The neck is made using two 45 degree cuts, one for the headstock and the other for the "thru-the-box" part of the neck. This allows the "thru-the-box" part of the neck to miss the resonator. If you zoom in, this photo also shows the rather low play action of the strings.
Tags:
Albums: Mini Reso Box Dulcimer
Comment
Hi Boxy,
Yeah, just take your time with your builds and try to think things thru before you do them. I used to make drawing of all my designs before building and that was another good way for me to think thru the design and avoid errors. I usually find when I rush a build I usually screw it up. But, a big part of becoming a good craftsman is the ability to camouflage your mistakes, or modifying them into a feature. On a banjo neck I was doing, the last fret split off the wood all the way to the end of the fretboard, so I cut it short, and I cut away a bit of the underlying neck to form a "strum hollow" like some of the modern banjo designs have. Now I think I'll make it a standard feature of my banjo style necks.
-Rand.
Thanks for the detailed description Rand, I appreciate it. I like your guitars, and I like how you detail the mistakes too! I get a lot out of them, but somehow they don't prevent me form making the same mistakes over and over. Cheers.
Hi Boxy,
Thanks for the complements.
I use a zero fret to make the measurement of the other frets on the fretboard more accurate. I have found that if I don't have a fret 0, I'm never quite sure where the high point of my nut is going to be, and this uncertainty usually means I get it wrong and my frets are no longer spot on. So now the cut bolt used as a nut is relegated to setting the spacing between strings and perhaps helping guide the strings to their respective machine tuner.
The surface area question I assume refers to the butt joint between the headstock and the neck. That overlap is 50mm (about 2"). The same goes for the butt joint between the neck and the part of the neck that goes through the box. The wood I used for the headstock and neck is "red beech" (a hardwood with nice sound characteristics) and it's sold in pre-cut lengths of 2.2m x 2.5cm x 2.5cm (184" x 1" x 1"). Usually I laminate either side of the neck and headstock with another piece of sapelli or cherry trim wood (0.5cm thick), so my total neck with is more on the order of 3.4cm wide which is nice for wider string separation or perhaps a 4th string, but on this build I was aiming for an all around smaller instrument, so I went with the narrower neck.
-Rand.
So simple and neat and clean, and unusual too. I like it. And even though I've used bolts as nuts I never thought of using one with a zero fret. How much surface area is glued? It looks like about 40mm.
Hi Richey,
My first instrument with this style neck was a 1-string canjo using a cola can. The two pieces (head and neck) are just butt joined, but the amount of glue space was increase by sliding the two pieces over each-other until the top bend was aligned with the bottom bend as you can see in this photo. The "neck-thru the sound box" part of the neck was joined the same way. So far I have had no problem with this joint on instruments with 3 or fewer strings. Have yet to try it on instrument designs with more strings.
-Rand.
What a cool design. The headstock is sort of similar to how I do mine
Started by Timothy Hunter in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray 20 hours ago. 1 Reply 2 Likes
Started by Timothy Hunter in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 21. 11 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Taffy Evans in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 10. 1 Reply 3 Likes
Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by BrianQ. Mar 9. 4 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Ghostbuttons in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 9. 5 Replies 1 Like
Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 8. 6 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Ken I in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Brian partington Mar 8. 8 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Cool gear discussion - that's not cigar box related. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 6. 5 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Taffy Evans in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 5. 4 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Nomad Jack in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 2. 6 Replies 1 Like
Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Carl Floyd Mar 1. 15 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Joe in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Carl Floyd Feb 29. 13 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Chance in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 22. 12 Replies 1 Like
Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 21. 2 Replies 4 Likes
Started by Brad in Cool gear discussion - that's not cigar box related. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 19. 6 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Jacob Shook in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 16. 10 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 16. 2 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Skeesix in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Skeesix Feb 6. 2 Replies 1 Like
Started by Timothy Hunter in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Steve M Jan 31. 9 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Mi Rankin in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Justin Stanchfield Jan 27. 5 Replies 0 Likes
Posted by Vlad on March 6, 2024 at 2:32am 5 Comments 2 Likes
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 28, 2024 at 2:09pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 17, 2024 at 11:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by Vlad on February 11, 2024 at 1:06am 1 Comment 1 Like
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 8, 2024 at 4:05pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
May 11, 2024 from 11am to 8pm – Speakeasy Grill
0 Comments 0 Likes© 2024 Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker. Powered by
Cigar Box Nation is presented by C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply, your one-stop-shop for Cigar Box Guitar parts and accessories!
You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!
Join Cigar Box Nation