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Liftoff as of 6/23

I got myself a playable CBG as of the evening of the 23rd of June, 2013. I've been so busy playing it and messing with it that I didn't get up to posting about it until now.

'T'ain't perfect, but I guess that's life. It plays, and not too bad. since these pics I drilled a couple 7/8 holes in the sound board and put psuedo-brass grommets in them.

I haven't put any electronics except the pickup in yet. I didn't have the parts in a timely fashion, but I've got them now. Might get to that today, and build a little Cigar Box Amp in one of my more nearly cubical boxes, too.

I'm not too thrilled with the "ring" of the strings. I mean, I know its a Cigar Box Guitar, but I think my red oak nut tends to damp the strings, and I think my bridge could stand a little work too.

I built the bridge out of red oak, drilled a hole through it the long way and slipped a rod piezo pickup in there. Then (not in this order, you understand) I ground a groove in the face of the bridge so I could lay a hunk of 1/8" bronze welding rod in there to carry the string vibrations down to the piezo pickup. Trouble is, between the hole and the groove, there's too much red oak sticking up in the air so the strings ride partly on the bronze rod but partly on the red oak, another source of damping, A little more sanding / filing ought to take care of that.

I'm not so sure about the nut. It's glued in, and all the frets and the bridge are measured from its location at the exact end of the fret board. Checking with a tuner, the 12th fret it a pretty accurate octave, so if I move my nut it will screw up my intonation. And if I saw out the red oak nut and put in a hunk of thread rod, for instance, it will have the effect of "moving" the nut by half the diameter of the thread rod. I guess I can cut down the end of the fret board by half the diameter of the new nut. Or something.

I wish I could get brass or bronze thread rod around here. It would go a lot better with the rest of the decor. I guess I could cut in a hunk of my bronze welding rod, but that would be really tricky at this stage of the game.

My other problem is that, with the guitar tuned in open G (GDg) I can't sing with it. It's too high or it's too low, but it's too something. And singing is what I do.

It's all good. I needed something else to do, and I figure I'll enjoy getting this guitar more to my liking before I build the next one.

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Comment by Jeff McFadden on June 26, 2013 at 5:47am: @Richard Holmes, I don't have ready access to either of those. I do have ready access to square section brass rod, and might go hat way. I cut a short hunk off a piece of 1/4-20 thread rod that I was bending to make battery hold - downs in my wife's electric golf cart; I may saw the red oak nut off and put the thread rod in its place. I can fudge an eighth of an inch off the end of the fret board with my little saw and be good to go. That's the provisional plan for now.

Comment by Richard Holmes on June 26, 2013 at 2:27am: Voice of inexperience here, but you could try a piece of bone or Corian for the nut, shaped the same as the oak nut you have now.

Comment by Jeff McFadden on June 26, 2013 at 1:51am: Yeah, Oily... I don't have a regular git around - sold my last one six or seven years ago - but I've got my electric harp, the electric harp in my avatar pic. With that I can play in any key. My best keys are in the C-D-E range. I shuffled strings around & tuned it to D. It's not too bad but I may run it down to C.

Comment by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 25, 2013 at 4:29pm: Jeff,

Re stringing vs singing: have you got a regular git around? Play a chord sequence, starting on one of the standard C-A-G-E-D chords, start singing nonsense, and see where your voice likes to live. Also, check the keys of music you like to sing. For example, I'm a bass-baritone, and my voice is most comfortable in the keys of D and B-flat. Then see if another tuning besides G-D-g works on your new CBG. If it still rings best there, then start working out where the chords are in that tuning that fit your voice. I've found good success with D-A-d, and A-D-F# as well. It may mean a string gauge change. Experiment some. You'll find it.