 26, 2014 at 11:43am

Thanks!

I have question the tuners myself...but the question is budget..it needs to be very affordable, and if we were to go with "real"tuners that along with the strings would blow the budget so we decided to go with the strings so we would have a better sound - even if a little out of tune!

The question we have been discussing is do we make something more like  a toy or more like a real instrument! For something more like a toy we would go for more young kids that might have more trouble assembling it, for something more like a "real Instrument" a little older kids, who can assemble it but might expect a better sound and being more playable, something more hard to do with a very small budget...

I did a banjo version that that I did like a lot but forgot to take pictures before handling it to my friend so he could decide between the box guitar and the "banjo" for the work shop - He is the guy who handles the kids I´m the one who handles the wood !

I will post some pictures of the banjo and the version with wood frets when I got a chance.

Comment by Uncle John on October 26, 2014 at 2:58am

Just very cool.  I love the concept and the look.   I will say I would go with 'real' tuners because I always wish that people will become players who love to play.

Comment by TN Twang on October 24, 2014 at 12:45pm

Great idea! May your project prosper.

TN

Comment by Paulo Renato de Jesus Gonçalves on October 24, 2014 at 12:23pm

Thanks!

There is no big secret to the dowel tuners. The neck is Pine and so are the dowels.

I make the hole for the dowels with a very used 10mm drill bit, witch is probably 9,5mm right now, and that with the fact that the dowels are 10mm but rarely concentric they get pretty tight. 

Now as this is for kids to put together and have fun the tuning is not extremely precise :)

But they do get tuned if you want, but they might be more tricky to get there..and stay there for that matter.

We just might have to change from a wood box to a metal one making a canjo/banjo as the source for the boxes is not very reliable..lets see how it goes!

Comment by Brown Water Jerry (Rice) on October 24, 2014 at 4:01am

I also like the wood tuners. How do u makem so they stay in tune?

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page