Ok, so I just finished my 2nd guitar and the 1st one that's electric. This whole build was a good news/bad news endevour. The good stuf first: I learned a lot; I made a bone nut out of a beef soupbone that my dog had cleaned up for me; I'm happy with the way the ornamentaion looks; the skeleton key bridge worked out pretty well. That's about it. Now the bad stuff: there is a fundamental design flaw that proved essentially fatal. Once I got the pickup mounted in the box I went to install the neck assembly and discovered that the pickup stuck down so far that the box lid wouldn't close. So I routed out some of the neck to make room. Now the box lid closed just fine but, when I strung it up, the tension was too great on the weakened portion of the neck and it bowed and cracked. I tried to fix it with a crutch/splint underneath the portion of the neck that was inside the box but to no avail. It still bows pretty badly under tension. Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped. The neck and the pickup both have to occupy the same space and physics says that won't work. Another tragedy was the fan head design. I saw some pix of a nicely done fan head and decided to try it. My neck starts out as two 1/2" x 2" x 4 ft pieces of red oak laminated together. I stop the top piece about six inches shorter to create a step down to the peg head. Then I cut a couple of wedges and installed them on each side with glue and dowel pins. I don't have a drill press, so getting the wedges to be precisely lined up and flush was pretty tricky. I ended up sanding the whole thing until it all flushed up OK. So far so good. But when I went to drill the holes for the tuning pegs I split one wedge. Glue and clamps got it back together but, as you can see from the pix, placement of the pegs is not really great. I had to make some string trees to guide the strings to their destinations. The end result is a pretty bizzare looking peg head. I'm a big fan of bizzare, but this is just weird looking. The slots in the bone nut are not spaced well. I just eyeballed it instead of actually measuring it out to be even.
So the end result is that I'm disgustipated. I did learn a lot. But I'm going to set this one aside for a while and move on to my next build and hope for a better outcome. Maybe later I can bring this one back from the dead but, for now, it's a wall hanger.
I invite everyone in the CBG universe to look over the pix and offer any comments and suggestions. Thanks!
Unclebill
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When building a CBG with a magnetic pickup (pup), there is usually an immediate conflict between where the mag pup should ideally go and where the neck needs to fasten to the sound box. With acoustic CBGs, and stringed instruments in general, the instrument sounds best when your picking (or strumming) hand is near (or over the neck), as opposed to playing closer to the bridge. So, this is the ideal location for your pup. But it also is where the neck meets the sound box and this area is usually occupied by extra bracing and bolts (or wood screws). This can be seen in my drawing below:
This far, my first and only CBG with a magnetic pickup in it was done like in Design 1, but that meant the humbuckler pups had to be located about mid-box, and the bridge had to be located near the tail end of the box. This proved less satisfactory than I had hoped, as when it's played acoustically, it doesn't sound that good. This could be due to the box, or maybe all the hardware (pups) on the soundboard, or the location of the bridge. Not sure which. But on my next build I'm pretty sure I will use a bolt-on neck with a heel so I can move the humbuckler pups nearer the neck end of the sound box, and I can move the bridge nearer to the middle of the box (66% across the soundboard would be a nice target for the bridge).
Maybe some more experienced builders can comment on how better to locate the pups without weakening the neck joint excessively. I'd also like to know more about this before attempting my next magnetic PUP build.
I think that one of the reasons piezo pups are so popular is that they don't present installation problems that wound pups do... I like wound pups of all types, so, I am building a lot of pocket/bolt-on neck design CBGs.... One way to get around the problem is fill the bottom of the box (under the neck) with wood, glue the neck (thru) to the fill and get your router out...
Do it right and it should be strong enough... but with that much hassle, just go ahead and build a pocket style (fender-ish) CBG...
Hey WP - I see you have quite a few good responses already. The cool thing about building is there are a lot of ways to skin the cat so you can pick a choose what works for you as you develop your build process. You might check out Frank Fords site FRETS he is a great instrument maker and has posted a ton of information about building guitars. (He has a tut on a pretty cool string rule). I am in agreement on turning your wood lamination's so that the grain is 1/4 sawn that will provide the most resistance to bowing. I am out of the country right now but I would be happy to send you pictures of what I am talking about when I get back next week.
I noticed you are in Florida, I am over in Tampa, there are quite a few of us here. Anyway you might want to check out Reverend Nix's page we have a Jam coming up over in Orlando. He also hosts a couple of CBG radio shows.
I do the same. I take two 1x2 (.75x1.5) and laminate them so they are 2x2 with the joint running perpendicular to the fretboard (vertical per se) and this is enough to give me extra neck in the box.
-WY
William Powell said:
No, it's two pieces laminated together for the whole length, except the peg head
Wes Yates said:
Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped.
Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.
Hey WP - I see you have quite a few good responses already. The cool thing about building is there are a lot of ways to skin the cat so you can pick a choose what works for you as you develop your build process. You might check out Frank Fords site FRETS he is a great instrument maker and has posted a ton of information about building guitars. (He has a tut on a pretty cool string rule). I am in agreement on turning your wood lamination's so that the grain is 1/4 sawn that will provide the most resistance to bowing. I am out of the country right now but I would be happy to send you pictures of what I am talking about when I get back next week.
I noticed you are in Florida, I am over in Tampa, there are quite a few of us here. Anyway you might want to check out Reverend Nix's page we have a Jam coming up over in Orlando. He also hosts a couple of CBG radio shows.
No, it's two pieces laminated together for the whole length, except the peg head
Wes Yates said:
Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped.
Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.
Any suggestions on how to fabricate a neck that would pass under the pickup but still be almost flush with the top wold be appreciated. I'm stumped.
Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.
Replies
Hi, William,
When building a CBG with a magnetic pickup (pup), there is usually an immediate conflict between where the mag pup should ideally go and where the neck needs to fasten to the sound box. With acoustic CBGs, and stringed instruments in general, the instrument sounds best when your picking (or strumming) hand is near (or over the neck), as opposed to playing closer to the bridge. So, this is the ideal location for your pup. But it also is where the neck meets the sound box and this area is usually occupied by extra bracing and bolts (or wood screws). This can be seen in my drawing below:
Maybe some more experienced builders can comment on how better to locate the pups without weakening the neck joint excessively. I'd also like to know more about this before attempting my next magnetic PUP build.
-Rand.
Do it right and it should be strong enough... but with that much hassle, just go ahead and build a pocket style (fender-ish) CBG...
the best,
Wichita Sam
unclebill
lawd have mercy, yes, a little more neck in the box
(sounds like a blues tune!)
-WY
William Powell said:
I noticed you are in Florida, I am over in Tampa, there are quite a few of us here. Anyway you might want to check out Reverend Nix's page we have a Jam coming up over in Orlando. He also hosts a couple of CBG radio shows.
Welcome to the club. Jim
Wes Yates said:
Check out my pics and blog. If I understand, what you have is a single thickness neck (I assume you are doing a thru-neck design). Try this: Take a length of the same material you used for the neck and cut it to the length of the inside of the box. Glue that onto the bottom of the neck. Route out your area for the pup. That should give you enough reinforcement to hold without cracking or bowing.
-WY
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