A few questions

Hello all. I've been reading through this site for the last few days, tons of good info, but I'm finding I still have a few questions in my mind I haven't seen answers for.

I'm going to make a CBG for my brother for Xmas. The actual building of it, I can do. Not like you old pros, but I've been working with wood most of my life. I have a full wood shop, I'm confident in my ability to put together some sort of CBG. Here's the trick, I'm not musical at all. Can't play a note. My brother is a guitar player and he plays a 6 string quite well. Which brings me to my questions:

I know some folks like 3 strings, some like 4. From a musicians standpoint, which is better? I'll make either, but would prefer to make the one that would appeal more to the musician in my brother.

I plan to make it 24.5" string length. I mostly just picked a number right in the middle of the popular designs. The fret calculator wants to know how many frets I'll have. I don't see much mention of this on the forums. Is there a standard number of frets? If not, what is a good number for a playable guitar?

My neck will be mahogany, I'll rip it to one inch strips, joint the faces then glue them together so I'll have a one inch thick edge glued slap to make the neck from. Not being a player, I don't know what a comfortable string spacing would be and therefore don't know how wide to make the neck. What is the space between the strings, and how far from the edge of the neck should the first and last strings be spaced?

Thanks all. I hope these questions aren't too tedious.

OK. A good tuning to start with is GDG (open G tuning). Just make sure is in the correct register (?). Start with the smallest string and work your way to the "fattest". You say you really don't know much about tuning a guitar and if you go sort of go backwards like that you should avoid breaking your higher string. Whatever you do, if you're putting a lot of stress on anything your probably tuning it too high.

I don't build neck-thru guitars. Its no more than a matter of personal preference. I don't think one is better than another. You can see some of my guitars on my page or at my website: biglerguitars.com.
If you stop the neck inside the body you'll probably want to opt for a "string-thru design. That is, the strings feed thru the rear of the guitar to the front. For a bridge you have a couple of options. I actually make a bridge plate with adjustable saddles. I sometimes make a more traditional "acoustic" style bridge as well. You'll see that on a couple of my guitar pics. Either works fine. I'm uploading a Top Secret photo of how I build my substructure. I do it this way to accommodate the pickup. If your not using a magnetic pick-up and are opting for a piezo, you can modify it a bit. I guess the most important thing is don't rely on the box to provide any structural support.

IMG_4795.JPG

Replies

Justin December 5, 2010 at 10:05pm

I think you may be on to something Wayne. Burlap may be just the thing I'm looking for. In fact, now that I think of it, I even know where to get the burlap. I think I'll stop by the coffee shop tomorrow and try to find a scrap of sack with a cool coffee logo on it. Brother and I are both coffee nuts and he used to work at the coffee shop, so it would sort of belong.

As for the electrics, you may be right. I may want to go with a pick-up over a piezo. I need to stop by the music shop anyhow for some tuning screws. Maybe I'll price pickups as well. I'm hoping to find tuning screws off an old abused guitar in their repair shop. I'd hate to put new shiny pegs on a guitar I've tried so hard to make look old. ;-) Maybe I can also find some old knobs and pickup as well.
Robert John Spotti December 5, 2010 at 9:20pm

AMEN Brother!!
Wayne Bigler said:

I like it. I also like being "resourceful" with things like the brass nut knobs. Maybe you could cover the speakers with some burlap?

Justin said:

Thanks Wayne. I did look at your site, you do very nice work. Your practice amps remind me of the one I made for this project. It's almost finished now, I just need to decide how I'm going to cover the speakers and add a few finishing touches. I was sort of going for a raw "made from junk look". The box was an old one I found in a smoke shop. The copper plate is copper pipe I slit and hammered flat. I wire brushed it and torched it to make it look old and junky. The knobs are brass nuts I drilled to fit. Guts are from an old practice amp I had laying around for years.
Wayne Bigler December 5, 2010 at 9:00pm

You are exactly correct. I don't build acoustic models so have no need for the top to resonate. You'll want to notch the center of your neck out from where it just enters the box to the bridge (that is if you decide your neck isn't going to extend out of the rear of the box). Just make sure you glue and screw some additional support. You see I start my support a couple inches outside the box. BTW, if you look close at one of my "acoustic" bridge guitars you'll notice for string ferrels I use carburetor jets. You can buy the ferrels cheap enough, but I had a box of jets sitting around and thought they looked better. I don't know a lot about acoustic electronics, but there is a forum here dedicated to that. Personally, if I were to build an acoustic, I would buy some mid-priced decent electronics for it and stay away from the handful-for-two-dollars piezos. Of course a statement like that could likely cause a lively debate.
Justin December 5, 2010 at 8:20pm

Wayne, I looked at your "top secret" photo. It's a big help. Let me ask you about that neck... I was under the impression that the neck should be cut away from the inside of the box lid to give some space for the lid to vibrate. I see yours contacts the box lid for the entire length of the box. Is that just because yours isn't made to be played acoustically at all? I'd like mine to be able to be played electric and acoustic, so can I assume I should take some material off my neck inside the box? And I am going to use a piezo pickup. I kicked around using a pickup, but I guess I wanted to stick with the sort of traditional "found parts" design. I'll probably build another CBG after this one and get a little more fancy.
Justin December 5, 2010 at 8:02pm

Thanks Wayne. I did look at your site, you do very nice work. Your practice amps remind me of the one I made for this project. It's almost finished now, I just need to decide how I'm going to cover the speakers and add a few finishing touches. I was sort of going for a raw "made from junk look". The box was an old one I found in a smoke shop. The copper plate is copper pipe I slit and hammered flat. I wire brushed it and torched it to make it look old and junky. The knobs are brass nuts I drilled to fit. Guts are from an old practice amp I had laying around for years.
Wayne Bigler December 5, 2010 at 5:59pm

OK. A good tuning to start with is GDG (open G tuning). Just make sure is in the correct register (?). Start with the smallest string and work your way to the "fattest". You say you really don't know much about tuning a guitar and if you go sort of go backwards like that you should avoid breaking your higher string. Whatever you do, if you're putting a lot of stress on anything your probably tuning it too high.

I don't build neck-thru guitars. Its no more than a matter of personal preference. I don't think one is better than another. You can see some of my guitars on my page or at my website: biglerguitars.com.
If you stop the neck inside the body you'll probably want to opt for a "string-thru design. That is, the strings feed thru the rear of the guitar to the front. For a bridge you have a couple of options. I actually make a bridge plate with adjustable saddles. I sometimes make a more traditional "acoustic" style bridge as well. You'll see that on a couple of my guitar pics. Either works fine. I'm uploading a Top Secret photo of how I build my substructure. I do it this way to accommodate the pickup. If your not using a magnetic pick-up and are opting for a piezo, you can modify it a bit. I guess the most important thing is don't rely on the box to provide any structural support.
IMG_4795.JPG
Justin December 5, 2010 at 4:44pm

Thanks guys! Lots of good info. But as far as string selection and tuning, you have to speak to my like I'm a small, slow witted child. Lets say I go with the .042. .030. .020 combination as suggested. I don't know notes and can't identify them by ear. So I put those 3 strings on and hit each string open. What reaction so I get from my guitar tuner? My bro can fine tune it to what he likes when he gets it. But when I'm done with it, I'd like to be able to strum it a bit just to see how it sounds. I need to get it in some form of tune for that.

One more thing, any input to the design of the neck through the body? I see some where the neck goes the whole way through the cigar box, protruding out the other end with the strings secured there. Other designs have the neck stopping inside the box. I prefer the look of this design, but I'm not well versed enough to know the pros and cons of each. My neck is glued up and drying as we speak, so I got some time to obsess about possibly meaningless details. ;-)
Andy White (Noisetop Guitars) December 5, 2010 at 11:57am

yeah - i agree ADG - but you'll probably get a set of 6 strings as cheaply as buying 3 individually then you can give em to your bro and he change em round and experiment if he wants. I like ADG - but detune the A to G
Wayne Bigler December 4, 2010 at 10:16pm

I build 3-strings. I use .042. .030. .020 (basically the A,D,G stings) on nearly all of them.

Justin said:
Thanks guys. My neck for this build will be straight. If I build another, I may screw around with tapered necks and such.

So, if it's going to be 3 or 4 strings (still deciding), which 3 or 4 strings are they? If I go to a music store to but some strings, which ones do I get, and how do I tune them? I have an electric tuner. I realize which strings I choose are a matter of preference, but I don't have one. So, what are a good middle of the road 3 or 4 strings, and can i install them and get them close to tuned with my 6 string tuner?
Wayne Bigler December 4, 2010 at 9:27pm

Just my opinions. First, go with 3-strings. No particular reason except as a guitar player my whole life, I personally have been drawn to 3-strings because 4 was too close to 6(?). Second, go with 20 frets. Not really much need for more than that. Third. Make the neck 1 18/32 to 1 20/32. Depending on his hand size. Space the outer two strings 1/8 of an inch from the edge of the neck. Space your other string(s) accordingly.

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