Greetings!
So I am in the process of building my first CBG- THREE string- so far, so good- I'm almost done! I do, however, have one major concern, and that is string spacing.
I decided to use a door hinge for my tailpiece... however, it seems that no matter which one I use the strings might be either all too close (like all three fairly close along the center of the neck/cbg- concentrated in the middle) OR too far apart when spread out?
I am probably totally over thinking this- and I can't seem to find anything online about string spacing? Maybe the reason I can't find anything about it is because it's totally not a big deal, but I don't know!
Help please? :)
Replies
At the nut I go a 1/4 inch in from the out side of the nut ,for the two out side strings. The bridge is made for the out side strings to be 1/8 inch from the edge of the fretboard. Creating a taper to the strings, narrow to wide,nut to bridge. If playing slide ,1/8 to 3/16 the length of the fretboard will give better access the high pitched string. If fretless , I like to use a wide thread bolt for the nut and a threaded rod for the bridge. (pros: Adjustable string spacing and accepts different sized strings.) If making a standard bridge/saddle ,notch it for the string spacing. Narrow at the tailpiece,widening to the bridge. I've been over thinking string spacing for years! Best of Luck.
Hi, Rosanne,
For me, the ideal spacing between the strings is the one where you feel most comfortable to play. That was always a problem I had with standard guitars in the past. In my fretted cigar box uke, I use a 1/2-inch spacing on the bridge and 1/4-inch on the nut. I have relatively large hands, but with these measures, I thought it was quite comfortable to play.
Good luck with your build!
Make holes
Depends on what you're used to and how you wish to play your CBG., if you're used to the more standard spacing of a 6 string guitar or even a Spanish guitar, you may want to get them closer together, maybe 3/8 inches, this is especially important if you are fretting the CBG and playing without a slide as your fingering and chords may suffer.
if you're going fretless and playing purely with a slide, the spacing is less of an issue, but I wouldn't go overboard with the spacing, I've built a three string with a literal broom handle with the strings about 5/8 or 1/4 inches apart and play it with a slide with no issue, I wouldn't have them any further apart than that though, might be a hard to actually play at that point.
Good to know- thank you! :)
Hi Rosanne, good luck with your first build. As Dan Sleep stated, the string spacing is often controlled by the slots in the bridge rather than the holes in the tailpiece. So you can have holes closer together in the tail piece and, provided that the slots in the bridge are deep enough, the spacing will be set.
Here's a recent 4 string uke build of mine that shows this.
You could also drill some new holes in that hinge at the spacing you want but with a decent bridge you likely won't need to.
This is what I was thinking too- from pics I have seen, as with your uke, it looks as if the tail piece hole spacing isn't as much of an issue- I just wasn't positive! Then with the string spacing, regardless, I was lost lol It seems most people that have responded do about a 1/2 inch or less apart- so that gives me a great starting point! :)
THANK YOU!!! :)
Cool, hope all this helps. One thing I forgot to mention is try to get the tail piece as centrally located as possible so the bridge doesn't get pulled to one side or the other. On a 3 string this means having the center string going into it's hole in the hinge with no angle. Then strings 1 and 3 will both angle inward (if the hinge holes are closer together than the bridge spacing). I've had to move tailpieces to one side or another before when I wasn't careful enough to begin with.
If you use a piece of wood for a bridge/saddle, you can cut the slots at any distance you like, and just feed the strings from the door hinge through the slots in the bridge. If you decide you don't like the spacing, just make another bridge and change the spacing.
I use half an inch spacing for all my 3 stringers unless otherwise requested.
Hope that helps.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next