Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 2, 2010 at 4:40pm

what are you going to use for a fretboard? It needs to be thick enough to clear the thickness of the top and the screw that you used to fix the neck to the box.

give us progress reports... we'll try to help..

the best,

wichita Sam

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on January 2, 2010 at 4:43pm

Welcome Brittani!
I would just go buy mando strings ... or maybe ... since you do play ... you might have a spare or used set you could put on. The reason? mando strings have a lot of tension, and they are designed to handle it.
Ball end, no problem, just drill holes thru the tail and let the ball stop it. If you want to use loop ends ... I drill the hole just like using ball end and then run a steel finishing nail thru the loops. Works very well.
Frets ... draw, burn whatever. But eventually you'll want to go to real frets of some type. Fretless just mutes a mando too much.
Holes ... 1/2" or 3/4" will be fine.
Bone nut. You can get by with wood.
Wooden bridge. Use leftover oak from the neck ( if there is any )

Matt

btw- It's really a "no rules" approach when building these things .. so anything you want is fine.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on January 4, 2010 at 4:09am

What scale length are you planning (distance between nut and bridge)? You should be able to get away with using cheap acoustic guitar strings, for instacne the A, D, B, and E strings on a guitar, with the A and B tuned down a step. Unless the scale length is a lot shorter than the traditional 24 - 25 inch guitar, you will be playing in the "octave mandolin" range with these strings.

About soundholes: the box might not even need them, depending on size and tightly it closes. On smaller boxes, I have taken to putting mine on the side, to leave as much of the soundboard as possible free to vibrate.

I have been using scrap oak for nuts, and a variety of found objects for the "saddle" of the bridge, either resting directly on the face of the box or with a bit of the cedar liners which come in many boxes. A machine screw is a good shortcut for the nut, too, as you don't have to worry about cutting grooves

For frets: some folks have reported success using flat toothpicks. Regular fretwire requires a fair amount of filing after you tap it into the slots and cut to length: that is my least favorite task in any build.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on January 4, 2010 at 6:00am

As was said, there are several ways to tie the strings on the tail end. I use a method on all my builds that keeps costs down and is very quickly done and its CHEAP!
I add a small "tailpiece" on the end of the box that screws into the end of the tail itself.I then loop the ball end of the string thru ITSELF and slide it over the hold down screws I screw into the new tail piece end.Pictures on my page shows what I'm talking about when enlarged .
I use this method because I can use scraps left over,the sheet rock screws are cheap and it greatly helps keep costs down so I can continue to offer my product at a low cost for my customers.It works very well,every time.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by brittani on January 4, 2010 at 3:06pm

Alright! I got this bad boy finished tonight! It turned out way better than expected and is incredibly awesome! (great! another hobby I have to keep! :D )
any way, ended up using a sink grate thing as the sound hole (which i saw on others and is the coolest thing ever) Made my own frets/fretboard by using aluminum wire I found in the garage and hot glued them on.
The scale length ended up being 43 cm. I pretty much winged the whole project so I wasnt going for anything specific.
The most expensive piece of the whole project were the tuners, got 6 for $20 from my music store, and have 2 left over for some diddly bows :)

Bridge/saddle was originally the same as the nut, but the action was too high, and the bolt would eventually cut into the box over time.. so i found half a piece of pool cue i had in the garage xD
Still have an issue with Action.. its ridiculously high, going to probably be a slider once I get one made (waiting on pops to finish off a bottle of wine)
I might take out the frets and glue a fretboard on it... or make a piece of wood that the strings goes through... or just keep a capo on it.. not sure!

Here it is!



you can tell by this pic how small it is,


Used the bottom 4 strings from guitar strings... not sure how to tune them.. afraid to mess with it too much :S not sure how strong it is yet!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on January 4, 2010 at 5:23pm

Sounds like you did a fine job on your box there. Good going! The best thing about all this is solving the problems -- which seem you did very successfully. go have a beer, wine or soda or whatever your vice is. Congrats!

BTW. Its oak. Its strong enough. Open D or Open G is a good start for tuning. I do Open D but hey... that's me, so.

-WY

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on January 5, 2010 at 2:02am

http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.htm

This string gauge calculator will help you select your strings for GDAE. I tune that way as well for 4-stringers, and build mostly 15 - 19".

If your action is still too high, you can switch out your nut for something smaller. I use jumbo cotter pins, and they act more like a zero fret.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on January 5, 2010 at 2:15am

Looks good!!! Awesome first build...keep on building...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on January 9, 2010 at 3:23am

Looks good!
As far as action goes, use a smaller ( thinner ) bolt to lower it at the nut end.
Sand down the pool cue some more.
I would like to see a side ( profile ) pic.

• ▶ Reply