Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on December 22, 2008 at 5:34am

Hey Gene,

Why not that let the paper be what it is.... Unless you literally abuse your paper covered CBG, it will hold up reasonably well. Shane's famous Mac, looks so relic because he has played it hundreds or thousands of hours over maybe a 10(?) year period. For most of us who will only play 3-5 hours a week, the paper will hold up quite well, and , even as it starts to wear away in the "strum zone", it will gain a nice "lived in" like SRV's strat. I have a favorite paper covered CBG with about 50 hours play on it, with only the slightest dulling of the finish. Just be sure to "skin" the paper off the inside of the lid/top so that you get the best/loudest sound possible....

good luck.

the best,

Wichita Sam

Permalink Reply by gene on December 22, 2008 at 10:32am

Thanks for the tip, Sam. I thought the paper would wear off alot quicker. It's also a good tip to remove the paper from the inside. I am sure I'll have more amateur questions when I start putting it together over christmas. Thanks

Wichita Sam said:

Hey Gene,

Why not that let the paper be what it is.... Unless you literally abuse your paper covered CBG, it will hold up reasonably well. Shane's famous Mac, looks so relic because he has played it hundreds or thousands of hours over maybe a 10(?) year period. For most of us who will only play 3-5 hours a week, the paper will hold up quite well, and , even as it starts to wear away in the "strum zone", it will gain a nice "lived in" like SRV's strat. I have a favorite paper covered CBG with about 50 hours play on it, with only the slightest dulling of the finish. Just be sure to "skin" the paper off the inside of the lid/top so that you get the best/loudest sound possible....

good luck.

the best,

Wichita Sam

Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on December 22, 2008 at 8:22pm

Hey gene , I have a cbg built from the same box and I use "Varathane" brand polyurethane
for all of my papered boxes. I prefer to use a brush rather than spraycan, you get better
coverage with fewer coats. But any clear coat finish will work for papered boxes, I use poly-
urethane becuz' it's the toughest of them. Shellac & spray varnish will also work.
hope I helped ya

Permalink Reply by Wade on December 26, 2008 at 6:50am

Hey, I agree with Sam. Just string it and strum it! If you have to put a coating, I like a thin coat of laquer (good stuff from the auto store) or if your indoors, a coat of shellac. The downside to both is that you should let them dry a few weeks before using them.

Wade

Permalink Reply by gene on December 27, 2008 at 11:16am

Thanks for all your tips. I definitely won't have a few weeks of patience! It's my first CBG, I'll be itching to try it out :D Just started sawing and cutting today. But later on I think I will definetely try some kind of laquer.

Permalink Reply by bucky on December 28, 2008 at 10:46am

i'm always thinking of the cheapest way to achieve results. I have actually used clear packaging tape and taped the whole dang box. It doesn't look that bad if you take the time and make sure there are no air bubbles and line the seems of the tape up nicely. just another idea I thought i would throw out there.

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on December 28, 2008 at 1:42pm

Generally, the reason I reject adding finishes to the box, is that it reduces it's responsiveness...
Certainly adding a layer of packing tape would restrict the top's vibration....


bucky said:

i'm always thinking of the cheapest way to achieve results. I have actually used clear packaging tape and taped the whole dang box. It doesn't look that bad if you take the time and make sure there are no air bubbles and line the seems of the tape up nicely. just another idea I thought i would throw out there.

Permalink Reply by bucky on December 29, 2008 at 1:44pm

didn't think of that, but it definatly makes sense. the guitar that I did that too was very loud despite that but I think it was because of the "dobro-like" bridge that I used. I'll definatly not do that again. Thanks for the knowledge wichita sam.
Wichita Sam said:

Generally, the reason I reject adding finishes to the box, is that it reduces it's responsiveness...
Certainly adding a layer of packing tape would restrict the top's vibration....


bucky said:

i'm always thinking of the cheapest way to achieve results. I have actually used clear packaging tape and taped the whole dang box. It doesn't look that bad if you take the time and make sure there are no air bubbles and line the seems of the tape up nicely. just another idea I thought i would throw out there.

Permalink Reply by Nick on January 8, 2009 at 3:52pm

you might also wanna do something to the back, cuz that looks like the type of box that splinters on the back. many of my paper boxes have a rough, splintery back

Permalink Reply by gene on January 8, 2009 at 9:16pm

Well I am finally done with it!!! my first CBG!
spent a lot of time over christmas filing and making a mess in the living room :D Thanks for all your help, guys. I'll post the photos when I have them. I couldn't wait to get it finished, I was so anxious to see what it looks and sounds like when put together. I was pretty surprised that it sounded that good after stringing it! I thought "damn, I can't believe that this sound comes out from this little box!!!

the only problem with the guitar is that for some reason, fretting certain notes doesn't sound quite right, actually way off would be more exact. I am not sure why, I was pretty careful to measure frets as exact as possible. May be it has something to do with action? my bridge turned out a lot higher than normal.

Permalink Reply by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker on January 9, 2009 at 3:04am

Gene:

Getting strings to intonate correctly is tricky. I'm still struggling with it myself. But from what I've gathered on here and from trial and error, a few different things work together to make a string produce the pitch you want at a certain fret. The obvious one is of course scale length and proper fret measurement, and it sounds like you gave that the deserved attention.

The other big players are string tension (how tight or slack it is), string gauge, and action height. If a string is too loose or too tight (I find it more with too loose), when you press it down on a fret it will distend more than a properly tensioned string will, and not produce the correct tone. The solution to tension is to use the proper string gauge for the scale length and pitch you are trying to create. There is a calculator online that is meant to help with this, but it can be fairly tricky to use. At best, I use it as a starting point, and go with trial and error from there.

A basic guide/comparison would be to take a properly tuned acoustic steel-string guitar, and test how much tension are in the strings by moving them back and forth horizontally. Get a feel for how easily they move and how far you can move them, both the wound and plain steel strings. Then try to achieve the same basic tension on your CBG.

Action height is the other one. If your action is very high, you are stretching the string more to get it down to the fret, thus increasing the tension more and likely driving your pitch sharper (higher) than it would be if your action were lower. You might consider sanding your bridge down a bit to lower the action height.

Hope this helps. I'm barely past the beginner stage myself when it comes to all of this.

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 9, 2009 at 1:58pm

Hey,

When fretted notes are "way off"... like a 1/2 step, a whole step or more, you probably have a high fret. The first thing I do when I string up a new CBG is run all the frets one string at a time from the nut to the box end of the fretboard. If I get, da-da-da-da-da-da-da one 1/2 note at a time yippee... but often one or several frets will "jump up" a whole note of more... this is a sure give away that you have a high fret that either didn't seat tightly or you maybe have a rise the the fretboard at that point.

first visually inspect the high fret (that's the one that "belongs to the way off note). If yo can see it riding high, unstring the CBG and hammer it down. If not, then the cure is to get out your "dressing block" and lightly sand the frets. You will quickly find the high one. Then it's sand, test, sand, test, sand, test...etc. until you get the chromatic 1/2 step all the way up the fretboard...

hope this helps...

Wichita SAm

gene said:

Well I am finally done with it!!! my first CBG!
spent a lot of time over christmas filing and making a mess in the living room :D Thanks for all your help, guys. I'll post the photos when I have them. I couldn't wait to get it finished, I was so anxious to see what it looks and sounds like when put together. I was pretty surprised that it sounded that good after stringing it! I thought "damn, I can't believe that this sound comes out from this little box!!!

the only problem with the guitar is that for some reason, fretting certain notes doesn't sound quite right, actually way off would be more exact. I am not sure why, I was pretty careful to measure frets as exact as possible. May be it has something to do with action? my bridge turned out a lot higher than normal.

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