Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David L. on October 5, 2009 at 9:34pm

Hi,

what a great present - You need to find out what kind of guitar your cousin prefers - number of strings, acoustic or electric, size, etc... If it is to be a surprise have a look at what he is playing now and ask him what his ultimate guitar would be.
Look at the photo section for ideas.
Ted Crocker http://www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/TedCrocker) has a great number of different designs on his homepage.
The rest depends upon how much free time you have before chrismas to build it. The great thing about CBGs is that you can make it all from scratch, or recycle parts off old guitars, or do something in between.
Some points I have learnt are;
To use decent quality machine heads(tuners), if is doesn't stay in tune it is a pain to play.
Piezo buzzer elements are really cheap (off ebay) for an amplified acoustic sound.
It is easy to add a magnetic pickup for an electric sound.

Good luck,
David

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on October 5, 2009 at 11:06pm

Welcome to the Nation. Nice idea. Nothing more thoughtful than a real homemade Xmas gift. Seems like the very thing that is missing from the holiday season. I am not a builder, so I can not help you there, but if you are looking for instruction please check out what I have to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=53983C1119D9691C

This series will be available for sale on CD before Xmas.

Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on October 5, 2009 at 11:49pm

Wood for necks -- well the basics call for poplar but this is definitely not the rule (in fact there are no rules). Use what you got or can find. I would suggest maple, mahogany or some other medium hard to hard wood. Poplar tho a "hardwood" isn't all that hard. Kinda like pine. Ash is quite hard and might be harder to work with. I'd love to make one out of African Cherry (Makore).

Research what traditional guitar necks are made of and that will give you an idea of what you might want to use. Remember, CBGs are usually 1 - 4 strings (tho its very common to see 6 strings) and there is not as much string tension as on a standard guitar. Take a look at the pics we have posted here in the PHOTOS section above.

Pups are mostly piezo or magnetic. We have plans here for that too, so do a search. Bridge -- eh, about anything you can imagine. Again take a look at the 12K+ photos we have here.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Lemin on October 6, 2009 at 1:27am

Look on "Free Plans" on the header of the forum page. There is various help there. But i think the photos area will give you plenty of ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on October 6, 2009 at 2:19am

Welcome Keven. Quality normally starts with quality parts if you want to impress an avid player. I am not saying quality can not come from scratch, but starting out, you may want to purchase the bridge, nut and nice tuners, unless you have sweet skills and can make quality parts from scratch. Steward MacDonald is a great place to get what you need..
http://www.stewmac.com/

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Permalink Reply by Kevin E Carey on October 6, 2009 at 3:34am

im deff. going to buy the bridge, tuners, pickup etc.. just have not figured out what ones exactly.
I will be making the neck myself but have not decided on the design yet, I know it will be 3 string, fretless and will have a fretboard thats something exotic (wood).
what pickups are recomended? I dont want to do the radio shack piezo for this project (but my personal one will have one of those. my cousin plays old rock and blues.
thanks for the help so far all!

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on October 6, 2009 at 3:39am

Talk to Ted Crocker here, he makes a super Stonehenge 3 string pickup that I know you would be happy with. He has great tech support to go with it,( and if you buy one, you can pick his brain on guitar building tips also.)

Kevin E Carey said:

im deff. going to buy the bridge, tuners, pickup etc.. just have not figured out what ones exactly.
I will be making the neck myself but have not decided on the design yet, I know it will be 3 string, fretless and will have a fretboard thats something exotic (wood).
what pickups are recomended? I dont want to do the radio shack piezo for this project (but my personal one will have one of those. my cousin plays old rock and blues.
thanks for the help so far all!

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Permalink Reply by Nathan King on October 6, 2009 at 7:50am

Yep, Mort is right about Ted's Stonehenge pickups, I just used one in a two-string model... they sound really good, and Ted knows his stuff.

StewMac is also a great source for stuff, but it's easy to spend a lot of money there, because every time you turn the page in their catalog you see more things you "need!"

If you're looking to buy the bridge and are going with a 3-string design, check out Josh Gayou's stuff on ebay. I haven't bought one of these bridges, yet, but it's calling to me!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin E Carey on October 6, 2009 at 2:57pm

Thanks again for all the advice, one more question, if I get the stonehenge pickup, can I still use a thru-body neck design? will I have to cut out a channel for the pickup to sit? or do I brace the neck independent from the tail?
I have a good understanding of guitars and woodworking so I can deff. get it done however it is, but im no expert.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin E Carey on October 6, 2009 at 2:59pm

thanks for that link, its the exact bridge I was looking for.

Nathan King said:

If you're looking to buy the bridge and are going with a 3-string design, check out Josh Gayou's stuff on ebay. I haven't bought one of these bridges, yet, but it's calling to me!

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on October 6, 2009 at 3:13pm

Welcome aboard! Remember, you can take your project as far as your imagination will take you. NO LIMITS!!

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Permalink Reply by Nathan King on October 6, 2009 at 3:59pm

I'm not expert either, but there ways you can do it. If you're using the "typical" 1x2 stick for the neck, any electric pickup is more than likely going to be thicker than 3/4", and then you'll need to somehow get around that... bracing the neck is one option a lot of folks have used..

I myself used a 2x2, so when I cut out the notch for the pickup I still had enough wood left to support the tension from the strings. If you check out my pics, in the album "CBG #10 - Cuvee Electric Two-Stringer" I've got a pic showing what I'm talking about here. But, at least where I live, 2x2s are a lot harder to come by than 1x2s.

Again, it really all comes down to preference and experience. I like the neck thru style, so I made it neck thru. I also don't have much experience with the bracing/bolt on style of construction, so neck thru seemed easier and made more sense to me.

And, as an aside, if you have woodworking experience, you'll have this guitar done way before December. You might have an army of CBGs by then! :-)

Kevin E Carey said:

Thanks again for all the advice, one more question, if I get the stonehenge pickup, can I still use a thru-body neck design? will I have to cut out a channel for the pickup to sit? or do I brace the neck independent from the tail?
I have a good understanding of guitars and woodworking so I can deff. get it done however it is, but im no expert.

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