Comment

Comment by frank tennyson on December 31, 2012 at 11:35am

Strings can make a very big difference. I used strings off a junked 6-string on my first, when they broke bought a set of 3-string med acustic for open "G" from Gittty. Wow - the difference! Also the break on the string at bridge and nut. I then tried a string tree on that first CBG at the bridge for all three strings and again Wow! Then I discovered I had tuned it too high, wondered why I kept popping strings. Lowering the tuning another Wow. When we start out we have a big learning curve - many builds and many "let me try this or try that" experiences. But listen to the guys on this sight like Maddog (not necessarily me - I'm a newbie).

Oh, on the scale length - regardless of the tape measurements, I always tune the bridge to the 12th fret or it is gonna sound off - or it does to me anyway. Just saying.

Comment by ROBERT GREGORY on December 27, 2012 at 8:31pm

That element of surprise really is the fun part. You never know what it is going to sound like until you get it strung and start to play it. Of the 5 that I have made so far, none have sounded even remotely similar. I love it!

Comment by Don Tucker on December 26, 2012 at 10:06am

Hi Sam

The boxes I used were actually pretty good sounding (to my ears anyway) all wood boxes. I'm sure a lot of factors I don't understand come into play. I'm still relatively new to this and make new discoveries with almost every build.

Comment by Wichita Sam on December 26, 2012 at 6:44am

Don,

I did a similar experiment about 3 years ago and got the same results.  I think outcomes can vary depending on box size, shape and top thickness.  I don't think  on the typical paper cover wood box that it makes much difference.  The only issue that might come into play is if the neck thru didn't contact the top all the way across.  might cause some buzzing...

 

Comment by Tim LaFave on December 26, 2012 at 5:34am

Tom, you can't expect to get the acoustics from a small box that a full-sized guitar will produce. There's just not enough volume in the box to project much sound. The real fun of cbg's is to put piezos in them and play them through an amp.

Comment by Don Tucker on December 26, 2012 at 2:33am

I forgot to mention I don't glue my necks in, I bolt them in using 10-24 bolts and

T-nuts. Don't know if this makes a difference.

Comment by Don Tucker on December 26, 2012 at 2:27am

I feel  I must comment regarding the necessity of leaving a gap between the neck and the box. I've not built dozens of CBG's like some on this site and always wondered how much difference it makes. I'd built both ways but didn't notice any difference. I recently purchased 2 identical boxes and decided to build 2 almost identical CBG's except one has the gap and one doesn't. Guess what. The one WITHOUT the gap actually sounded slightly better accoustically. This has been my experience so I'm just throwing it out there for others to consider.

Comment by Redbelly on December 25, 2012 at 1:40pm

I have read but have no experience in using it, but the animal based glues are said to be less damaging to the acoustics than modern wood working glue. It is available on eBay.

.

Comment by wormil on December 25, 2012 at 12:06pm

Tom, expect to do a lot of tweaking on the first one to get it as best can be.

Comment by ROBERT GREGORY on December 25, 2012 at 11:47am

Good point Maddog regarding space between through neck and box lid. I saw where some people like to glue the neck to the lid, so I gave it a try. It is neat and makes it easy to open with your git stringed up. But I noticed that the sound didn't have as lively a sound acoustically as my others. Electric sounds was fine though.

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