Hi everyone, just have to tell you, I'm very intrigued by the CBG and I must tell you, I'm truly amazed at all of you for your talents, contributions, and the muscianship all of you show towards one another and your music.
New to this forum and the world of CBG's......and, I've just GOT to build a 4 stringer.
First coupla questions: I'm thinking about using a metal 4-string bass bridge, as I like the idea of mounting it to the CB lid. Also, I like the idea of a built-in piezo in the bridge too.
1. Any of you use one on your CBG's ?
2. Think there's any issues with the spacing or the cutouts in the saddles for the normally larger bass strings ?
3. Any idea if it would have any issues with not reproducing frequencies of regular guitar strings (A, D, G, B) well ?.....maybe the piezo's are not that picky, but, thought I'd ask.
4. Do I glue the entire surface of the neck to the underside of the CB lid.....with no cutout or notching of the neck that goes against the lid ?
Many thanx ahead of time everyone. :)
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Hey, could I get a moderator to move this thread into the CBG 101 area...I think it fits best there. Being new here I'm gettin my bearings a bit around the site...thank u very much. MLB
Jeff, ha, ha,...ur welcome...glad I can cause sum thinkin on ur part also.
Jkevn, yep, am diving into the .PDF's and the 101 course, questions, and especially the pics...WOW, what a DB of pics. I thought about the stress a top, lid-mounted bridge would cause. If I left the neck whole (not notched out) at the point under the lid where the bridge would install at, would that take care of the stress and place the stress back onto the neck ?
Now, again, I'm assuming I'm glueing the neck several inches at the rear of the box lid and again several inches at the front of the box lid, with a notched out area in between to allow for some resonation. In other words, I'm not attaching the neck to the bottom of the box in anyway.
P.S. I had several CB's I ordered come in today thru the mail, and man they are beautiful. I guess I haven't really ever looked at the detail that goes into these boxes before, the woods, the finger jointing, the stains, the labels.....I'm stoked !
Maurice, not having built a cbg using that style bridge, I don't know for sure, but my concern would be having ALL of the stress of string tension placed on the thin cb top. Having the strings terminate at the end of the protruding neck or into the tail of the box via hinge or other tailpiece keeps some of that (linear) force from making the cbg self-destruct. A typical cbg only has the string tension trying to force the bridge into the box from above.
My kinda-sorta solicited advice for both you and Jeff is to read, read, read, look at pictures, then read some more. Check out the groups on this site: "Building a Cigar Box Guitar 101" is a great place to start. There are indeed alot of questions that have already been answered, but new answers to the same questions are discovered everyday here.
Its been said, "There's no such thing as a dumb question"; that's unfortunate, because lots of us are uniquely qualified for those...ask away, when we're not building, we're talkin about it!
being a newbie cbg builder myself this post was very helpful to me too. Not being aware of the need for an acoustic to not have much contact with the top, I would have made a mistake and most likely would have been disappointed with the volume of my cbg. Thanks Maurice for posting this question and thanks guys for the advice. Notching here I come! I have recently posted some pictures of my neck that I am working on. Advice is welcome!
Thank you Wes and Ted, I've been around forums and I totally understand that many of the questions get asked over and over from the newbies (like me)......and I truly thank you for your time.
Wes:
Yup ,great idea on the pics.....been goin thru them.....wow, what a database of pics.
Ted:
If I've done this right, I loaded a pic of the piezo bass bridge. The bridge has a piezo in it and the strings terminate at the the bridge. I'm guessing here, but I would think a bass bridge would give me good spacing for a 4 string CBG. When I check, I see most bridge specs give me about 0.5 " string height. 2.25" from center to center of the two outside string saddles (total string width). And 0.75" center to center of adjoining saddles (width between strings). If I used a bridge like this then I think that tells me my neck would have to be a bit wider than 2" to accomodate a bass bridge spacing ?
I do understand about the depth and width of the bass bridge where it could cause buzzing tho, that seems to be my main concern with it.
I understand bout needing more than just the lid for stability if I mount a bridge to the lid. My first impression of CBG's was that the neck was in full contact with the underside of the lid and that would provide my support for mounting of the bridge. Now I understand a bit better that possiby each end of the neck may mount to the lid underside.....and it depends on whether I want acoustic out of CB when not using a pup.
I would like to build an electric/acoustic, so maybe the bridge on the lid won't work well.....hmmmm, have to think thru this more.
Thanx guys, I like the brainstorming session and ideas you've already given me. Most of all, thank you for the input ! I know I'll more.
Marice, I will answer #4 but there may be some differing opinions.
First, there are folks that glue the entire neck to the bottom of the lid (or bottom of the box, depending). There are also those who only glue/attach about 1/2 - 1" of the neck to either end and some that avoid attaching to the lid altogether. If you are making an acoustic with Piezo, I prolly would not glue the neck to the lid in as much as possible. Electric (No acoustic) is debatable, but I think you can get away with gluing the whole thing short of the pickup.
I guess its all up to you.
Take a look at the, gee 8000+ pics posted in the PHOTOS section above and you will get some ideas.
Replies
Jkevn, yep, am diving into the .PDF's and the 101 course, questions, and especially the pics...WOW, what a DB of pics. I thought about the stress a top, lid-mounted bridge would cause. If I left the neck whole (not notched out) at the point under the lid where the bridge would install at, would that take care of the stress and place the stress back onto the neck ?
Now, again, I'm assuming I'm glueing the neck several inches at the rear of the box lid and again several inches at the front of the box lid, with a notched out area in between to allow for some resonation. In other words, I'm not attaching the neck to the bottom of the box in anyway.
P.S. I had several CB's I ordered come in today thru the mail, and man they are beautiful. I guess I haven't really ever looked at the detail that goes into these boxes before, the woods, the finger jointing, the stains, the labels.....I'm stoked !
Thanx again folks !
My kinda-sorta solicited advice for both you and Jeff is to read, read, read, look at pictures, then read some more. Check out the groups on this site: "Building a Cigar Box Guitar 101" is a great place to start. There are indeed alot of questions that have already been answered, but new answers to the same questions are discovered everyday here.
Its been said, "There's no such thing as a dumb question"; that's unfortunate, because lots of us are uniquely qualified for those...ask away, when we're not building, we're talkin about it!
Jeff
Wes:
Yup ,great idea on the pics.....been goin thru them.....wow, what a database of pics.
Ted:
If I've done this right, I loaded a pic of the piezo bass bridge. The bridge has a piezo in it and the strings terminate at the the bridge. I'm guessing here, but I would think a bass bridge would give me good spacing for a 4 string CBG. When I check, I see most bridge specs give me about 0.5 " string height. 2.25" from center to center of the two outside string saddles (total string width). And 0.75" center to center of adjoining saddles (width between strings). If I used a bridge like this then I think that tells me my neck would have to be a bit wider than 2" to accomodate a bass bridge spacing ?
I do understand about the depth and width of the bass bridge where it could cause buzzing tho, that seems to be my main concern with it.
I understand bout needing more than just the lid for stability if I mount a bridge to the lid. My first impression of CBG's was that the neck was in full contact with the underside of the lid and that would provide my support for mounting of the bridge. Now I understand a bit better that possiby each end of the neck may mount to the lid underside.....and it depends on whether I want acoustic out of CB when not using a pup.
I would like to build an electric/acoustic, so maybe the bridge on the lid won't work well.....hmmmm, have to think thru this more.
Thanx guys, I like the brainstorming session and ideas you've already given me. Most of all, thank you for the input ! I know I'll more.
Blackpiezo4.jpg
First, there are folks that glue the entire neck to the bottom of the lid (or bottom of the box, depending). There are also those who only glue/attach about 1/2 - 1" of the neck to either end and some that avoid attaching to the lid altogether. If you are making an acoustic with Piezo, I prolly would not glue the neck to the lid in as much as possible. Electric (No acoustic) is debatable, but I think you can get away with gluing the whole thing short of the pickup.
I guess its all up to you.
Take a look at the, gee 8000+ pics posted in the PHOTOS section above and you will get some ideas.
-Wes