Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ryan Rose on December 6, 2011 at 2:19pm

I've never done a proper 4-string guitar, so I can't answer both of your questions, but I can answer the first. Yes, I do still use 1-1/2" stock. I've built a couple of ukuleles, and I also built a banjo. A normal 1x2 was wide enough for four strings. For the banjo I had to add a smaller peice of wood to one side to accomodate the fifth string. As a matter of fact, not only was there enough room for four strings, there was enough room for me to mess up the string spacing. For reinforcement, I can't really answer. A standard-size uke doesn't need any, and I didn't use any on the banjo. From my limited memory, it seems to me that I've read that it's not necessary on a four-string guitar. Don't quote me on that.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on December 6, 2011 at 2:42pm

I use 1x2s almost exclusively, and I make both 3 and 4 string models with them. A 1.5 inch wide board has plenty of room for 4 strings.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Eight Spades CBG on December 6, 2011 at 3:28pm

I use a 1.5" for 4 strings and even 3 strings for that matter.  I have never used any reinforcement other than a seperate glued on fingerboard.

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Permalink Reply by Richard G Caudill on December 6, 2011 at 3:43pm

Ms Charlotte ,, love the 13 degree scarfs .... the red  oak at 1.5 inches easily will do 3  or 4  without any prob,, no bracing will b necessary,,,   We wanna see ur builds  when u get em done now    ok ???

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on December 6, 2011 at 4:57pm

Thanks for the replys!! OK, so that solves that, now I'm curious about the neck attachment.  I'm doing these first ones with piezo discs and wonder how you navigate the clearance in the bridge area.  I assume the neck is permanently attached to the box and not the lid.  I'll take some pictures of my necks tomorrow and post them.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on December 7, 2011 at 1:02am

Some people attached the neck to the lid, some attach it to the box. I attach mine to the lid and run the neck all the way through the box, with about an inch or so sticking out the back to use for the tail piece. I drill holes in the tail piece to anchor the strings.

Charlotte Henry said:

Thanks for the replys!! OK, so that solves that, now I'm curious about the neck attachment.  I'm doing these first ones with piezo discs and wonder how you navigate the clearance in the bridge area.  I assume the neck is permanently attached to the box and not the lid.  I'll take some pictures of my necks tomorrow and post them.

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on December 7, 2011 at 3:05pm

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on December 7, 2011 at 3:17pm

In the top photo the middle neck is maple. In the bottom photo the second neck without ears is the maple neck. All others are red oak.  The shop I work in is a piano rebuild shop and we have great tools and a lot of talent to draw on.

I was going to glue up another maple neck but the board wasn't sufficiently straight so I resawed it into 3 fretboard blanks.

I had a scrap piece of oak that was 3/4" and resawed it to get peg head overlays.

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Permalink Reply by joe cerroni on December 8, 2011 at 12:00pm

Great work on the scarf joints. Your guitars are gonna be awesome! I've built about 50 CBGs and i've only ever filed back the 1x2 for string back tension on the headstock area. Never made a scarf joint, i'm too scared to mess up too much good wood with only hand saws! oh well, call me chicken. I like to use neck-through design, but i file down the middle part of the 1x2 (especially the area directly under the bridge) so the soundboard (box top),  vibrates more than if it was glued to the box top all the way along the length. Really increases the volume of acoustic or piezoacoustic CBGs. I find the opposite is true when using magnetic pickups, though.

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Permalink Reply by Richard G Caudill on December 8, 2011 at 12:40pm

Yes they are  To get those kinda scarf joints   is a master wood worker

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Permalink Reply by joe cerroni on December 8, 2011 at 12:52pm

@ Richard, Truth!

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on December 8, 2011 at 2:10pm

Joe, I'll bet that if you got yourself a Japanese handsaw your could surprise yourself.  I made the scarf cuts on a mitre saw with a jig that took me 15 minutes to make and looks absolutely awful. It holds the board at a perpendicular angle to the fence on the saw and then changed the angle of cut to 13 degrees. After making the cut I flip the short piece and lay it on the longer piece so that the two beveled areas make one longer beveled ramp.  Put a clamp on to hold the pieces together and sand with a large enough block wrapped in 100 grit paper to have a nice flat ramp and the line between the two pieces of wood is perfectly square.  It's not that big a deal. If you saw it done you would go, " I can do that." The difficult part is clamping it and it not moving.

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