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with or against the bow

Posted by Luc Villandre on November 26, 2010 at 9:17am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion
Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I'm about to build my first cbg. I have almost all the tools and material. Right now I'm wondering if i should build the WITH the bow or AGAINST the bow. Will the string tension aggravate the bow? Is that same tension not enough to influence it?

My neck will be made of a 2X1 oak piece.

thank you!

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Replies

  • Chuck Dubman November 29, 2010 at 10:46pm
    Straighten by gluing on a separate fingerboard -- clamp both to the flattest thing you have
    in your shop, like a cast iron tablesaw wing or jointer bed (after laying down a sheet of
    plastic to protect your iron from rust!). You could just leave it bowed away from the
    strings (meaning string is highest above 12th fret) and play it with a slide. Worry more
    about having fun with your first build.
  • Doctor Steve November 27, 2010 at 10:38pm
    Would be interesting to see the combination of Dan's blocks-and-clamp plus steam/heat.
  • pi_r_squared November 27, 2010 at 9:30pm
    Depends on a few things......

    How many/which strings? (more or heavier strings can pull a slight bow out and leave it really nice.....but it's "trial and error".

    fretted or slide? (fretted, try to let the strings pull the bow out, if it's not too severe, to play slide without frets, I might do the opposite)

    I was going to mess around and see if I could "adjust the bow" with a steam iron, maybe try it with a dry iron first, might work, not sure though, need to get an extra piece of maple and see if I can make it "move".

    good luck.
  • Doctor Steve November 26, 2010 at 1:29pm
    Nice Dan. Thanks for posting. That would help when there is *too* much back bow, so that strings fret out (action too low). You are known for builds with nice low action, this must be part of your success.
  • Dan Sleep November 26, 2010 at 1:25pm
    This is what I was talking about.

  • Doctor Steve November 26, 2010 at 1:17pm
    Yeah, definitely build against the bow.
  • MichaelS Country Boy Guitars November 26, 2010 at 12:26pm
    Depending on how bad the bow is you can try to flatten it with a plane, or a large piece of sand paper glued down to a flat surface.
  • Dan Sleep November 26, 2010 at 11:44am
    I make most of my necks with 1x2 red oak, and it is tough to find one perfectly straight. I usually wind up clamping it to my work table with blocks under each end to help straighten it out. Then I build it so it will be strung so the string tension will help hold it from bowing again.

    Not sure this is right, but it's the way I do it.
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