After 5 builds and giving/trading them away I found myself without a 3 stringer so I though I'd make another. A few weeks back I helped my neighbor re-prime his well and out of the corner of my eye while in his garage I noticed a vintage no trespassing poster and he gave it to me. I had this solid wood Freud router bit box(from Italy) and it's a perfect size for my build. I let the thing build itself and this is what I came up with. Please note the cork volume knob and the internal cork slide/pick holder. While playing the pick cork goes into the hole where the slide is stored.
I still need to lower the action a little but she plays great as it is. THIS ONE i'M KEEPING! Let me know what you think.
This is what it sounds like...
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=854782&songID=12170090
Replies
I'm just wondering about the tuners being "the right way up".
Normally the tuner shaft sits above the winding post, and the strings are wound anti clockwise on the post.
So...If a tuner shaft sits below the winding post, and the strings are wound clockwise on the post, isn't the pressure on the gears exactly the same?
Very creative build Lowatter. I've built over 100 CBG's and I must admit to having made similar "mistakes" in the past.
It's all about creativity and discovering different ways of doing things :-)
its the diection of the pull that matters .. the shaft is being pulled away from the wheel when its the wrong way . hence the skips and slips . over time it will have actually moves and bent back the small hooks holding it .
this does not happen with all tuners .. mosty just the open ones .
some enclosed tuners you can get away with it .
even some open ones . but most open tuners fail when upside down
since this guitar is not for sale .. i'd just leave it untill / and if / i see a problem .
Thanks for all the input guys. I already turned the open tuners around but I don't like the layout of them now because I actually could've locacted the posts closer to the nut which would've gave more break angle. I'm plannnig on just building a whole new neck and correct all the errors. The neck is removable and it'll take me another 6 or so hours to finish it. I'm also planning to try adding a reverb tank with a piezo mounted to it somehow. I may just float the tank with 4 springs and attach the piezo to the back of it. The space is tight so I'm not sure yet if there's enough room.
Real nice, I like the top/side mount sound holes.
Love it. I bet you'd like one of Elmar's Klangbox flat pickups on it if you wanted to go mag. It would fit nicely. :)
Yup, I like this one too. A keeper for sure since it plays well. Huntz is right about the tuners -at least for future builds. Gears should be downward - toward the box. They are a bit more stressed as you have them - but could maybe hold up fine.
i likey !!
Awesome. Woody Guthrie would have loved it!
Sweet looking build..Not too sound critical, but your machine heads are backwards.(its from experience I speak when I say, turn them around or the will fall apart, or start skipping when tuning)