Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on November 3, 2011 at 3:13am

Just make the next one with the bridge closer to the string ends and you will be fine no matter what the scale length. 1.5 to 2 inches from the bridge to the tailpiece seems to work for me. Look at my picture on my page to see what I mean. Mine are 24" scale just for reference.

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Permalink Reply by David Ford on November 3, 2011 at 10:45am

Pardon me for thinking like Pythagorus, but, I now see why you want the tailpiece connect points as near the bridge as possible.  The downward force is going to be the ratio of the height (sine) to the hypoteneuse, if my one or two engineering classes from 45 years ago are still telling me anything intelligent.

So, the nearer the tailpiece to the bridge, the more downward pressure on the box top by the bridge.

Say, I don't have much of a woodshop right now.  How did you cut the finger joints on the corners of one of those boxes I saw on your profile.  Seemed there was only two fingers near the center of the corner.

I'm downstairs right now using a hand miter saw jig to cut the corners of a box I'm building because it was going to cost me too much money to go the finger joint route.  I don't have a table saw at the moment.  Just a router table, and I'm still setting that up.  I know how I can do box joints with the router, but still need to get there, build the setup, etc.  Haven't touched it in years.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on November 3, 2011 at 8:26pm

A .032 gauge is good for around a "D" on that scale, so either tune it to a D, or change the gauge.

 

For a  low G you'll want something like a .044, or a high G about an .023

 

By the way, that Strothers link is for Dulcimers and the string gauges are totally inappropriate for guitars in my view.

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Permalink Reply by David Ford on November 3, 2011 at 9:47pm

at someone's suggestion, I picked up a 44, 34 and 26.  haven't put them on yet though.  I want to prepare the wood first (sand, spray, sand, spray).

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on November 4, 2011 at 12:30am

Pardon me for thinking like  Archimedes, but "Eureka!" now your getting somewhere! LOL!

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