Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 24, 2017 at 1:54am

Wild Ass Technical Guess: yer nuts are affecting your ability to play. ;-)

But serously: they are likely distorting the mag field of your pickup, being iron. And they are ungrounded. They're acting like antennas. Ground 'em, should take away the hum.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on June 23, 2017 at 11:28pm

I can't think of a technical reason for weight increasing sustain, so maybe it's just added rigidity. Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 24, 2017 at 1:49am

Sustain = density. The denser a material, the closer together it's atoms are. Transmitting a vibrating wave through such a material is far easier than one with voids. Titanium guitars offer the ultimate in sustain.

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on June 24, 2017 at 5:37am

Here we go...this discussion brings me back to wondering about sustain. Most of my gits don't have much of it, and I occasionally think on it, for just a moment. Short attention span. Rebar inside the neck, big nuts spanning the interior of the box, cylindrical steel attached alongside he neck, all seeming to bring some level of improvement in sustain. Hmmm. Hans mentions violin soundposts, and the recollection is triggered. I read about this stuff before! Didn't do anything with it. Short attention span. See Wikipedia/violin sound posts. See "The Effect of the Soundpost On Violin Sound" by J.E. McLennan, a University study readily available on the interwebs. Interesting stuff. Sound posts and Bass Bars are huge sound enhancers on a number of different stringed instruments, mostly the violin family, but also some arch top gits. I'm not looking to go out in the weeds with this stuff, but a dowel sound post between top and bottom of the box might be a huge sustain improvement. Anybody tried any of this stuff? Some builders use top bracing, though most probably don't. Did the bracing inprove sustain over your non-braced builds?The aforementioned rebar/steel rod/big nuts additions seem to have helped folks, but none of this stuff seems to be regular building steps used by builders in this forum. Have you had any positive, or negative results with improving sustain by adding internal structure, even as simple as a the dowel between top and bottom of box? Dudes, what worked?

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on June 24, 2017 at 6:42am

Further investigation yields the following info. For what it's worth. Violin sound posts seem to work due to the strings are being "dragged" side-to-side by the bow. Jimmy Page notwithstanding, this is not the normal stress being placed on a git string set. Arch Top git players debate on what will, won't, or might be good in regard to round sound posts, square sound posts, hourglass-shaped sound posts, or trestle bracing, and they do get played the same as our gits. Strumming, picking, and parabolic string vibrations. Violins and arch top gits rely on curved instrument top and bottom surfaces, so bracing is required to a degree not usually found on cbg's (no real revelation there!). But!....all of these instruments rely on vibration to transmit sound, and hopefully, music. Makes building a cbg seem easy! Still, what about that sustain, boys and girls? Lord, I gotta go find something to do!

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on June 24, 2017 at 8:47am

Well, I found something else to do. When the truck was clean, I typed "improving sustain on a cbg" into the browser. Came back with several threads from CBN from several years ago. Lots of discussion, lots of suggestions, some more experimenting to embark on. We'll see. Short attention span. I'm gonna go fret a neck for now, then maybe start on a "Log". See Les Paul.

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Permalink Reply by Geordie Hillbilly on June 24, 2017 at 1:41pm

Great post - I was just wondering the same thing myself!

I have a question for you though, if you don't mind?  The whole design is excellent!   How did you get such perfect f-holes on your cbg? 

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on June 24, 2017 at 1:55pm

There is a reason they are called "F" holes Jamie

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Permalink Reply by Hans on June 26, 2017 at 9:58am

Making the f-holes was actually pretty simple: I googled a template, printed it, cut the f-holes out, spray glued them to the top, sawed them out with a fretsaw, and sanded the edges. 

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on June 27, 2017 at 2:28am

Going to be building an acoustic CBG. Was planning on putting a piece of ply on the back of the box to help with the weight. 

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 27, 2017 at 4:52am

Rat,

Instead of wood, or maybe in addition to, why not a piece of sheet metal? You could still do thin ply...hmm. Just do a piece of sheet metal across the tail end of the box. Screwgie it on.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on June 27, 2017 at 5:42am

Cool idea Oily. But i have lots of wood. No sheet metal.  Could even put a piece of wood across the tail end. Wont be exactly balanced. But would help and not interfere with the overall sound. 

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