Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ben on July 20, 2010 at 8:48am

Hey Unclebill,
I feel your blues. I've got a tenor guitar that I just made that has all sorts of issue that I'm currently trying to work out. As for the spacing on your bone nut...a trick I learned from a luthier (specializing in violins) is to use a drafting compass (you know, the kind with the point and the pencil for drawing circles?). Measure to find the halfway point of the nut. Space the compass to how you want your strings to be spaced, then eyeball it so that the point and the pencil are equally far from the center. Then you can "draw a circle" through the air and you'll get a marking for another string. Then just move the point over to one of the marked places to fill in the missing string. Voila! You have equally spaced strings!
(You'll probably get someone on here telling you that technically on a guitar the spacing is not equal and there is more space between the wound strings than the plain strings. This is true, but I find for 3 and 4 string CBGs, this method works as well for CBGs as it does for violins. If you decide that you do want a bit more space for the lower strings, just bump the compass out the teeniest bit and you've got it.) Hey...I was that person!

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Permalink Reply by David L. on July 20, 2010 at 9:57am

Hi, It looks great - where did you get the Celtic ornate decorations from? I have never seen them before. The neck - I use recycled 6 string guitars and screw them to a neck socket formed from two blocks of wood either side of the neck and one long one to make the base of the neck socket which the neck is screwed to like this -

I am not sure if this might work for you. Regarding the nut spacing - a friend put me onto this for 4 string instruments

At first I wondered what he was on about but as he explained - you print it out and cut to the outer lines then slide the nut or saddle you want to make behind the paper until the outer lines are where you want the outer 2 strings to be and then mark through the paper the position for the grooves for the inner strings. I look forward to the next build (making a CBG look different than just a box and stick is the hard part that you have already mastered - from what you have learnt this time number 3 CBG is going to be awesome) Regards, David

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on July 20, 2010 at 10:15am

OK ... I went and nosed around your pics for a while and I can give you some pointers.
To start with ..
Your laminated neck. You're doing it wrong. IN YOUR PICS in looks like you laminated on piece on top of the other. Is that correct? It should be laminated SIDE BY SIDE. Mucho stronger.
To make room for the pick-up, either make the neck-thru section thicker in the box, giving more wood to hold, or laminate a piece onto the bottom of the neck. ( making it thicker)
Bizzare looking peg-head. Ain't much to other than cut it, so bizzare looking peg-head, just be bizzare.
Nut spacing .... rulers are your friend. The little line thingie that David posted is just SO FREAKIN' COOL, SIMPLE, AND LOOKS LIKE IT'LL WORK.
I'm gonna make one of those before I build anything else!
I like the celtic stuff ... they're a great b-ball team. lol yeah , the deco is cool.


Matt

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Permalink Reply by William Powell on July 20, 2010 at 10:24am

Thanks for the tips. That nut spacing guide should be a big help. All of the ornamentation on this guitar are stamped brass findings I got from jewelry making outfits online. These are finished in oxidized silver but they're brass underneath. I found a woodworking supplier (
www.constantines.com) that sells these TINY brass wood screws, size 0, that are barely 1/4" long to hold them in place. Two places I got brass findings from are bsueboutiques.com and dimestoreemporium.com. I was looking for brass filigree as something interesting to use for soundhole screens and I found all kinds of cool stuff. The pieces on this guitar cost about $1 or $2 each. Both of these places sell on EBAY as well - just search for "brass findings" and you'll see enough too get your imagination going. Who says sound holes have to be round? I got the pickup on EBAY as well - for $2! - from "Cheap and Quality Items" out of Hong Kong. Total cost for this build was way under $20.
David Lloyd said:

Hi,


It looks great - where did you get the Celtic ornate decorations from? I have never seen them before.

The neck - I use recycled 6 string guitars and screw them to a neck socket formed from two blocks of wood either side of the neck and one long one to make the base of the neck socket which the neck is screwed to like this -

I am not sure if this might work for you.

Regarding the nut spacing - a friend put me onto this for 4 string instruments

At first I wondered what he was on about but as he explained - you print it out and cut to the outer lines then slide the nut or saddle you want to make behind the paper until the outer lines are where you want the outer 2 strings to be and then mark through the paper the position for the grooves for the inner strings.

I look forward to the next build (making a CBG look different than just a box and stick is the hard part that you have already mastered - from what you have learnt this time number 3 CBG is going to be awesome)

Regards,
David

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on July 20, 2010 at 10:40am

Wow, not a bad solution! -WY
David Lloyd said:

Regarding the nut spacing - a friend put me onto this for 4 string instruments

At first I wondered what he was on about but as he explained - you print it out and cut to the outer lines then slide the nut or saddle you want to make behind the paper until the outer lines are where you want the outer 2 strings to be and then mark through the paper the position for the grooves for the inner strings.

Regards,
David

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on July 20, 2010 at 10:44am

Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped.

Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by William Powell on July 20, 2010 at 10:51am

No, it's two pieces laminated together for the whole length, except the peg head

Wes Yates said:

Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped.

Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Jim Mitchell on July 20, 2010 at 11:21am

Hey WP - I see you have quite a few good responses already. The cool thing about building is there are a lot of ways to skin the cat so you can pick a choose what works for you as you develop your build process. You might check out Frank Fords site FRETS he is a great instrument maker and has posted a ton of information about building guitars. (He has a tut on a pretty cool string rule). I am in agreement on turning your wood lamination's so that the grain is 1/4 sawn that will provide the most resistance to bowing. I am out of the country right now but I would be happy to send you pictures of what I am talking about when I get back next week.

I noticed you are in Florida, I am over in Tampa, there are quite a few of us here. Anyway you might want to check out Reverend Nix's page we have a Jam coming up over in Orlando. He also hosts a couple of CBG radio shows.

Welcome to the club. Jim

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on July 20, 2010 at 12:24pm

Wow, great story, can't add much that has not been said except, go on and build another.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on July 20, 2010 at 5:02pm

I do the same. I take two 1x2 (.75x1.5) and laminate them so they are 2x2 with the joint running perpendicular to the fretboard (vertical per se) and this is enough to give me extra neck in the box.

-WY

William Powell said:

No, it's two pieces laminated together for the whole length, except the peg head

Wes Yates said:

Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped.

Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by William Powell on July 20, 2010 at 5:07pm

Yep, thas' what we all lookin' for: a little more neck in the box
lawd have mercy, yes, a little more neck in the box
(sounds like a blues tune!)

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Permalink Reply by William Powell on July 20, 2010 at 5:10pm

Jim Mitchell said:

Hey WP - I see you have quite a few good responses already. The cool thing about building is there are a lot of ways to skin the cat so you can pick a choose what works for you as you develop your build process. You might check out Frank Fords site FRETS he is a great instrument maker and has posted a ton of information about building guitars. (He has a tut on a pretty cool string rule). I am in agreement on turning your wood lamination's so that the grain is 1/4 sawn that will provide the most resistance to bowing. I am out of the country right now but I would be happy to send you pictures of what I am talking about when I get back next week.

I noticed you are in Florida, I am over in Tampa, there are quite a few of us here. Anyway you might want to check out Reverend Nix's page we have a Jam coming up over in Orlando. He also hosts a couple of CBG radio shows.

Welcome to the club. Jim

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