Hi,
I spent yesterday making diddley bows with my daughter's brownie troop (ton of fun and highly recommend building with kids). We will finish up at their next meeting in two weeks. One of the things I wanted to do with them is have them make straps for them out of nylon cord sandwiched between two pieces of duct tape leaving the nylon cord sticking out each end so they can tie the straps to the diddley bows. I was going to have them tie on the tail end (they are made with a wood dowel through a CB and the dowel sticks out the end of the box for the tail) under the string so it won't slide off. For the other end of the strap I was going to either have them tie it around the dowel under the string on the neck side of the box OR under the string at the head between the nut and tuner. Is one way better than the other? What are advantages/disadvantages of either?
Thanks,
Mike
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Your timing is perfect. My wife teaches first grade and asked if I could come up with a project like this. I was just about to ask on the Nation if anyone had a design or idea for a cheap, easy, diddley bow. Would it be possible for you to send a few pics so I can use your idea design as a starting point?
My original idea was a dowel and a box, simple threaded rod for the nut and bridge, and possibly a nut/bolt combo for a tuner to save costs.
Thank you in advance for any help you can send my way.
Ok I took a few quick snaps of what they look like thus far and have some costs for you.
I purchased a bunch of boxes at a cigar shop and purchased poplar 1 inch dowels from Home Depot and did a through neck. I could have gone with poplar 1x2 instead to save a little money but much more work for my prep so went the dowel route. The cost difference would have been I think on about $0.60 per so no worth the extra prep. I used small wooden dowels that came in a pack of 50 for the bridge and a slot head screw for the nut.
The prep I did was I but the dowel to length and notched the head and stained and oiled the them. The kids did the rest with some help from me and the troop leaders when they struggled. They glued decorative papers inside the bottom of the box to see through the sound holes if they wanted. Some liked leaving the wood visible. Next week will let them do some decorating if they want.
The cost came to about $6.50 per kid.
Box $0.50
Dowel $3.50
Tuner $1.40
String $0.60
Dowel for bridge $0.05
Screw for nut $.0.06
Rivets for tail end of string (don't remember)
1/2 copper pipe for a slide $0.10 approx I think
Guitar pick $0.30
Everything else laying around
I used this link and altered to suit my project. He uses a screw rather than a tuner which would save you a good chunk of the cost but I was concerned it would be harder for the kids to keep tuned. Also he used an old tool handle for the neck, I did not have that accessible so did the dowels. The video is a good one to give you a an idea how to go about it.
it is not in the pic sorry, that will be done next outing with them. I purchased the cbgitty economy tuner pack of 6. it breaks down to $1.40 per tuner. and that video is a good one for showing how to do the build. i created documentation to give all the kids to take home in case they want to build another with a family member and i put a link to that video in the doc for them to check out. it really helps explain it all.
I've been using eye bolts with wing nuts plus regular nuts to clamp onto the headstock, but my per each cost for that as about $0.75 USD and I have to file and drill the bolts to make it easy to attach a string. The budget tuner looks promising...
yep that is why i went with them. the cost is not much difference when you think about it and much less work and easier. I could have just used a screw like in that video but i would think for a kid tuning it would be a nightmare you wold just be at what ever it is tuned to or not tuned to.
here are my observations on the tuners with the kids. Id recommend using real tuners . the eye bolts and screws and such are difficult at best . and Although a diddley isnt that noticable if out of tune it gets to be a drag for them. and the hope is that they will grow to enjoy playing and want to explore the cbg world a bit more. We actually had some scouts that wanted to build more . The neck ties work great , I got a bunch at a thrift store. heres what we found out about that... Some, not all but some parents arent too thrilled about some ?? who knows who neck tie on their childs neck. weird i know but true. dont ask me how i know. So it can be solved by requesting each kid to bring their own. " grampys tie or " dads tie " oh and there is a site guitar huggers. we bought a bag of like 8 pounds of tuners for 24 dollars plenty of tuners . also went to the hardware store and got donations for the troop in wood and copper pipe for slides. the boys did it for their belt buckles.
oh and for the nuts we bought a long piece of allthread and i cut a bunch of chunks with my hotsaw. and presanded them . its alot cheaper than buying a bag of screws or bolts
Mike > 14 buck bass (aka antonio)April 17, 2015 at 8:28am
Excellent, thanks for the info. The tuners I definitely agree. I hope this to be a jumping off point for them so making it easier is better. I can also see what could happen with the thrift store ties. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. I thought about all thread but with round dowels for the neck we would need to glue and was concerned about time and not enough clamps. I have not tried the slotted screw to hold the strings yet so need to test this weekend to make sure it holds them. Thx for the info/advice!
Jeff, sure NP at all. I will post pictures of where they are currently which is nearly done and approximate costs for you. I am getting ready to take my daughter to softball practice so will take care of later tonight, I hope that would work for you. Mine is similar to what you posted. The dowel is by far the most expensive piece of the whole project.
Replies
Hi Mike,
Your timing is perfect. My wife teaches first grade and asked if I could come up with a project like this. I was just about to ask on the Nation if anyone had a design or idea for a cheap, easy, diddley bow. Would it be possible for you to send a few pics so I can use your idea design as a starting point?
My original idea was a dowel and a box, simple threaded rod for the nut and bridge, and possibly a nut/bolt combo for a tuner to save costs.
Thank you in advance for any help you can send my way.
Jeff
Ok I took a few quick snaps of what they look like thus far and have some costs for you.
I purchased a bunch of boxes at a cigar shop and purchased poplar 1 inch dowels from Home Depot and did a through neck. I could have gone with poplar 1x2 instead to save a little money but much more work for my prep so went the dowel route. The cost difference would have been I think on about $0.60 per so no worth the extra prep. I used small wooden dowels that came in a pack of 50 for the bridge and a slot head screw for the nut.
The prep I did was I but the dowel to length and notched the head and stained and oiled the them. The kids did the rest with some help from me and the troop leaders when they struggled. They glued decorative papers inside the bottom of the box to see through the sound holes if they wanted. Some liked leaving the wood visible. Next week will let them do some decorating if they want.
The cost came to about $6.50 per kid.
Box $0.50
Dowel $3.50
Tuner $1.40
String $0.60
Dowel for bridge $0.05
Screw for nut $.0.06
Rivets for tail end of string (don't remember)
1/2 copper pipe for a slide $0.10 approx I think
Guitar pick $0.30
Everything else laying around
I used this link and altered to suit my project. He uses a screw rather than a tuner which would save you a good chunk of the cost but I was concerned it would be harder for the kids to keep tuned. Also he used an old tool handle for the neck, I did not have that accessible so did the dowels. The video is a good one to give you a an idea how to go about it.
http://youtu.be/M18A7xLQZsY
I hope that helps. If you have any other questions just let me know.
Mike
image.jpg
Outstanding! Also, thanks for the link to Justin's video. (I already have his lesson on how to play the thing.)
What did you use for a $1.40 tuner? Can't quite see in the pic.
it is not in the pic sorry, that will be done next outing with them. I purchased the cbgitty economy tuner pack of 6. it breaks down to $1.40 per tuner. and that video is a good one for showing how to do the build. i created documentation to give all the kids to take home in case they want to build another with a family member and i put a link to that video in the doc for them to check out. it really helps explain it all.
These are the ones I used: http://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitar-parts/6pc-economy-open-gear...
Thanks.
I've been using eye bolts with wing nuts plus regular nuts to clamp onto the headstock, but my per each cost for that as about $0.75 USD and I have to file and drill the bolts to make it easy to attach a string. The budget tuner looks promising...
yep that is why i went with them. the cost is not much difference when you think about it and much less work and easier. I could have just used a screw like in that video but i would think for a kid tuning it would be a nightmare you wold just be at what ever it is tuned to or not tuned to.
here are my observations on the tuners with the kids. Id recommend using real tuners . the eye bolts and screws and such are difficult at best . and Although a diddley isnt that noticable if out of tune it gets to be a drag for them. and the hope is that they will grow to enjoy playing and want to explore the cbg world a bit more. We actually had some scouts that wanted to build more . The neck ties work great , I got a bunch at a thrift store. heres what we found out about that... Some, not all but some parents arent too thrilled about some ?? who knows who neck tie on their childs neck. weird i know but true. dont ask me how i know. So it can be solved by requesting each kid to bring their own. " grampys tie or " dads tie " oh and there is a site guitar huggers. we bought a bag of like 8 pounds of tuners for 24 dollars plenty of tuners . also went to the hardware store and got donations for the troop in wood and copper pipe for slides. the boys did it for their belt buckles.
oh and for the nuts we bought a long piece of allthread and i cut a bunch of chunks with my hotsaw. and presanded them . its alot cheaper than buying a bag of screws or bolts
Mike
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