Hi all,
I am pretty much finished building a four string cigar box guitar. I have it to a playable state, the only parts left to do are the fret markers and potentially shaping the neck. I am using the middle four strings of a pack of ernie ball regular slinkys, tuned ADGB most of the time. the neck is the traditional piece of 1x2 maple with a walnut fretboard. In its present shape, the neck is able to withstand the tension of the four strings. I am contemplating shaping the neck using the technique shown on youtube, using a router with a 1/2 inch roundover bit to round off the neck. My only concern is that if I remove much wood from the neck, the neck will begin to warp. Does anybody know if a rounded neck will withstand the tension of all four strings?
Thanks!
Replies
thanks everyone! If you look at the picture, you can see the guitar as it is. all i am going to do after rounding the neck is touch up some of the scratches in the box with some cherry stain, install some fret markers, then lacquer the whole thing.
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Good answers! From good builders. Read & believe...
Wayfinder & Richey are right. With your maple neck & walnut fingerboard, a 1/2" rounding router bit will be fine. Even if your neck tapers in width from wide at the heel end, to more narrow at the nut, all will be good, since 4 strings only produce about 65% of the total tension of a full six string set.
A note about your tuning: an optional tuning other than ADGB with your chosen strings, is ADF#B, and there are chord charts online that make open chords (not power chords like GDGB tunings would employ). Look for "baritone ukulele chord charts" on Google. The chord shapes are similar to regular six string chords, but are in a different key, and are easy to learn.
Cheers.
Hey Blake. I've never made a neck from maple, but it's a good strong wood so I don't think you have anything to worry about there. I shape the backs of all of my necks as well. Here's a pic of the 4 string neck I recently finished. This was oak but a similar principle.