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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on September 14, 2009 at 4:22pm

"...it turned out better than expected. The main thing I need to remember for my second is to not over work it." It always is better than expected, isn't it. "I also need to sink the box face deeper into the neck for better string height control." Or a higher nut and saddle. You cut that neck down too much and you lose structural integrity and it will bend. You can always change nut/saddles but raising and lowering the lid (box face) is more difficult. Also, and I don't know if you did this, but when you cut the recess for the lid, cut one more for sound. Say the lid is 1/4". Cut that and in addition cut another one ~1/8" deep at 1/2" to 1" in from the previous recess.

"I have pondered over the photos of other cbg and have decided to extend neck reinforcement from the box." By reinforcement, I assume you mean reinforce the neck. Easy. dig a 1/8" x 5/8" channel down the neck and drop in a 1/8"x1/2" iron bar (lowes/HD have 'em). Usually don't need it for a 3 string unless you really crank the strings down. "So, what can you guys learn me in designing my next cbg for a good low tone?" Bigger box? Use the lower strings? Shane's box in the vids is (as I understand) his older box. Nothing real special to it if you look at this pics he posted recently. I think a lot might have to do with his playing style and his amp too. It sounds a lot like the one I just made for my daughter (typical CBG sound that is). My 4 string acoustic sounds deeper to me than his but understand, _all_ CBGs sound different and equally great [read: awesome in their own right]. That is if you managed to remove the screeching cat trapped inside ;-) Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Gajeski on September 14, 2009 at 6:49pm

I love the fret marker idea.

tinyguitars said:

Keep in mind that whatever you remove to raise the neck, you need to make up with on the bottom part of the neck to keep it from being too weak. Of course the easier and stronger thing is to simply add a fretboard. This will raise the neck higher, thus lowering the action and make the entire neck stronger. This may even solve your reinforcement ideas as well? You can just use a piece of 1/4" stock the same width as your neck and screw it onto the neck. Using the screws as your position markers.

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Permalink Reply by Ben on September 15, 2009 at 1:28am

I'm not sure what Shane uses since its been a while since I saw his videos but you could always think along the lines of a "Baritone" CBG. I've found that when experimenting with different scale lengths, I can use the guestimation method of about an inch in length equals a half step down. I know, I know...this is not exactly true...each fret should get a little bit longer. Say you've got a guitar with a pretty standard 25" scale length and tuned to GDg. If you make it about a 26" scale length, you can tune it to F#C#f# and keep about the same amount of tension on the strings. This method of course only works for a few frets down. I did this on one of my guitars to get the tension of the GDg tuning but have an EBe guitar. Its nice and deep but the use of the 345 strings gives it a slightly "throaty" tone. Keep in mind that when you extend the range down, those first few frets have a pretty wide spread to them. Also, a longer neck is likely to have more flex to it (I'm a huge advocate of laminating multiple pieces of 1/4"X2" together to make a strong neck). One positive is that there's a little more wiggle room for intonation issues when the frets are spread that wide.

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