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Another Newbie question (boring probably)

Hi Guys,

I am 60, never played an instrument, cannot "read" music...

BUT I will build a cbg around a nice little box I have, 9.5 x 6 x1.7 inch (approx. I live in a "metric" country).

I did read that such a small box is not ideal but also not a problem on its own and can be made in a CBG.

I would start out with fret-less and also without piezo/mag pickup. So really something to simply learn to play on that thing.

What I am a little confused about is the length between the bridge and nut. If I use the "standard" (-+ 25"?) will my contraption with small box not be to awkward or sound silly?

If I make it say 21 or 22" will I be able to tune it to GdG and learn actually something or would I have to tune (and use special string) for that shorter neck? Or another key maybe?

Thank and sorry if this is the millionth time this question has been asked.

Ronny

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 9, 2014 at 10:55am

i think your best bet would be going no lower than 24 inch scale , if you are using it to get used to the world of cbg , and learning . and its your first . for what you want , i think a 24 to 25ish would give you good results . if you never plann to electrify it , i'd put med acoustic strings on it . #3 , 4 and 5 .

that's a generalization , but you get the idea .

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Permalink Reply by Ronny on November 9, 2014 at 11:21am

Thanks for your reply.

It would be indeed a learning guitar so staying in the normal length makes sense, even if the guitar will maybe look silly.

Anyway, my first priority is trying to learn something completely new and at 60 that is not so easy anymore...

If I stick with it then of course I will be building something with a bigger box and maybe a piezo an nice little amp. That part doen't scare me, I know what I'm doing when working with electronics, it's the music part that's frightening!

Thanks again

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 9, 2014 at 11:33am

no worries . this should cover all you basic bases then.

short , simple and sweet ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Ronny on November 9, 2014 at 11:44am

Great,

That's right away a 500pc increase in my understanding!

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 9, 2014 at 1:05pm

:-)

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on November 11, 2014 at 7:54am

Hadn't watched this video in awhile. I forgot how great it is...

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on November 11, 2014 at 8:34am

so cool . quick ., easy , fun , and to the point ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 9, 2014 at 5:21pm

Doesn't matter how many times. It matters who asks this question. Awesome dude! Looking forward to hearing how your first build turns out.

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Permalink Reply by Ronny on November 9, 2014 at 6:34pm

OK Guys,

Thank you all. I like the "playing a song in an hour" by Wayfinder. I am no so sure that I will be that good a student though!

And I see that I will have to pick-up on strings and their combinations a bit, I'll get there.

I got the impression, reading on some websites and listening to youtube that GDg was the thing.

I even, while buying my tuners, already bought some strings.

0.42 and 0.30 wound; 012 and 009 plain steel.

My goal and therefore the reason for my questions to do with neck, is to be able to use the many tutorial videos that can be found on the net, I even subscribed to the 'starter pack" in "learncigarboxguitar.com".

Regards to all and thanks again

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Permalink Reply by Ronny on November 11, 2014 at 2:44am

All right, a little setback for the moment.

I had a nice (kind of reddish color) piece of 1m, 7 x 7 cm hardwood that I wanted to use for the neck. It is wood that was used for outdoor deck stuff, maybe a hand post or something.

But when I try to cut a slice off of it, my little table saw blade just stops spinning. The motor is obviously not up to the job. And that wood seems really very hard.

So, I'll try to buy a piece of hardwood somewhere that has more or less the right dimension to start with.

Oh, and whatever the box size, I'll keep the size between nut and bridge 24 or 25 inches. No fancy stuff for the moment!

As soon as I finish my firrst CBG, I'll post it for you all to look at.

Ronny