I am building my first CBG and have just received my tuning pegs so now I am ready to work on the headstock. I got Gibson style 3x3 tuners off ebay. I am making the 3 string thru neck based on the plans on here (mostly, hey it is a CBG after all!) and am a little puzzled how best to drill and install the tuners. My strings are spaced at 3/8", 6/8", 9/8" and I am curious about how to mount the two inline tuners properly so that there is no string interference. I've seen some pics which look like they may be inline with the strings wound onto the posts on opposite sides is that all there is to it? Are they actually installed inline, or are they offset a bit? To keep things simple, my headstock is straight, should it be angled a bit instead to bring the upper tuner inboard?
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I have the same damn question.I just go w/ the flow.Eyeball it all.My scale length is all measured,but the pegs are just eyed.
I do try to put the top 2 slightly in,so the middle strings line up pretty good.I actually just started winding the top and bottom backwards so I get a straight line w/ all the strings.Its just what works for me.
I use mostly Jackson or charvel tuners.Just cuz that's whats in my parts box.
These are the most recent tuners I'm putting on. I glued some poplar to the sides of the headstock. I put 2 tuners on one side and one on the other. I staggered the two on the same side slightly so the strings don't get in the way of each other.....
Wish we had thought of expanding the headstock, but I was thinking very simple design for our first endeavors. I didn't think it would get so complicated. We have everything to make 4 and have 3 started and all at some point of construction, Maybe the 4th one I will see about changing the design a bit. The 3rd one is a gift for my granddaughter's birthday in a couple months and the 4th I was going to build to sell or donate, depending on what comes up around the time it is completed.
This is just my 5th guitar and only the first time I am using a larger headstock. All of the others were just a 1x2 headstock. The first "tuners" I used were eyebolts & wing nuts.
You'll be able to figure it out, and then you'll know what to do and what not to do on the next one.
Each guitar seems to present a new challenge. You can really over think this stuff (and I do). Sometimes I'll be "working" on one for an hour and realize that I took 50 minutes to look at it, think about it and then do only 10 minutes of actual work. But, it's fun.
As you already have the tuners lay them out on a piece of paper in the position you want, draw round them and make a template, mock up the size of headstock you want to mount them on, the problem with making cbg's is that you need to think "outside the box" and design your own layout and buy parts not specifically made for a particular type of guitar, it was hard for me to do this having played and repaired conventional guitars for ten years but i'm getting there!
...remember cog side down!
terri potter > Slowpaw Steve TJune 22, 2014 at 1:16pm
If I can ask, what did you use in the center to redirect your upper string? It doesn't look like a plain screw that I can see. Which is nice because I am not happy with the use of a screw. I know that these are just cigar box guitars but I'd like to think they have some class. The little piece you have there does not give off the home made look so much and does give it some class. Like it is meant to be there, not thrown in as an after-thought. My boyfriend says we have pins from clocks that could be used. Since we also make steampunk items. My guitar will have real clock gears as hole covers on it btw. We will post pics of all when they are complete.
We are building our first cigar box guitars and the instructions are not clear at all on how to mark and drill the holes for the three tuners for each neck. I am a complete novice to any of this, including playing an instrument. We started out on this because I wanted to learn how to play a stringed instrument and my boyfriend wanted to learn to play the ukulele. While pricing ukuleles, I found some super cheap, crappy instruments, so talked him into making cigar box guitars. We have all the items to make a total of 4 and have 2 pretty close to done but have been putting off doing anything with them for weeks because neither of us can figure out how to measure and drill the holes correctly for the tuners. Something I read says that the two that are across from each other have to be right across from each other and that you can't stagger the 3 tuners. If we do this, we have a very tight area where it has to be almost perfect to make the space. So I am asking all you who have made and played them, can we stagger them or are the instructions I have correct and the 2 that are supposed to be across from each other have to be just that???? Since I am new here as well, I have no clue how to post this as a new question, sorry.
Replies
I have the same damn question.I just go w/ the flow.Eyeball it all.My scale length is all measured,but the pegs are just eyed.
I do try to put the top 2 slightly in,so the middle strings line up pretty good.I actually just started winding the top and bottom backwards so I get a straight line w/ all the strings.Its just what works for me.
I use mostly Jackson or charvel tuners.Just cuz that's whats in my parts box.
These are the most recent tuners I'm putting on. I glued some poplar to the sides of the headstock. I put 2 tuners on one side and one on the other. I staggered the two on the same side slightly so the strings don't get in the way of each other.....
Wish we had thought of expanding the headstock, but I was thinking very simple design for our first endeavors. I didn't think it would get so complicated. We have everything to make 4 and have 3 started and all at some point of construction, Maybe the 4th one I will see about changing the design a bit. The 3rd one is a gift for my granddaughter's birthday in a couple months and the 4th I was going to build to sell or donate, depending on what comes up around the time it is completed.
This is just my 5th guitar and only the first time I am using a larger headstock. All of the others were just a 1x2 headstock. The first "tuners" I used were eyebolts & wing nuts.
You'll be able to figure it out, and then you'll know what to do and what not to do on the next one.
Each guitar seems to present a new challenge. You can really over think this stuff (and I do). Sometimes I'll be "working" on one for an hour and realize that I took 50 minutes to look at it, think about it and then do only 10 minutes of actual work. But, it's fun.
As you already have the tuners lay them out on a piece of paper in the position you want, draw round them and make a template, mock up the size of headstock you want to mount them on, the problem with making cbg's is that you need to think "outside the box" and design your own layout and buy parts not specifically made for a particular type of guitar, it was hard for me to do this having played and repaired conventional guitars for ten years but i'm getting there!
...remember cog side down!
If I can ask, what did you use in the center to redirect your upper string? It doesn't look like a plain screw that I can see. Which is nice because I am not happy with the use of a screw. I know that these are just cigar box guitars but I'd like to think they have some class. The little piece you have there does not give off the home made look so much and does give it some class. Like it is meant to be there, not thrown in as an after-thought. My boyfriend says we have pins from clocks that could be used. Since we also make steampunk items. My guitar will have real clock gears as hole covers on it btw. We will post pics of all when they are complete.
just an eye like in hook-and-eye, they can be bought separately (-:
Check out this steampunk build Eric Davenport (Badfinger) made for me:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/bouree-bia-or-broke-bach-go-tul...
I used little eyelet screws for string trees on that one, as I did on this Dan Sleep 6-stringer:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/oily-s-guitar-lounge-7-desperat...
We are building our first cigar box guitars and the instructions are not clear at all on how to mark and drill the holes for the three tuners for each neck. I am a complete novice to any of this, including playing an instrument. We started out on this because I wanted to learn how to play a stringed instrument and my boyfriend wanted to learn to play the ukulele. While pricing ukuleles, I found some super cheap, crappy instruments, so talked him into making cigar box guitars. We have all the items to make a total of 4 and have 2 pretty close to done but have been putting off doing anything with them for weeks because neither of us can figure out how to measure and drill the holes correctly for the tuners. Something I read says that the two that are across from each other have to be right across from each other and that you can't stagger the 3 tuners. If we do this, we have a very tight area where it has to be almost perfect to make the space. So I am asking all you who have made and played them, can we stagger them or are the instructions I have correct and the 2 that are supposed to be across from each other have to be just that???? Since I am new here as well, I have no clue how to post this as a new question, sorry.
There's a number of ways to do them: inline, across from each other, or you can stagger them. Take a look at a few of these pics (click on the links):
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/headstock-s-ready
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/headstock-front
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/scroll-1
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/fuente-3stringer-2
These should give you some ideas.
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