Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on November 21, 2009 at 1:40am

Obviously any slightly more creative solutions welcome too.......

Permalink Reply by JUJU on November 21, 2009 at 2:29am

Hi Fergus i had the same problem on the diddley bow i just made i dont need to open the box for the string replacement but i like to be able to get in the box when i have electrics installed just incase anything goes wrong with the Vol pot ect i used a small block of oak drilled a hole for a neo magnet to fit in and glued the block to the inside of the box side , then cut a little bit of scrap steel plate and glued it to the inside of the lid , used superglue to stick both bits to the box , thats it job done and no catches to worry about you could use one of them kitchen cupboard magnetic catches also heres a pic of what i did hope this helps juju.

Fergus Morris said:

Obviously any slightly more creative solutions welcome too.......

Permalink Reply by Mark on November 22, 2009 at 4:22am

I like to make my guitars with the option to open them up and get inside if there's ever a problem (as JuJu said, electrics are one good reason for this - even something as simple as the jack socket securing nut coming loose is a lot easier to fix if you can get at the inside end). My solution is to use screws rather than glue or nails to secure the lid - I can see that might be inconvenient enough for re-stringing though.

Looking at your picture I'm prompted to ask whether you've considered the solution used by Fender, which is to have a set of holes in the back for threading strings through. You could then reserve unscrewing the back for rarer instances such as fiddling with the trem mechanism.

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on November 22, 2009 at 4:28am

That wouldn't work, because the tuners are also inside this box. It is a headless CBG you see and the strings go from the bridge to the tuners and the tuners are turnable from the box exterior. I too always like to keep boxes openable even when it isn't strictly neccessary. Thanks though.

Mark aka. Junk Box Instruments said:

I like to make my guitars with the option to open them up and get inside if there's ever a problem (as JuJu said, electrics are one good reason for this - even something as simple as the jack socket securing nut coming loose is a lot easier to fix if you can get at the inside end). My solution is to use screws rather than glue or nails to secure the lid - I can see that might be inconvenient enough for re-stringing though.

Looking at your picture I'm prompted to ask whether you've considered the solution used by Fender, which is to have a set of holes in the back for threading strings through. You could then reserve unscrewing the back for rarer instances such as fiddling with the trem mechanism.

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on November 22, 2009 at 4:30am

That is extremely clever! I do have a few strong magnets around that I will hopefully one day make some pickups with, so i might just give that magnet thing a go! Thanks!
JUJU AKA SOUNDSSOGOOD said:

Hi Fergus

i had the same problem on the diddley bow i just made i dont need to open the box for the string replacement but i like to be able to get in the box when i have electrics installed just incase anything goes wrong with the Vol pot ect

i used a small block of oak drilled a hole for a neo magnet to fit in and glued the block to the inside of the box side , then cut a little bit of scrap steel plate and glued it to the inside of the lid , used superglue to stick both bits to the box , thats it job done and no catches to worry about
you could use one of them kitchen cupboard magnetic catches also

heres a pic of what i did

hope this helps

juju.

Fergus Morris said:

Obviously any slightly more creative solutions welcome too.......

Permalink Reply by David L. on November 22, 2009 at 10:54am

Hi, Very interesting design - do you have any pictures of the front? So far I have built 6 string cigar box type guitars using recycled necks and plywood photoslide boxes (six in total). I have found that even with extra light (8s) strings without the lid firmly screwed down (on top of the little clip fasteners) the box bows a bit under tension giving a poor action. I always add hinges top and bottom to give extra strength and this stops any problems. The boxes can be accessed by removing some of the screws.

Am I right in thinking that the strings come off the tuning heads I can see go into the strat bridge block holes and then up the neck? If so one other concern I have having messed around with numerous strat trem systems - if I am right about the string pathway in the picture (apologies if I am not seeing it correctly) the strings will be doing nearly a 180 degree turn through the block as well as crossing the trem springs - I hope I am wrong but I doubt the trem will work very well (they are not very good on cheaper strats when strung in the usual way and I tend to screw them down) and the strings will be liable to break when you try to tune. Then again I would still try it out with cheap strings and see what happens but very slowly bring them upto tension and keep an eye on the string action :o) If it works you have a super travel guitar design. Good luck, David

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on November 22, 2009 at 11:22am

This is a picture of the outside so far, the exterior is pretty much complete, but as you can see I am still waiting to get some pickup screws in the post to mount the humbucker. I have strung one string up to full tension and it didn't break, or seem particularly close to breaking, but I could be wrong! I am not expecting much from the whammy bar really, but I started this project by buying a really cheap strat on ebay with a broken off headstock and I thought I could probably use the bridge, I'm not even much of a whammy bar user but I thought making it functional wouldn't hurt. The whammy bar worked when I had one string on, but things may be different when I put the full tension on! I hope the box won't warp because i tried to design it so that all the pressure was on the internal bracing rather than the box, which is extremely weak. Thanks for your interest and advice!

David Lloyd said:

Hi,


Very interesting design - do you have any pictures of the front?

So far I have built 6 string cigar box type guitars using recycled necks and plywood photoslide boxes (six in total). I have found that even with extra light (8s) strings without the lid firmly screwed down (on top of the little clip fasteners) the box bows a bit under tension giving a poor action. I always add hinges top and bottom to give extra strength and this stops any problems. The boxes can be accessed by removing some of the screws.

Am I right in thinking that the strings come off the tuning heads I can see go into the strat bridge block holes and then up the neck?

If so one other concern I have having messed around with numerous strat trem systems - if I am right about the string pathway in the picture (apologies if I am not seeing it correctly) the strings will be doing nearly a 180 degree turn through the block as well as crossing the trem springs - I hope I am wrong but I doubt the trem will work very well (they are not very good on cheaper strats when strung in the usual way and I tend to screw them down) and the strings will be liable to break when you try to tune. Then again I would still try it out with cheap strings and see what happens but very slowly bring them upto tension and keep an eye on the string action :o)
If it works you have a super travel guitar design.
Good luck,
David

Permalink Reply by Mark on November 22, 2009 at 12:50pm

That is one of the wackiest guitar designs I have ever come across - and I've seen a few weird ones in my time. I like wackiness and I certainly commend you for your attempts at innovation. But, if I've understood the photos and your explanation correctly then it seems to me there will be some rather tricky interaction between the tuning tension and the loadings in the termolo system. And with the strings running in to the trem block from the side you not only have the strings running around some tight corners but you have lateral forces and differing angles for different strings. I think the chances of it staying in tune when the trem moves are rather slim. I could be wrong (I'll admit that's not exactly unknown). If it does work OK then it's a brilliantl way to make a compact guitar. However I suspect you might end up having to fix the trem solid.

Another thought for an easily-undoable fixing is security latches intended for windows. I'm sure I've seen some in my local DIY store that would do the trick (although you'd have to be careful not to lose the allen key-type thing for undoing them). I often find that browsing around the shelves of DIY stores is a way to stumble on ideas for solving CBG problems.



Fergus Morris said:

...the exterior is pretty much complete, but as you can see I am still waiting to get some pickup screws in the post to mount the humbucker. I have strung one string up to full tension and it didn't break, or seem particularly close to breaking, but I could be wrong! I am not expecting much from the whammy bar really, but I started this project by buying a really cheap strat on ebay with a broken off headstock and I thought I could probably use the bridge, I'm not even much of a whammy bar user but I thought making it functional wouldn't hurt. The whammy bar worked when I had one string on, but things may be different when I put the full tension on! I hope the box won't warp because i tried to design it so that all the pressure was on the internal bracing rather than the box, which is extremely weak.

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on November 23, 2009 at 1:49am

Yes, I am aware that the tremolo unit is highly liable to be really dodgy!It is a bit of an experiment really and, not being much of a whammyist anyway, I won't be very dissapointed if it isn't very good! Thanks for your advice!

Mark aka. Junk Box Instruments said:

That is one of the wackiest guitar designs I have ever come across - and I've seen a few weird ones in my time. I like wackiness and I certainly commend you for your attempts at innovation. But, if I've understood the photos and your explanation correctly then it seems to me there will be some rather tricky interaction between the tuning tension and the loadings in the termolo system. And with the strings running in to the trem block from the side you not only have the strings running around some tight corners but you have lateral forces and differing angles for different strings. I think the chances of it staying in tune when the trem moves are rather slim. I could be wrong (I'll admit that's not exactly unknown). If it does work OK then it's a brilliantl way to make a compact guitar. However I suspect you might end up having to fix the trem solid.

Another thought for an easily-undoable fixing is security latches intended for windows. I'm sure I've seen some in my local DIY store that would do the trick (although you'd have to be careful not to lose the allen key-type thing for undoing them). I often find that browsing around the shelves of DIY stores is a way to stumble on ideas for solving CBG problems.



Fergus Morris said:

...the exterior is pretty much complete, but as you can see I am still waiting to get some pickup screws in the post to mount the humbucker. I have strung one string up to full tension and it didn't break, or seem particularly close to breaking, but I could be wrong! I am not expecting much from the whammy bar really, but I started this project by buying a really cheap strat on ebay with a broken off headstock and I thought I could probably use the bridge, I'm not even much of a whammy bar user but I thought making it functional wouldn't hurt. The whammy bar worked when I had one string on, but things may be different when I put the full tension on! I hope the box won't warp because i tried to design it so that all the pressure was on the internal bracing rather than the box, which is extremely weak.

Permalink Reply by smojo on November 29, 2009 at 12:17am

Wow Fergus that's an interesting design. We need to see some vids of it being played.

Permalink Reply by Fergus Morris on November 29, 2009 at 7:15am

I will do some vids when I finally finish it, it is taking ages! I tried wiring it today but seem to have messed up totally.

smojo said:

Wow Fergus that's an interesting design. We need to see some vids of it being played.

Permalink Reply by David L. on December 3, 2009 at 12:51pm

Hi Fergus,
How is the CBG build coming along?
David