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Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 12, 2014 at 8:54am

It's been a little while since I have built mine, but the only thing that I remember having to change from a traditional CBG build was the neck width. I think I went with 1 3/4" wide. Plan it out and think it through and you should have no major obstacles.

Here is a video I made with mine a while back.

http://youtu.be/d6-8PcH3X50

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 12, 2014 at 9:07am

So, yer building a...Rickenbox? >:-E

A dual-course 4-string, tuned in octaves...sounds like a mandocello or bouzouki. Talk to Harrison Withers. You'll want to brace the box internally, probably neck-through it for the Increased string tension, and need a truss rod.

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Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 12, 2014 at 12:30pm

I didn't use a truss rod, I might have reinforced it with a steel rod, can't quite remember without going back to look at build pics. Made the maple neck 3 pieces with a bocote stripe and fretboard for added stiffness.

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Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 12, 2014 at 12:44pm

Easiest way is just to use a steel rod. Less critical on the placement, but you give up adjustability. I just route a channel down the middle of the neck prior to gluing the fretboard on. Use a piece of steel, I think I might have used 1/8" × 1/2" × 18", and silicone it in the groove you routed. Make sure you keep the silicone off of the surface that you will be gluing the fretboard to. Installing an adjustable truss rod is very similar, though you need to be certain where you put it to allow access for adjustment.

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Permalink Reply by Prof. Aqualung on May 12, 2014 at 1:35pm

Dang - you guys are good.

Here is some further info - I have talked to Ric about the neck - they feel that 1 3/4 X 1 1/8 should not need a truss rod if I am only using the strings from A.D,G,b.

I am also only going to 18 frets [maybe 20 or 15, but 18 is the plan].  Tuner arrangement will be similar to the Ric.

This thing will be tuned open 'A' - strictly for slide work.

The box will be a Westley-Richards Broomhandle Mauser display case, just like the one I had Jim Birmingham build for me with a box I supplied.

Thank you Turkeychicken for the neck width dimension - that was one of my main concerns.

The gentlemen at Ric suggested two 'toaster' type pickups.

What I am trying to achieve, is a slide version of the sound produced by The Byrds.

Thank you "Oily" Sprague for the name of this concoction "RickenBox" - or maybe "RickenBoxer".

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on May 12, 2014 at 3:23pm

Harri doesn't do octaves on em, he does unisons. I've done plenty of the octave ones tho.
You wanna do the low four from a guitar, not the mid four if you want the octaving to go the whole way, the high g on a 12 string is about as high as you can go at guitar scale length.
You won't need a rod unless you want a slim shredders neck.
I've done many of these, see my pix.

I string em with the low four from a set, an the high four from another set. Or in other words a set of guitar strings, plus an additional d and g strings

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