Man, I hate forums. Not because I dislike the wealth of knowledge contained herein, but rather because the answer to my question will seem so rudimentary to most of the builders here. First, let me start off by saying most everything I know about the guitar (in general) I gathered from this site withing the last weeks. I was toying with the idea of building a Uke when I came across the world of CBGs and fell in love. I decided my carpentry skills were within the acceptable minimums to pull a build off, I went and dug up the first box I could find (Macanudo papered) and poked around the scraps bin until I found a 1x2 oak.
I cut the box, notched the neck so it passes through the body, and everything fits nice and flush when the lid is closed. I've got my holes ported into the lid for acoustics. I measured off for my 24.5" scale and frets ad got my template using wfret. Everything was transfered so I began shaping the head of the guitar...just giving it a rounded over look.
I decided to thin down where my tuning pins will go and that's when it all fell apart. Remember from earlier, I felt my carpentry skills were acceptable. I made a rookie mistake and tried to cut a corner, and ended up having to move my bridge back about 2 inches and modified my scale to 23.5".
Had a guy I work with bring me some strings he didn't need. I got 2,3,4,5,6 off of him. I threw the 2,3,4 on it for giggles and I think I have some serious issues with the string height. It is very difficult to press them down.I can only assume the nut and bridge are sitting too tall. Unfortunately if I drop them down they will be lower than my bargain price pegs. Are most of them adjustable? I don't see any way for them to be modified, and unfortunately I don't know what brand they are. I guess I could laminate some wood on the back of the neck as a spacer for them...
Which brings me to an other question: When I see guys with the CBGs made using an eye bolt for the bridge, doesn't that put their string height around 1/4" or do that leave their neck set deeper into the boxes to compensate?
Sorry for the length of this...but I appreciate your help.
Mike
Replies
Well, I opted to throw a coat of stain on it anyways. Mostly because I had some minor spots that I had fouled up and it helped to either hide them or distract the eye away from them. As far as the fret markers, I took a page from the books on here and used a hole punch. I didn't have any picks handy, but I remembered I had a very thin piece of cherry that I had resawn for use as the nut. I mean it couldn't have been any thicker than a pick, so I punched some of them out of it and glued them in. Wish I would have a) a drill press and b) a flat tipped bit, but those are things that will come in time to a novice woodworker. Now I am waiting on the stain to dry before putting a light coat of poly on it tonight.
Thanks for everyone's help with this. Next time you see me lurking it will be in the "how to play" section. This is the first real guitar I have ever owned.
Mike
Mike, that is actually another good question, and yet another area where preferences run all over the place.
Stain is strictly optional, some prefer natural wood tones, others more vivid colorations.
While various Poly finishes are common, (and probably one of the easiest to do) some find the surface "sticky" or "tacky" when played a while due to the effects of normal sweat and skin oils. Some people prefer conventional Laquer, or Shellac. Oddly, the names are often misused by product manufacturers and it can be hard to be sure just what you are buying anymore.
Be careful of traditional oil finishes, some never really dry, and are intended for furniture type finishes. Some modified or "polymerized" oils however are formulated to apply as oils, but dry with a hard finish, and these work pretty well on necks in my opinion. I have been experimenting with Miwax Antique oil finish, (I like the satin, over natural wood personally) and am really happy with the results.
Typically conventional fingerboards are often made of very hard and naturally oily woods. It is usually discouraged to apply anything more than a conventional oil rub to clean and keep the wood from over drying. Unconventional fingerboard? No rules!
Have fun!
Mark
Mike,
Good morning, as far as finishing the neck is concerned, stain and poly seems to the be the "low fuss" standard. I really like unstained wood and spray poly. it lets the natural color come thru and with the spray you can apply several thin and consistant coats for a nice finish. I like satin or "low gloss" instead of "high gloss" for a more playable finished.
Frel lines (for fretless builds) can be marked using magic markers, paint, wood burning, etc. Dots (position markers) can be anything from what you use for lines, to stickers, to branding using heated bolt heads, to rifle shell casing heads, to brass pan headed screws counter sunk into the fretboard, to commercially prepared dots, to homemade dots. My favorite is using a paper punch to cut dots from thin or medium guitar pics.
Ok, that ought to give you something to work on....
the best,
Wichita Sam
I hate dragging this thread out more, but since I'm the one that opened it...
When it comes down to finishing the woodwork of the CBG, like the neck. Do most of you apply stain and poly, or stick to something like a linseed oil?
In other news: The laminating on the headstock has solved my peg issues. I was able to use a lower nut and bridge, now it seems to be a bit easier to finger. I have everything sanded nice and smooth (or as smooth as I could get it) and am looking at marking my frets and adding (forgive my lack of terminology here) dots. Any hints on that one or is it strictly a preference deal?
Mike
Mark,
As an old Telecaster fan, I just couldn't resist. There's room in the ark for all kinds of animals....
the best,
Sam
Mark Bliss said:
Yeah, I knew someone would say that. Even kind of predicted it might be you for some reason.
You know, funny thing, back 30+years ago I played (or preferred) Gibson stuff, but now both my taste in music combined with aged stiff fingers making my old 60's SG tricky to play, I kind of have been finding myself coveting a nice Tele........
Hi Mark,
Building with scarf necks is certainly a more elegant way of going about it, but for beginners and others that don't want the hassle, string trees work just fine. Hasn't seemed to interfer with the success of a little company called Fender... lol.... ;-0
the best,
Wichita Sam
Mark Bliss said:
Hey Mike,
That is a carved poplar neck I did this winter intended as a building lesson. It is described (nearly step by step) in a (long) blog in the intermediate building tips and tricks group. If you read through the build and study the pictures you will probably find some interesting ideas, and understand why I would recommend some minor changes. The addition of a hard fingerboard would be one. The neck itself came out very nice though, and has "that feel" when you pick it up and run your hand down it.
Here is a link to the article.
The string tree is a functional solution, but personally I prefer to design headstocks and necks that dont need them. Nothing against those who use them, just personal preference I guess.
Action height is a tough one to answer. For fretted playing the general answer is "as low as you can get it." But that depends on the accuracy of your neck, fret work and fret prep and finish. And once you go too low and find it buzzes and such, its a whole 'nuther hassle. Shimming or re-making nuts and bridges and/or fixing high frets is a whole art in itself.
So my recommendation is always to start a little high and lower in very small increments. As you mess with it and play with it you will get a feel for what it needs. Determining what is good for you is going to take into account both building and playing experience and personal preference. Keep in mind that things will "settle" a bit sometimes over time as well.
Hope that helps, let us know how its going and keep at it!
Mark
Mark, was that all cut from one piece of stock or has the angle of the neck been glued on? If it came from one piece of material how thick was it?
Genius, David. Of all the extravagant solutions I came up with while attempting to go to sleep I never though of the simple solution. I have added some more beef to the back of the headstock and that is drying, it will most certainly lower my pegs, but I will keep the string tree idea in mind for next time.
Also, what is about the norm (if there is such a thing) for the string height across the frets if not using a slide? I think maybe I had WAY too much tension on my strings before. Just trying to relax them a bit, tee hee hee...
You might find string trees or a string bar (like these http://www.axesrus.com/axeTrees.htm) to bring the string lower from the peg may sort the problem as then the string goes from peg - under the tree or bar - over the nut. I have seen some people use eyelets as a cheap alternative.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next