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4 string plans

Posted by Dmksails on December 29, 2024 at 8:41pm

New member here.  I'm inspired to make a 4 string tenor guitar with a cigar box.  I've been looking for plans and found a number of 3 string instruments, but all the 4 string plans are for a normal guitar style body.

This would be my first instrument.   I'm also looking for one that will have nylon strings.  

Any suggestions?

 

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Replies

  • Bob Herget January 11, 2025 at 2:58pm

    Hi, welcome to CBN,

    I built a 4-string tenor CBG tuned to Irish Tenor tuning, Gdae', using a Brick House Mighty Mighty box, having a standard tenor guitar scale length of 23", and using a through-box neck design.
    Standard tenor CGda tuning would be of the same construction, except the strings would then be a lighter gauge, which might be a factor for you since you're wanting to use nylon strings. 
    Mine has steel strings, though, not nylon.

    I'm curious as to the reason for your desire to use nylon strings rather than steel.
    I've tried nylon strings before on CBGs and they seem to not have enough "oomph" to get much sound out of a CBG.
    I mean really "dead".
    As in no way, Jose, dead. 

    I angled the neck back as measured by a 1/8" difference in notching the neck from one end of the box to the other, which resulted in a final bridge height of 11/16". 
    When I first started building CBGs, I used to try to design and calculate things so I could use store-bought bridges of standardized heights.
    I quickly realized that CBGs have too much variability to design things to be able to fit them to a gnat's ass, so I build the neck and fit it to the box, then after all of that, I'll measure and cut my own bridges, usually made out of leftover scrap padauk or whatever fretboard material that I have lying around. 
    The bridge on this one is a store-bought 5/8" height that ended up being too short, so I glued some thin shims on its feet to get the proper string action. 

    I'm really happy with how it turned out.

    It's the green one in this lopsided picture.

    I could take some more detailed pics of that CBG and send them to you if you're interested.

    I'm a big fan of tenor tuning, so I'd interested in hearing more about your project.13402178862?profile=RESIZE_930x

  • Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear January 9, 2025 at 12:25am

    Hi 👋, 

    There are a number of ways that you could approach your build. For my first build, I laid everything out, cut out a neck shape that I wanted from sheets of taped together paper, and laid it all out in front of me so that I had an idea of how everything would fit together. It helped to visualise everything.

    Important notes:

    • If using a factory-made tenor guitar neck, remember that the bridge on your guitar will have to sit at the exact point to attain the tenor guitar scale length. So, you'll have to make sure your box is big enough to give you the distance from the end of the factory neck to the bridge on your cigar box. Scale length is the measurement from the fretboard side of the nut to the point of your bridge where your string stops vibrating.
    • If making your neck, www.StewMac.com is fantastic (and free) for calculating your fret spacing. TIP: Always measure each fret from the nut to each fret, never fret to fret. It avoids compounding minor errors that are naturally inherent when measuring fret to fret.
    • Consider the tenor guitar scale length. Consider your box size. Consider your neck size. Does your starting point material give you the quantities of material to get to the scale length that you want?
    • 21-23 inches (53cms - 58cms) should be quite doable with most decent sized guitar boxes, I should imagine? I just got finished making an 81cm "Strum stick" which is a long neck banjo scale length. ish.
    • Nylon strings have a very heavy string weight at tension compared to acoustic and electric guitar strings. Try to consider your string weight to instrument strength. A lot of it can be guess work. Try to underestimate your guitar's build strength a little and you should be good. Deciding string gauge and material against your build strength is pretty much guesswork. I tend to over-brace. You'll get the correct balance through trial and error.
    • On that subject: an "error" is never bad, they're how we learn not to do it next time. Don't be afraid to get it wrong.
    • Have fun! It's pointless unless you're having fun. 
    • If I can help just shoot me a question.

    Stay awesome!

    Bear.

  • Taffy Evans December 30, 2024 at 2:25am

    hi again, I should mention if using nylon strings you will need a wider neck/fingerboard as the strings are thicker gauge.

    Taff

  • Taffy Evans December 30, 2024 at 2:04am

    Hi and welcome. I would suggest you use the scale length suggested for a tenor guitar and use the cigar box instead of the traditional guitar shape. I always draw a plan first before building. Draw your box outline, place your bridge in a position/ location on the top that give a good area of vibration around it, usually a third of the boxes length from the tail end. Measure your scale length from the saddle position to the nut, plus a peg head is the length of the neck, plus extra for attachment to the box. Plenty of info on here. 
    A side plan of the instrument should show the thickness of the box, the proposed bridge in its position on the top standing 5/8" or 1/2" high. Your neck with fingerboard and frets, if used, would also be drawn and a line plotted from the top of the bridge to the nut, and say 2mm over the 12th fret, would give you the approximate neck back angle of them neck.

    You would then need to decide if you use a fixed bridge or a tail piece. I hope this helps to get you started.

    Cheers Taff

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