hi everyone, I have build some more CBG guitar, and used both scalelenght and fretboard calculator to get it right. Tune to GDG, I using youtube to learn the how to play, but my CGB sounds like S...! it sounds oki with a slide but when i´m trying to learn Amazing Grace og Cottonfields as showed by Glenn Watt it does not sound anything like that. Have I build them wrong or what? Maybe picture from me would help. If there is any who have some sparetime to help, it would be great.
Maybe contact on Email thomasrasmussen426@msn.com
Kind regards Thomas, Denmark
Replies
Are you using a bolt or round rod for the nut, and did you set the frets from its center, or the edge of the nut slot, which could knock out the intonation.
which is easy to fix by cuttin a little more from the side of the nut slot, or shimming the side of the nut slot to go the other way...
on a slide guitar you should be able to find that harmonic dead center above the 12th fret, on a fretted & fingered with a compensated bridge it should be a tiny-tad past the 12th fret....
hi again
I think I've solved the problem after watching Dale Puckett's video on youtube, where he tells about backangle. So I saw more of the neck where it had to lie under the lid and glued a small block underneath, to raise it. It has helped a lot, the tones are more clean and it sounds like music :-). I think my bridge could be a little higher. At the nut there are about 0.3 mm string high and at the bridge 1 cm So I think it was my problem, a big thank you to everyone who has provided good advice
Thomas
Hey Thomas, if you have a listen the guitar in the Blue Lagoon for Sale post, just posted, Blind Doughboy is playing/fretting that guitar from the nut all the way up the neck.
It has he says, an action/string heights of 5mm at bridge saddle and 2.5 at the nut, that's real high for a fingered fretboard, but it seems to play in tune. That's what makes me think your problem could be elsewhere [if the bridge and nut is positioned correctly, as you describe it sounding "nowhere near".
His nut action is way higher than I would set a full size acoustic or electric guitar action at the saddle.
Let us know how you get on.
Also, watching a mate of mine learning to play and what he shows me does not always sound like what he says it is at times. I told him its because he 's not playing his notes cleanly and pushing or bending strings out of tune. Also pushing too hard or not hard enough behind the fret can have a detrimental effect. Check that out also. Good luck.
Taff
Hi
Thanks for all the feedback, it is so great to sit on the other side off the world and get so much back THANKS :-)
I will try some of the things and I will get back as soon that I hopefully get it in tune.
I will try to deepen my problem, one guitar is with freets and when I want to play for example Amazing Grace, (found a version on youtube with Scott Tuckfield ) but when I put my finger on 2 freet low e, the tone does not match, but on the middle I thought it was good enough. I don't know what size strings I use as it was some old ones. I follow Shane Speal, Dale Puckett, Uncle Mark and many others but again the same tones did not appear and it is both with slide and frees play. But I will now try some different methods
Thanks again for the help
The best regards Thomas
I was thinking the same thing Taffy was thinking - tuning.
Hmmmm, last silly suggestion. Is your guitar tuned the same the one you are playing along with? As an example, if anyone tried to learn Coceine Blues off of the video I just posted on here, they would find they do not match note for note. My guitar is not GDG but a bit flatter.
Taff
Thanks Pick, I never thought of blowing it up. Yep that should play ok at the nut [ at least it should sound like Amazing Grace] if the Bridge is moved to allow for the higher action.
On the guitar I just played/posted in the video section, the 12th fret action is 4mm and 1st fret 1.5mm and with the bridge compensated for that, it intonates perfect, just a bit sharp at the nut as the strings are tighter there.
That's what makes me think the problem is other than string Hight. But I could be wrong, we can only surmise what the problem is without having the actual guitar I suppose.
Taff
lol, sorry , this is the best reply i can come up with , without sounding like i'm disagreeing , or otherwise beyond constructive critique . ;-)
Strings need to be high for slide - low for fretting. Setting up a git for both is difficult and takes a good bit of practice to play both well. I usually set the string height at 3/16" off the fretboard to play both and about half that for fretted. String height over the top of the body is usually higher than the fretboard height and that is fine.
Distance from backside of nut to 12 fret is half the distance of the scale length, but 12 fret to bridge/saddles will be a bit longer to to intonation/compensation.
Measuring frets before cutting slots should be done from the nut to each fret, not fret to fret. Because if you get a fret off the mark, all the rest will be off the mark.
hummm. My first suspicions would be :
1- Placement of the bridge is off a bit ? (measure from the middle of the nut to the 12th fret , that should be exactly half the scale . or the same measurement from the 12th fret to the middle of the bridge.)
2- Your action is too high (strings are too high off the fretboard and become sharp when pressed down on .
3- your nut may be off , or where the strings ride are not in scale ,
First 2 are easy fixes,
a picture from the side to see how high the strings are may help .
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next