2nd guitar

Posted by James A OBrien on December 22, 2013 at 11:14pm
Well, my second finished, I made several mistakes on a few guitars this month. This guitar is a Frankenstein of the parts/ideas from my failures. I was compromising a lot. I wanted to keep the neck I had made, but since it was so short I needed a box that it could travel through to be stable enough to tune. I chose this tiny box I picked up. The sound isn't wonderful and there is a lot of limitation in octaves and notes. It's quite quiet; I use a tuner on my iphone, it can barely pick up the sound of the lowest string. Overall a learning experience and it's odd looking enough to make a nice wall piece. Any feedback I would greatly appreciate. James

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Replies

  • ShadowChancer December 23, 2013 at 8:33am

    I managed the cut using a milling m/c at work , strictly speaking it`s a metal mill , but it did the job , otherwise I would have cross-drilled the neck and chiselled out the slot , then sanded it smooth , time consuming , but would work ok

  • James A OBrien December 23, 2013 at 7:38am
    Shadow,

    Thanks for the reply. In regards to acoustic, I feel you are right. That is precisely what I was doing on my last two builds, trying to build a single sound hole acoustic. Dan Sleep, on this board, in so many words said, forget about it. I needed to hear it, ha!

    I like your design and plan you are showing me, and answers a lot of questions I haven't even asked when it comes to magnetic pickups. (I am going to go to our local guitar part supply chain to pick up an "inexpensive" piezo today) what tool are you using to "hollow ou" the neck through the box. I'm limited to hand tools aright now, but am curious how you got that seemingly smooth cut.

    Thank you for your advice. I'm looking forward to working with the "strat" style pick ups. I purchased one that I'm dying to build with.

    Best,
    James
  • ShadowChancer December 23, 2013 at 7:17am

    306209846?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024306211332?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024306212357?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024306213879?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024Hi , I hit a similar problem with box size on build #3 , and my solution may work for you . here`s how I did it . I fitted an inexpensive single coil "strat" middle pickup , I had to use a metal brace to bolster the neck , I used a cut down piece of "uni-strut" (electrical chanelling - uk) which coincidentally was the exact width of the neck , I filled it with wood glue and screwed through from the back . The result is very stable and the amplified sound is amazing with a dirt pedal (I use a Digitech Screaming Blues Overdrive into a Little Big Muff , awesome . Acoustically it`s hopeless , but we live and learn eh ? , your guitar looks good to me , I keep one in the car (you never know when the urge strikes eh ?)

  • Keith Stanford December 23, 2013 at 12:26am

    Heck James, I think it looks pretty darn cool.

    kieta

    • James A OBrien > Keith Stanford December 23, 2013 at 7:45am
      Thank you Keith.
  • James A OBrien December 22, 2013 at 11:15pm
    This too

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