My 6th build: Mahogany neck, bottom and sides with a spuce soundboard, walnut fretboard, bridge and tailpiece. Its going to have two piezo pickups which can be switched between, I am building 3 of them at the same time for me, my mum and a mate. Would love to know what you all think.- I´m new here and am loving what I´m seeing! Will get somemore photos soon.
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Cool! Thanks for the reply. I'm still in the planning stage and at the moment working on bridges. I'd like to go natural using a wood bridge with a wood or bone saddle and a piezo rod for at least one (as I already bought a couple) but then read about builders floating their bridges or at least until after it's tuned to see where the bridge positioning and the angle works out. That makes sense. For a rod piezo to work, I'd need to drill a small hole in the box top to run the wires so this would wait. Looking at this particular box, I wasn't sure if you float or set your bridges? Also, how do you fix the string ends? Do you somehow feed it from the inside and up/out? Does the lid come off or from an access on the back? I like the idea of the disks and will pick up some for the next gits. I didn't realize bracing actually adds to the sound quality. Clearly I have so much more to learn. And if I could annoy you with one more question, have you considered putting a radius on any of your fret boards? That's one of the other should I or not questions I'm struggling with. I play acoustic and can't image a flat board when barring but then, it's a six string... thanks again. Have you completed any of these yet? Would love to see the final product. Cheers -
Hi, thanks for the compliments! I´ve been using cheap ebay piezo disks. I found that making a wooden cover like a little round box works really well. Thay sound better and you hardly get any unwanted noise from your hand sliding up and sown the neck for example. as far as the bracing goes- yes the dimensions are a bit bigger than your average cigar box- The top especially is braced because its a piece of 4mm sprce which probably wouldnt last to long without bracing. Too flimsy. Also the bracing improves the sound of the instrument quite cnsiderably in my opinion. It lets the sound board vibrate in an even manner.
Wow, this some serious craftsmanship. I'm just starting out and have so far just been reading, planning and buying parts. I'd thought to keep this sort of traditional cigar box but I may have been limiting myself after seeing these works of art. I should probably start with what I have then branch out. Looking at this picture, I'm wondering at what point does the need for bracing come into play? The box dimensions do appear much larger than your basic cbg box. Also, could you share what type of piezos ie, disk and/or rod? I'm thinking to use a rod under a channeled out bridge for at least one box but the sound hole here should definitely open up the acoustics for disks. Perhaps K&K mini's would be nice. Love the design and detail in all your stuff. Clearly you have some creative wood working skills. Cheers -
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Cool! Thanks for the reply. I'm still in the planning stage and at the moment working on bridges. I'd like to go natural using a wood bridge with a wood or bone saddle and a piezo rod for at least one (as I already bought a couple) but then read about builders floating their bridges or at least until after it's tuned to see where the bridge positioning and the angle works out. That makes sense. For a rod piezo to work, I'd need to drill a small hole in the box top to run the wires so this would wait. Looking at this particular box, I wasn't sure if you float or set your bridges? Also, how do you fix the string ends? Do you somehow feed it from the inside and up/out? Does the lid come off or from an access on the back? I like the idea of the disks and will pick up some for the next gits. I didn't realize bracing actually adds to the sound quality. Clearly I have so much more to learn. And if I could annoy you with one more question, have you considered putting a radius on any of your fret boards? That's one of the other should I or not questions I'm struggling with. I play acoustic and can't image a flat board when barring but then, it's a six string... thanks again. Have you completed any of these yet? Would love to see the final product. Cheers -
Hi, thanks for the compliments! I´ve been using cheap ebay piezo disks. I found that making a wooden cover like a little round box works really well. Thay sound better and you hardly get any unwanted noise from your hand sliding up and sown the neck for example. as far as the bracing goes- yes the dimensions are a bit bigger than your average cigar box- The top especially is braced because its a piece of 4mm sprce which probably wouldnt last to long without bracing. Too flimsy. Also the bracing improves the sound of the instrument quite cnsiderably in my opinion. It lets the sound board vibrate in an even manner.
Wow, this some serious craftsmanship. I'm just starting out and have so far just been reading, planning and buying parts. I'd thought to keep this sort of traditional cigar box but I may have been limiting myself after seeing these works of art. I should probably start with what I have then branch out. Looking at this picture, I'm wondering at what point does the need for bracing come into play? The box dimensions do appear much larger than your basic cbg box. Also, could you share what type of piezos ie, disk and/or rod? I'm thinking to use a rod under a channeled out bridge for at least one box but the sound hole here should definitely open up the acoustics for disks. Perhaps K&K mini's would be nice. Love the design and detail in all your stuff. Clearly you have some creative wood working skills. Cheers -
"Wow" what a great selection of different timbers, they don't get much better than that !!!, also very nice workmanship !!!
Not polite to be new here and show us all up!! Kidding of course, really nice work, impressive!