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Cello tuners - its crazy time again!

We're a crazy lot here aren't we. who'd have thought of making a guitar out of a box of cigars?

people with not a lot of cash, basically XD

and that describes my situation perfectly. i'm not bitter, its just a fact of being a student with an obsession with making instruments.

I've been making a load of instruments, and my next one is a cello. I have been looking through the depths of youtube for blues and bluegrass cello and double bass and figured if i made a cello, i could just play bass lines on it a little higher up the register.

I've found a bunch of AWESOME (absolutely amazing, can't stress this enough) spec sheets for the violin family, from tinnie-weenie violin right up to 4/4 double bass, so i'm pretty sorted for standard specs. My design isn't following the same design, its going to be a 'stick' cello, with no body as such, so i can store it more easily in my cupboard i live in at uni. but the sheets are great for strings, fretboards etc. the hard stuff. (if you fancy them, please i beg you, email me on st.ginger@hotmail.com and i will shoot them straight back.)

My actual question (god, took a while to get there, sorry) is this: what kind of tunders do you think i could use on a cello? traditionally they use wooden friction pegs, but i have dealt with them in a violin build and they a balls-ache like no other. so i'm thinking bass guitar pegs. but the problem is they're expensive, and i want to get 5 if i can, so i can load an extra low f under the regular low c, for more bass.

do you reckon normal guitar tuners would do it? would they be strong enough, and would the strings fit? I haven't had a chance to go look at an actual in the flesh cello, so i don't have a feel for the actual strings yet, but its on my to do list.

i'll put up any more questions i have when they arise, and hopefully get up the photos of my Violele (5 string ukulele made from a violin body) that i finished ages ago and forgot to share.

also, if there are any people on here, from the south of england, with old, broken, damaged instruments or parts, please consider donating them to a worthy cause. i don't like making 'normal' instrument, even by our CBNation standards, and premade parts are so good to cannibalize. a bit cheeky i know, but if you don't ask...

thanks for any responses. any input about big string instruments, even if its not on topic, would be great. thanks a lot. love to y'all

Jake

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on August 29, 2012 at 2:42pm

I too have been eying a cello/bass build for a while. My feeling is that regular guitar tuners won't be able to acomodate your big fat bass strings. I have a set of bass tuners and they look like they will serve just fine. And yes they were not cheap. Maybe you can find a castoff bass and canabalize. Hell, my husband's cheap electric bass cost $100 total. The tuners are a third of that!

I played a cello as a bass for a while and decided that a true 3/4 upright bass scale was better for me in the long run. The cello just did not go deep enough. Maybe your F string will take care of that.

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Permalink Reply by St Ginger on August 29, 2012 at 4:43pm

thats a good idea, i'll look at the flea markets for old broken basses.

hopefully the deeper low f will give me that drive, but we'll see. the problem is again, as with the tuners, going to be getting the 5th string. i've seen somewhere that a heavy guage flat wound A from an electric bass will do the F on a cello.

Its going to be just the spine of the instrument, with only the fingerboard really. this is the general design i'm going for, extra minimal: (sorry for the crappy quality, its late here. once i draw up the blueprints properly, i'll post a better one.)

I might add some cheeks later, just for aesthetics, but this is the simplest, most cost and energy efficient way i can see to do it, considering i have no powertools, and only a very blunt saw.

the lack of any kind of resonating chamber means that hopefully it will be very quiet so i can practice at uni, but unfortunately it means it will be very quiet, so i can't hear the bass. I want to put a piezo in the bridge, but i'll cross that one when i get there. (no pun intended. its almost 5am, what am i doing here!!!)

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Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on August 29, 2012 at 5:41pm

Don't know how much you have to spend but Gitty has Bass tuners listed for $5.99 each.

https://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/tuners/machine-heads/1pc-chrome-ba...

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Permalink Reply by St Ginger on August 29, 2012 at 5:45pm

I've had a look at the different things Gitty stock, but i'm in the uk and don't want to import if i can help it. look after the environment and all that. But that is a great price for singles, so if i can't get them here, thats definately a good choice. thanks for the link

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Permalink Reply by Thomas "Duck" Petry on August 29, 2012 at 6:00pm

I know what you mean, enjoy "recycling" as much as possible, that's the fun of these things. I have bought stuff from Gitty for some of my builds, tuners and such and been impressed with the service, prices and quality of the parts I've gotten. Being retired and living on a rather decreased income I try and look for the best deals before I buy any stuff that I can't scrounge.

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Permalink Reply by Order99 on September 2, 2012 at 6:24pm

St Ginger, have you thought of attaching a sound chamber directly to the back, dulcimer style? Simply attach a heel at the appropriate place at the neck and screw on a sufficently large and resonant chamber somewhere either above or below your 'bowing hollow' so as to allow the needed movements with the bow. Better yet, why not a sufficiently large duo of cigar or wine boxes, or large cookie or fruitcake tins, one above the bowing action and one below the action, joined in the back by an aluminum or wood sheet as reinfircement and as an 'equalizer' for the two chambers?

Then of course you could try one of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=symiZSPpzAE&feature=related

Adding the sound chamber to the back of the lower neck seems to work for Dulcimers-and while it might not ring out as perfectly as an orchestra-quality Cello, you should certainly get enough Acoustic volume and tone to hear all your strings properly...

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Permalink Reply by St Ginger on September 3, 2012 at 10:44am

I thats a great idea. i might use it for another build, but i specifically want this guy to be almost silent when its not amped up. I'm going back to university, and bowed instruments are notoriously hard to learn at first. I tried learning violin and at first it sounded like a cat being run over by a lawnmower XD

So i want it quiet to protect my housemates. just the vibration of the strings should be enough for me to hear my self. I like the idea of using 2 resonating chambers above and below. I have a thing for multiple boxes in my projects, so we'll see where it leads me :)

I'm looking into a stick piezo to go under the bridge, but i don't have a lot of real estate in the body strut for a preamp. Any one know if it'd be ok to just solder the piezo to a jack and have at it that way?

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Permalink Reply by Order99 on September 3, 2012 at 3:50pm

Oh, you WANTED the Mute option-I completely misunderstood that part. Don't feel bad about your playing though-I have yet to be able to carry a tune on anything I make, though i'm in the process of trading a homemade Tenor banjo for , well, tenor banjo lessons...

As far as a pre-amp goes-i've had great luck with just the naked piezo, two wires and the jack. Ypu'll just have to make all the adjustments at the amp itself. A 9v practice amp should be enough to supply your needs and protect your neighbors at the same time.