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New to building and playing

Hi all,

I'm a first timer from the UK and I would love to share my first project with you and ask some advice.

I'm building a fretless three string guitar from bits of hardwood from old furniture for the neck and ply and pine for the resonator. I chose to build the box from scratch as I was having difficulty finding a decent cigar box.

As you will see from the photos I have shaped the neck, yardstick and heal from one piece of white oak to which I have laminated a mahogany fret board.

This leads me onto my first question: my board is currently 8mm, is this to thick? Should it be more like 6mm?

Second question: what is the optimal action for slide? And optimal distance from string to soundboard?

Third and final for now: My machine head shafts are a little short, should I countersink into the back of my headstock, or reshape the top of the yardstick to make it narrower.

Please have a look at the pictures I've posted and feel free to comment / offer advice.

Thanks in advance

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Permalink Reply by sasquatch on March 25, 2014 at 11:19pm

Last pic at this stage

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Permalink Reply by jabes on March 25, 2014 at 11:30pm

that's far too good for a first build...lol

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Permalink Reply by sasquatch on March 25, 2014 at 11:37pm

Ha ha! Thanks Jabes. I have to say, I'm really loving the whole process.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 26, 2014 at 5:20am

The improvements look great! Are you gonna fret this? Is the neck already attached to the box? If not fretting, then you are OK for string height. If you are, and the neck isn't attached to the box yet, you might want to set the neck so much of the fretboard sits above the top of the box, and the neck angles back away from the box 2-3 degrees. This will allow you to have a relatively low action, and a relatively low bridge / saddle. You do good woodwork.

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Permalink Reply by sasquatch on March 26, 2014 at 7:41am

Thanks Ron,

Nah I'm gonna leave this one fretless as it's my first build. Already planning the next one though which will be fretted. What should the drop from the top of the fretboard to the top of the soundboard be?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on March 26, 2014 at 9:56am

No frets, no problem. You should be good with a relatively tall bridge / saddle on that one. For the next, fretboard height above the soundboard where it attaches to the box is good at 1/4". Rake the neck back a little toward the headstock on the next fretted one, will lower your action.

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Permalink Reply by sasquatch on April 1, 2014 at 6:49pm

Just wanted to share a few pics of the painted body with sound hole covers. 4 coats acrylic matt black followed top coat of Danish oil. Sorry for photo quality, light in my workshop at this time of day isn't great.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Fred Johnson on April 1, 2014 at 10:26pm

Looking good

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Permalink Reply by Andy K on April 2, 2014 at 12:32am

The sound hole covers look great against the black finish. Are they sink strainers?

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Permalink Reply by sasquatch on April 2, 2014 at 12:42am

Thanks Andy. Yeah £1.50! For a pack of 4.

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Permalink Reply by Andy K on April 2, 2014 at 2:00am

Bargain! I've just put some brass eyelet / grommets on my first build's sound holes. They are a bit smaller than I thought they would be but still look ok for the size of box. Will leave them for now but will definitely try the strainers in the future.