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Permalink Reply by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker on January 5, 2009 at 5:41pm

Sloth King -

Congrats! Careful though, it can be addictive!

As to the strings, what scale length is your creation, and what is your intended tuning? When it comes to figuring out what strings to use, 3 things really come into play: scale length, intended pitch, and the resultant string tension. Purists will tell you that there is a fairly small range of tension in which a string will sound its best -- but for most of us, that level of precision isn't a high concern. That being said, you don't want your strings too tight (breakage, neck warpage), nor do you want them too loose (fret buzz, hard to achieve proper intonation, etc).

In short, if you share the scale length and what you want to tune it to (for example, the top 4 strings of a standard guitar? An octave under a mandolin? Tenor Guitar?), I reckon someone will be able to make some recommendations.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin on January 5, 2009 at 5:44pm

Nice guitar man...I'm just now beginning to experiment with this stuff and it is very addictive.

From everything I've read so far, it seems like light or medium gauge acoustics or electrics are the way to go so unless the strings you used were heavy gauge it is probably more about the neck and wood choice.

Pick a hardwood neck like poplar, oak, maple, etc... I'm not a lumber expert but I have some mahogany I'm going to use for a fretboard and it seems a lot less dense than the other woods I've worked with.

My first CBG had a 3/4" thick poplar neck (the stock 1"x2" stuff you get cheap at lowes and home depot). I didn't put a fretboard on it, and I had to cut 3/16" or so out to close the lid on it. I think that definitely weakened the neck. I put 3 medium gauge martin acoustics on it (the A, D, and G strings) and the neck bowed a bit. You can see the action is some of the pics I posted. Too much to really fret it but great for slide.

My second has a red oak neck (same 1" x 2" stock) with a rosewood fretboard and is a fretless 4 stringer (A, D, G, and B). I chose light gauge electrics since it has a pickup I ripped out of an old squire strat. I built is using a bolt on style (thanks to the Jim Farris video) with plenty of neck angle and it didn't budge when I strung it up. I was actually accounting for some bow to give the pickup poles some clearance and ended up having to recess the pickup a bit more. I think the combination of the bolt on neck, the oak, and the fretboard really made a difference in the neck strength. I was also surprised at the difference in string tension between acoustic strings and electrics (although it shouldn't surprise me I just wasn't thinking about it.) The electrics seem to put a LOT less pressure on the neck.

Hope it helps... I'm still learning to so take it with grain of salt.



Of course, each guitar is different so you end up changing some of the variables each time.

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Permalink Reply by Sloth King on January 6, 2009 at 2:48am

Hi Guys thanks for the advice

The scale is about 2' 4" from nut to bridge, The neck is mahogany. The strings I used were all higher gage strings, (Low E, A D) so maybe the top 4 guitar srings would be better (D G B and High E)? I didn't really think about the tunings when I was making it to be honest!

Its looking like its gonna be used for slide unless i can get the action down!

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on February 12, 2009 at 6:27am

Since he's finished building already, how about him just moving the nut or adding a second nut further up the neck so he doesnt have to wind the strings up so tight and still get the tuning where he wants it?
Sort of like a permanent capo.

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