Since I started lurking around this site I've noticed every few months that a recurring debate will take place. The big question is "Should I glue my stick-through neck directly to the soundboard/lid or should there be a gap?"
Let's quickly recap the basic stances on each side of the debate:
- There should be a gap between the neck and lid to allow for better reverberation/sustain/tone/etc. from the strings though the bridge through the board and into your ears.
- The rebuttal to this is usually: it makes no difference to the sound/tone of the guitar; the pressure of the strings on the bridge can cause the soundboard to warp; weakens overall structure.
I'm sure there are other points that I'm missing but that's not really the point of this post. I think both arguments have merit and i dont want to make any concrete judgements on proper technique when I'm still figuring out what does and doesn't work for me. My rule if I'm unsure is try both and find out what I like better. There is usually a reason why both options exist. But..there might be a third option here. A sort of middle ground build that might make both camps happy.
I was pondering another foreseeable problem on a future build and I had an idea pop into my head. What if, instead of completely cutting away all of the material to leave a gap, there is a channel cut through the majority of the neck material leaving two braces on either side.
This could be done fairly easily with a hole saw and a jig saw. I would leave about 1/4" on each side. The line along the side is another idea I had to possibly cut away even more material. It would look kind of like a arched bridge. I think doing it this way would give plenty of support for the bridge yet allow the soundboard to vibrate freely. There's just as much or more bracing stuck to the top of an acoustic guitar, so I don't see how it could interfere with tonal quality.
What do you think of this for option 3? Has anyone tried something like this before? I think I'll give it a shot once I'm back in the shop making saw dust again.
Also, I'm not trying to open the old debate up again, but if you must voice an opinion about it, go ahead. I'm not the boss of you.
Nathan
Replies
What about the tension of the strings on the neck? Do you have enough wood there to keep it from bowing?
There is significant weakening side to side but it still seems very strong if I push down on it. Shouldn't be a problem once it's all glued to the top. Something to keep an eye on though.
UPDATE: I'm well underway on the experiment and ready to glue the necks into their boxes.
I've attempted to keep everything as identical as possible. The 2 necks were cut from the same piece of maple as well as the fingerboards. I even resawed them from the same piece so they are kind of book matched. Same Punch cigar boxes obviously.
There was an incident with my router tearing out a chunk of the fretboard on one of them so that guy is 3mm thinner than the other. My slot worked out ok but I had to hand saw it as my scroll saw is broken at the moment. The cut got a little wonky on me but shouldn't effect the results of the experiment.
These CBGs are also prototypes for an "economy" model for my builds. Simplified fret markers, simpler headstock, 3 stringer and a piezo pickup. Here is where I need some input. I'm personally not a big fan of piezos but I got some cheap-o pre-wired to jack discs and I'm going to use them for these "cheap" builds. For the sake of the experiment, how should I mount them for the most consistent result. I can't really sandwich between the neck and top. Is the best way for these to do the under the bridge technique? I was going to the offcuts from the fretboards, cut a dado for the corian bridge and then make a little recess for the disc and glue it in with silicone.
Any other suggestions or go ahead with the under-bridge style?
I have done this with a dog bowl reso. Sounds amazing.
Thanks for the feedback so far. I'm honestly surprised that there isn't already an example of this already built.
I do like the idea of drilling out holes in the side of the channel instead of taking a big chunk out. It will be much stronger that way for sure.
I have a feeling it will do very little to change the sound but I will definitely try it out. Like I mentioned before, I'm stuck in my house until April so if anybody feels like they want to try it out before then please go for it and let us know how it turned out. My winters seem to have turned into 5 month sessions of planning and pondering while I wait for the sub-zero temperatures to leave. Maybe dealing with the winter building blues needs to be a topic another post...
Winter blues is here is Michigan too, although usually not five months! I can get into the garage and keep warm enough, but anything that makes significant sawdust is outside, and my hands can't take all the cold tools and surfaces for to long or they stiffen up, so I do work in short sessions when I can. Maybe look into building an amp, learn to solder, wire and such. And play more! I say that, but I have 2 or 3 cbg's cued up and a couple more rolling in my head as well.
I have been playing more. On vey morose days I like to play sad slow licks, but mostly I've been playing my ukelele. It's pretty hard to feel bummed out strumming that guy.
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