Hi all of you builders of funky instruments,
I have this pretty nougat tin from France lying around here and it yearns to be made into some kind of stringed instrument. I’m thinking short scale guitar with nylon strings, either a four stringer or a six stringer with three double courses tuned like a three stringer...
I don’t know yet whether I’ll make it a neck-through or even a “neck-around” (something like this:) I have only built instruments with wooden boxes so far and never worked with a tin – and that’s where my question comes in:
How do I reinforce this thing so that the pressure of the strings doesn’t cave in the fairly thin and flexible lid without dampening the vibration of the lid too much? How do you reinforce your tins?
All kinds of advice (and, even better: pictures) greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Hans
Tags:
Hi Hans, yep that bracing looks far better, and I notice you have put a reinforcing cleat on top of the joint. Even Martin and Gibson only glue a piece of rag glued over that joint. Nothing wrong with doing the job properly.
I have been asked in the past why I spend so much time and care with the inside of an instrument, my answer is, one day somebody may open this up for a repair and my name is on the label.
Regarding your daughter, you could try what did and have her working along side you on some sort of project, maybe not all the time but something is better than nothing.
Nice clean work.
Taff
Thanks, Taff, your advice was really helpful.
And yes, I tried that too, doing woodwork together with my daughter. But there are three problems: 1) My workshop is tiny (it's actually not really a workshop but a very small windowless storeroom I jammed an old table into to work on (I had to saw off a good part of the tabletop to be able to even fit it into the room...). 2) She looses interest in woodworking pretty quickly. And 3) one of the things I love about building guitars is that it's a loner activity... I guess I'll just have to handle this addiction the way some people deal with their penchant for alcohol: alternating between periods of total abstinence and bingeing...
The only thing left to do is setting up the action by lowering the bridge and filing two of the slots in the nut a little deeper... And waiting for those nylon strings to get used to the tension so they stay in tune for more than five minutes...
Sounds nice!
More pictures and details soon.
A really classy looking guitar, well done
Taff
Thanks, guys!
I don't sell my guitars, JB, I just buid them for my own pleasure. But I'm honored that you start thinking about paypal when seeing my guitar...
Mission accomplished! The neck-around six string tin guitar is finished! And she sounds really good.
Thanks so much for all the great advice, encouragement and inspiration, guys! And for the fun I had with this thread.
I just posted lots of pictures and a blog post about this sweet guitar...
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