Comment

Comment by The Professor on September 10, 2011 at 4:23am

John that sounds excellent.

Comment by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on September 9, 2011 at 10:08am

Hi Groovemeister.

Thank you very much for commenting. Glad you like it.

All the best.

John

Comment by Servaas (Der Groovemeister) on September 9, 2011 at 9:51am

This instrument sounds absolutely amazing!

Comment by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on September 9, 2011 at 6:52am

Hi Mark.

Thanks for the comments. Thanks also for confirming what I thought about the bass string scale length. The decision to go for just one output was due to a number of factors. The first was simply that I only have one amp. I know that many people with a history of guitar playing probably have a few, but I am a one-amp (but not necessarily a 1amp amp) sort of person, at least for the moment.

The second reason was simply to see how good it would sound with the simpler solution. It is less flexible for sure, but no less than a normal instrument.

The last reason is that there is another instrument, the name of which escapes me, that has two outputs. I really wanted to take a different path on this one as much as possible. I am already thinking about the next one and wondering about putting a stereo output. Then, with a stereo lead splitting to two amps it would work as you say, but I'm not sure weather if you plugged it into one amp, or a mono chord it would feed both signals to one amp. I think that would be a neat solution.

Incidentally, more photos coming up soon.

Anyway, thanks again for commenting.

All the best.

John

Comment by Mark Bliss on September 9, 2011 at 6:13am

Well I finally took the time to watch this one John, and no surprise it is top notch. The sound is good, and the playing is quite precise and excellent! You obviously have a good ear too. You didnt just learn the tune-The additional character is all yours too, you made it your own. Pat yourself on the back friend!

As for your comments on the scale length you are correct. While a longer bass scale may have an interesting effect it would require using it as a drone only, and other than "capoing" it for different tones you would be limited.

If I were building something like that though, I would consider seperate pickups and outputs. It opens the door to so much of a wider range of sounds! A bass cube or something with its own settings combined with the micro cube would be punchy!

All suggestions and thoughts aside though, nothing but praise!

Comment by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on September 9, 2011 at 4:59am

Hi T C and NightOwl.

Thank you to both of you for leaving the very nice comments.

All the best.

John

Comment by NightOwl on September 9, 2011 at 4:19am

Awesome!

Comment by T C Blues on September 9, 2011 at 3:44am

Beautiful and what a fine guitar.

Comment by Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw on September 9, 2011 at 1:51am

Hi Kevin and Oily.

Kevin. I love the word gravitas. Thank you for using it in connection with my video and thanks also for the comments as a whole.

Oily. Thank you for your feedback. I will put up pictures that make it clear how it fits together and it is very simple. I don't often get called self-effacing, and I thank you for that.

You are spot on when you say that I am considering more 3+B instruments. I think the next will probably be a single neck with a slightly bigger space between the bass and other strings, possibly with a B section neck. I would fret that one.

Here's one thing I don't get (one among many really). If the bass string has a longer scale but is used as more than a drone (in other words it will be fingered or used with a slide) you still need it to have the same pitch at that point on the neck. Surely the only way to increase the tension on the bass string is to use a higher gauge (or have I got this wrong). I'm not worried about box strength as the box will only take bridge pressure and nothing more.

How does this sound to you?

All the best.

John

Comment by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 9, 2011 at 12:59am

John,

Have withheld my comments after my first listen, because family life intervened.

First, the build. I love it! This makes neckthroughs so easy! Do you have a pic from inside the box, showing the detail? Seems like you are getting lots of buzz ( the good kind ) about this build, and it looks destined to be a popular ( as opposed to poplar ) alternative. I'm definitely gonna have to do one of these...

Second, the song. "Amazing Grace" has the incredible facility to divide people. Many people love it, because it brings back memories of church and family, and has been covered by numerous artists worldwide. Many people hate it for precisely the same reasons. I think your rendition is beautiful - soulful, slow, tender, and understated ( if that's possible with a CBG). Those years at RAM were definitely not wasted, and you are much too self-effacing. You should be justifiably proud of this vid.

Finally, some thoughts on build improvement, if you continue with the 3+1 motif. You've likely already considered this, as it seems pretty obvious, but different scale lengths (meaning different actual neck lengths) for the bass versus guitar side of things should improve string tension. The 3-string side won't seem so tight, if you build it to a standard 24-25.5" scale, and you could extend the bass scale to 30-34" to accommodate a longer, deeper-sounding bass string. I don't think this will compromise your box strength any, but if you feel it might, try it on a pasteboard box first, as an experiment. If your neck on this build is easily removable, you could even experiment with different scale lengths by using different neck lengths, swapping them out as needed / wanted.

I hope your neighbors are guarding their collapsible deck chairs, washing line frames, mop handles, and cattle prods!

I may try this for my next build, but using thick dowels that I can get locally - or cannibalize some old metal broom handles. This is gonna speed up Build #3 considerably. Well Done, and keep it up!

Oily

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