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C-28 (first build)

Hi everyone!

I posted some photos of my first build in an album on my page. It's a work in progress. I'm calling it a "C-28," because today I was working on it and I thought, "Well, it's not a D-28." I'd appreciate any constructive criticism you may have to offer.

The box seems to be made of cedar, and came painted a dark brown. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but it's growing on me. The sides and top of the box are ~3/8" thick, and the back is ~1/8" thick, so I'm using the box "upside down". The back is my soundboard. I'm hoping the lighter wood will vibrate more for a nice acoustic tone. Also, the neck is not attached to the soundboard at all. It's attached to the 2 sides of the box. Again, I'm hoping for the top to vibrate nicely.

I found the neck on eBay recently. It's from a tenor banjo, and I think it's maple. I'm not sure what the fretboard wood is. It's not ebony or rosewood. It has a bar that would've run through the ring of the banjo. The neck is V shaped, and I tried to sand down the V a little for a more rounded feel. Maple is harder than I thought, so I didn't get very far.

Originally the heel was cut and angled to fit a specific shape. I carved it to a 90 angle so it would fit against the box nicely. I didn't get as clean a neck/box joint as I would've liked. If anyone has suggestions for smoothing out the end of the neck/heel, I'd be grateful. Check my pictures and you'll see what I mean.

I was able to carve square square holes on each side of the box, and fit the bar through the box. This wasn't as easy as you may thing, because the bar is tapered, and not parallel to the neck. It's angled, so it took some time to layout the holes correctly. The string end piece is then screwed into the end of the bar. This seemed like a good idea so that I didn't have to worry about bracing the box, yet.

I have a ukulele bridge with a bone saddle, and medium gauge banjo strings. I'm hoping to cut F sound holes, but that may be a little ambitious on my part.

Again, if anyone has thoughts, please feel free!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on August 16, 2009 at 4:33pm

Went out and had a look. Great build. Anxious to see the end results.

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Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on August 16, 2009 at 5:00pm

I'm not sure how to tackle the fit between the neck and the box. It looks as though the box is just a bit too short for the fit you made through it; could you expand the holes in the box slightly and then trim the end of the neck where the tailpiece is fitted?

Overall, I doubt the gap will affect playability: you aren't likely to be trying to play up that high (unlike with a fretless instrument).

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Permalink Reply by Jenny on August 16, 2009 at 5:13pm

Agreed. It won't affect playability. I'm thinking more of "fit and finish." I think the hole on that side of the box is large enough, but I can check it out again. I think the gaps are because I couldn't get the end of the heel sanded down to a nice smooth finish. I tried sanding it, but even with the paper around a wood block, I still kept rounding the edges of the heel. I tried carving it, but couldn't get it as smooth as I want. Maybe the chisel wasn't sharp enough. I tired a really small plane, but it kept biting into the wood. I tried sharpening the blade, but still didn't like the results. I'm not sure I should keep going much more. I was tired by the end of the evening, so maybe I'll revisit this when I'm more awake.