Hi all of you builders of funky instruments,
I have this pretty nougat tin from France lying around here and it yearns to be made into some kind of stringed instrument. I’m thinking short scale guitar with nylon strings, either a four stringer or a six stringer with three double courses tuned like a three stringer...
I don’t know yet whether I’ll make it a neck-through or even a “neck-around” (something like this:) I have only built instruments with wooden boxes so far and never worked with a tin – and that’s where my question comes in:
How do I reinforce this thing so that the pressure of the strings doesn’t cave in the fairly thin and flexible lid without dampening the vibration of the lid too much? How do you reinforce your tins?
All kinds of advice (and, even better: pictures) greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Hans
Tags:
Thanks! Yes, that's correct, no top on the wooden box. It's notched on both ends for the neck so the neck sits flush with the top of the box and the top of the tin sits a little above it.
INTERIM REPORT FROM THE TIN REINFORCEMENT FRONT:
I've decided to do a (Kigar-style) neck-around with this tin. So no trough-neck to support the lid, the tin has to be strong enough to withstand string pressure by itself...
First step: I glued a piece of plywood to the bottom of the tin and spray painted it red.
Second step: I cut a soundhole and did some X-bracing on the lid... looks messy, but seems to have done the job: A first test ( an old string strung over the tin with a piece of scrapwood as a bridge) produced some very nice sounds.
Looks good. As to calling it after me, I am sure there are a hundred on this site before I "thought" of it. But as there are no rules....
Anyway, happy building and keep posting the progress!
Don't worry, I won't name this git after you : ) - Given that it's a nougat tin I'll probably come up with some kind of candy themed name for it...
But since I'm basically using the pictures of your boy scout mess tin guitar as a template I thought I should give credit where credit is due.
Hanns, I don't want to be overly critical of your bracing, looks like a lot of work there. It does look like what one would put in a full guitar, but beware.
As a bit of a heads up, so you don't finish the guitar and find out when it's too late.
The cross braces in a top are there for structural support, and to provide this support they need to be fixed at their ends to the sides. Also the joint where the braces cross, is their weakest point. It has to be a tight firm joint.
I would suggest you lay the top down and apply downward pressure to simulate the strings, to check the strength of the bracing before assembly. Just a thought. I was in two minds weather to bring this up, sorry.
Taff
Don't worry, Taff, your wellfounded criticsm is very welcome! I do all of this guitar building stuff with a trial and error/learning by doing approach and I rarely really know what I'm doing... I learn a lot from this kind of criticism - so go ahead and criticize whenever you think I'm doing something wrong! I appreciate it.
I did check the strength of the lid with some string pressure simulation and it looked good, but I think I have to do the bracing all over again anyway, because the glue doesn't really hold. Probably I should have sanded the tin before gluing, because there seems to be some kind of coating on the metal (to make it food-safe, I guess) that doesn't work well with the glue I used... I'll take your advice into account for my second attempt at bracing this tin.
And in any case I'll build this git in a way that the tin can be easily opened even after it's finished so that I can adjust the bracing if need be.
Well, I'll know that it's really a match made in heaven once I string it up and hear the sound of heavenly choirs accompanied by Saint Cecilia on the harpsichord...
... or it will just sound like a match made on my tiny workbench...
But there's still a lot of work to do until then: shaping and sanding the neck, making a fretboard, a nut, a bridge, and a stringholder (that's what the notch in the tailpiece is for) - and a second attempt at X-bracing the lid (this time with glue that really sticks to the metal...)
Looking good! I misjudged the tin, for some reason I thought it was smaller. That should sound nice.
Yes, I think it should sound good. I did a first primitive sound check (tied two stringst to the tuner holes, used pieces of scrapwood as nut an bridge and my hand as a tailpiece...) and it sounded pretty good. Pretty loud, not too tinny and has surprisingly good sustain.
SOME MORE PROGRESS:
1.) X-bracing, second attempt:Cleaner, stronger, better...
This time I sanded off the coating on the metal first and, lo and behold, now the glue works! (Note for future: Food containers usually have some kind of coating on the inside to make them food safe. And this coating does not react well with glue!)
And I took your advice to heart, Taffy: The braces now touch the edge of the lid so that they're supported by the sidewalls of the tin when it's closed. And the joint of the cross braces is now very tight and firm.
And this time I embedded a piezo rod in the bridge plate. (Let's see how that works. If it sounds horrible, I'll just cut off the wire and make a bridge with an embedded piezo rod...)
2.) The neck is shaped now and got a fretboard (fret dots are made from a plastic coat hanger and side dots from Q-tips - first time I used these materials - works great!):Now come a few hours of sanding, and oiling, fretting, then making a nut, bridge and tailpiece - and then I can finally string her up! I can't wait to find out how this thing is going to sound. I just wish I had more time to work on it (my daughter said tonight that whenever I build a guitar I don't have time for her... and the bad thing is: she's kinda right...).
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