Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on January 31, 2010 at 8:38am

Id be convincing him that Ukelele might be a better option!! lol
Have a look at Fergus Morris's page for inspiration. Clever young chap put the tuners in the cigar box rather than on the headstock....

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on January 31, 2010 at 6:05pm

I took a look at Fergus' stuff, and that gives me some ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Gajeski on January 31, 2010 at 7:59pm

look at the tuners that they use on the uncle bob guitars. That should help you out. I have also seen these travel guitars called lapsticks that are basically the scale of a normal guitar from the 5th fret on.
Uncle Bob Project
lapstick

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 31, 2010 at 9:10pm

That's Uke territory..your scale length is going to be very short on that overall length, even if you manage to do something radical with the head and tuners.

Normally I wouldn't go less than 22 inches for the scale with a guitar, tho' I have got at nylon strung kid's guitar at 17 inch scale length and an Aria kid's steel string at 19 inch scale, but they are a real compromise in terms of string gauge and getting them to play in tune.

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Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on February 1, 2010 at 1:47am

"The lapstick", i don't know the exact scale on it but that's basicly a shortened headless travel guitar wich could give you some cool idea's on how to go about your build.

If i look at this picture and estimate how big it is compared to the guy holding it i'd say it's in about the same targetarea as your build.

Allthough i do think you are going to need some real heavy string's if you want to stay in the guitar-range, this link could help you decide a stringauge for your build and the actual pitch you want it to be tuned to http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html

You could use a normal set of string's but then you have to raise the pitch of the intire tunning.

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