This is my first build and I will be learning to play on it as well. Originally I planned a 24.5" scale but a little miscalculation left me with ~ 21-21.5" from nut to saddle. All things considered, how many frets should I plan for? It will probably be tuned to an open G and I will use a slide + doing some chording.
The neck is red oak, fingerboard is walnut. Pics of where I am so far:
Replies
Here's a link to a picture of the short scale guitar I built. I really liked it.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/ashton-box-git?context=user
It was pretty close to 20" scale length and you can see that I only put on fret markers in positions 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22. That is a pretty small box so I fit more than you will. Practically, I hardly ever played above fret 12 anyway.
It was tuned DAD and was a real joy to play. With that tuning and the frets marked like I did, it only had sweet notes to play. The string tension was just right for sliding or fingering notes. Sadly, I don't remember what gauge strings I used, but the were all wound strings from an acoustic pack. I'd guess the A D G strings but you might need a little trial and error to test.
Like I said, the 20" scale was great fun to play. Very fast and a nice tone. I put up a video here but something is wrong and it won't play. I'll have to see if I still have the original file on my phone or tablet.
This forum has me changing my mind on the guitar on my bench right now. I was going to build a gibson scale guitar but now, i'm thinking 20 3/4 like my lap steel. Short scale seem like it might work well with open E tuning with some fat string. A small slide guitar with fat strings .Hate to chop the neck of and be disappointed. Roll of the dice!
how far down the box does 21' put your bridge mate?
About 1 3/4" from the edge.
Don't cut anything else yet!
Now that I've seen your pics, there may be another way to attack this problem. You know, you could still get a 24.5 scale length out of that neck, if you put another piece of neck wood inside the box, to also stick out for a tailpiece. You stack the original on top of the other piece. Unless you already did a neck cut out to let the top vibrate...
On the other hand . . .are 4 fingers and a thumb. . .
But seriously, the short scale does sound pretty cool. The modification suggested is easy and straightforward, but I've run into more than my share of kindling by trying to fix one error and creating 3 others. Your structure is whole.
Make your tuning interval 1,3,5 or 1,5,1 or whatever you want and just select strings that will suit. Get the low string up to the tension you like by feel and use a chromatic tuner to find out what note that is. Then you can adjust slightly if you would rather have F flat instead of E sharp. Then you know what to make the rest of your strings.
To start, I would try strings 5,4,and 3 from your free pack.
For fretting on a 1,5,1 guitar I like to do pentatonic plus fret 2. So that's 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15... Essentially you don't have a bad note on any string or any strum.
That all sounds like great advice, if I could understand any of it! I don't understand the 1,5,1 or 1,3,5 part yet but to layout pentatonic scale in fretfind2d I would enter "5" under calculation method? If so, with my short fingerboard I would only have 6 frets. I think I will stick with a standard chromatic scale and let the chips fall where they may. Or I might just build a new neck and use this short neck to make a uke or something.
I'm doing this all ack basswards, trying to learn guitar building before learning to play. On the other hand, I know several guitar players who are equally clueless to all this stuff so maybe it isn't backwards.
I've run into more than my share of kindling by trying to fix one error and creating 3 others.
Me too. Actually since I already have the fingerboard glued on, I'm not sure I understand the modification unless it involves splicing into the neck/fingerboard which I don't want to do. I'd rather accommodate the shorter scale than risk making a mess.
Aaaaccchhhh! Ssssss! Nooo, my precious!
1-5-1 means the tuning of a 3-stringer, as in G-D-G, or E-B-E. The one refers to the root note, the 5 is an interval of a fifth above that on a chromatic scale, and the last 1 is tuned the same as the root note.
Here's a picture of what I was trying to describe for your neck mod:
Thanks for the pic, but my fingerboard stops at the box lid so I would still have to splice into it and since it's already glued on, I don't think I'll risk it. But I'm glad you posted because I hadn't planned on relieving the neck under the lid until you mentioned it. I thought I should just glue the lid and neck together. I have four more cigar boxes to practice on.
And the Kid is right a coupla ways: 1)normal gits are built for 4ths, and B) you can always build more, so this one doesn't hafta be the one where you fix all your "mista..." er, built-in features. ;-)
But, glad my sketch gave you something to consider, especially since you're using a piezo; you want that lid to vibrate. Doesn't matter so much if you were gonna use a mag pup. How and where are you attaching the piezo?
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next