Posted by Rand Moore on August 17, 2012 at 10:21pm
Here's the preliminary headstock design for my new PDR 1878 Cigar Box guitar. It's a pretty simple design, and may require string trees to route the strings to its respective tuner. The headstock and neck assembly is built from a 36" long by 1.5" wide by 0.75" piece of poplar wood I bought at Lowes. I am not used to working in this dimension wood, as in China most my necks are built up (laminated) from 6 or 7 lengths of cherry trim wood. This trim wood is sold in 2.2m lengths and is 2.5cm or 3.0cm wide (depending on which I buy) and 0.5cm thick. So, instead of my usual slotted head stocks, this one will have the tuners mounted on the back of the headstock, with the tuners sticking out the side (like ears) and the tuner posts oriented so that they point upward at right angles to the tuner knobs.
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LOL! If I had a good eye for detail, I wouldn't make so much sawdust! Glad it worked out and you didn't have to scrap the neck. I know how difficult it is for you to get materials to build. I truly admire your resoucefulness!
You are right, Hal. I drew the drawing w/o having the tuners in hand, and I drilled the holes for the tuner shafts before I had them on hand because I wanted to get going on finishing the wood surface with stain and polyurethane. Fortunately, having the tuner knobs offset a bit from the holes is not critical on my design, and my dry fit of the tuners shows they'll work out okay. But you are right, the tuner knobs are offset from the shaft by 1/4". You have a good eye for detail!
Hi Rand! I know it's just a preliminary drawing, but wanted you to check this out before you did any cutting. Geared tuners have the tuner buttons offset from the gear shafts, so you might want to make the headstock longer or position the holes for the shafts closer to the nut. When you mount the tuners, it will look something like this:
Well, I took the photos, but heck if I can figure out how to upload photo files from the iPad to my Yahoo! email account. I'm sure its because the iPad is too easy to use. Well, not for PC die hards like me! I guess I'll wait til I can borrow someones digital camera and try it again.
I got the CB Gitty tuners and test fitted them on my head/neck assembly for which I already drilled out the three 1/4" holes based on faith. They fit pretty well, and I think I'll have enough room to wrap several turns of the string, especially if I leave off that metal sleeve they provide (I never use them in the past). So, I think I'll go ahead and finish up the CBG today or tomorrow (as time allows) and see how she sounds. I don't have an amp with me in the States, so I'll probably worry about piezo pickup installation, isolation and placement until after I get back to my home in Shenzhen.
Thanks for the complement. It's just another drawing, and not so great. I do them to focus my attention on different details of the build as it's easier to catch mistakes on "paper" and correct them there than when I'm working in wood. I normally put them up here on CBN to have them easily available when I need them, and to help others who may gain an idea or two from seeing them.
With regard to your suggestion, I had originally planned to take off some wood from the face of the headstock but then I decided I didn't have to after looking at tuners I had on another instrument. But now I realize I was looking at the wrong dimension of the tuner. I was looking at the width of the tuner's mounting plate, which is usually the gating dimension when I do a slotted headstock. But this is not a slotted headstock, it is a flat headstock with tuners mounted on the back such that the shaft stick up thru the face of the headstock. This means the gating dimension is the length of the shaft around which the string is wrapped. And you are probably right, 3/4" is likely too thick. But I should know for sure once my tuners arrive. I usually use the type of tuner which have the string hole mid-shaft, which is why I usually build instruments with slotted head stocks. The ones I have on order from CB Gitty have the string hole toward the tip of the shaft, meaning I have to mount them differently than I'm used to.
This is another example of how easy it is to get mixed up when building a CBG and maybe I would have realized this problem if I had gone ahead to draw the side view of the head stock.
Well, thanks for bringing that issue to my attention.
I use MS Paint, a primitive drawing program, but one that I know well. It can be a bit tedious to use at times, but it is on everyone's PC, so if I have to draw something some where, it is usually my tool of choice.
That's a great drawing! Your idea is very similar to my first build. I too had to come up with a string guide to hold the strings down on the nut. Be aware that you'll need to reduce the thickness of the head stock from 3/4" to around 5/8" or 1/2" - 3/4" is too thick for the tuning heads. I ran the headstock area of my neck over the jointer and worked it down to a little less than 5/8" thick for the Grover tuners I used. Here's a pic:
Comments
LOL! If I had a good eye for detail, I wouldn't make so much sawdust! Glad it worked out and you didn't have to scrap the neck. I know how difficult it is for you to get materials to build. I truly admire your resoucefulness!
You are right, Hal. I drew the drawing w/o having the tuners in hand, and I drilled the holes for the tuner shafts before I had them on hand because I wanted to get going on finishing the wood surface with stain and polyurethane. Fortunately, having the tuner knobs offset a bit from the holes is not critical on my design, and my dry fit of the tuners shows they'll work out okay. But you are right, the tuner knobs are offset from the shaft by 1/4". You have a good eye for detail!
-Rand.
Hi Rand! I know it's just a preliminary drawing, but wanted you to check this out before you did any cutting. Geared tuners have the tuner buttons offset from the gear shafts, so you might want to make the headstock longer or position the holes for the shafts closer to the nut. When you mount the tuners, it will look something like this:
Well, I took the photos, but heck if I can figure out how to upload photo files from the iPad to my Yahoo! email account. I'm sure its because the iPad is too easy to use. Well, not for PC die hards like me! I guess I'll wait til I can borrow someones digital camera and try it again.
-Rand.
I'll have to take and post some more photos. Guess I'll borrow my wife's iPad for the job.
I got the CB Gitty tuners and test fitted them on my head/neck assembly for which I already drilled out the three 1/4" holes based on faith. They fit pretty well, and I think I'll have enough room to wrap several turns of the string, especially if I leave off that metal sleeve they provide (I never use them in the past). So, I think I'll go ahead and finish up the CBG today or tomorrow (as time allows) and see how she sounds. I don't have an amp with me in the States, so I'll probably worry about piezo pickup installation, isolation and placement until after I get back to my home in Shenzhen.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the complement. It's just another drawing, and not so great. I do them to focus my attention on different details of the build as it's easier to catch mistakes on "paper" and correct them there than when I'm working in wood. I normally put them up here on CBN to have them easily available when I need them, and to help others who may gain an idea or two from seeing them.
With regard to your suggestion, I had originally planned to take off some wood from the face of the headstock but then I decided I didn't have to after looking at tuners I had on another instrument. But now I realize I was looking at the wrong dimension of the tuner. I was looking at the width of the tuner's mounting plate, which is usually the gating dimension when I do a slotted headstock. But this is not a slotted headstock, it is a flat headstock with tuners mounted on the back such that the shaft stick up thru the face of the headstock. This means the gating dimension is the length of the shaft around which the string is wrapped. And you are probably right, 3/4" is likely too thick. But I should know for sure once my tuners arrive. I usually use the type of tuner which have the string hole mid-shaft, which is why I usually build instruments with slotted head stocks. The ones I have on order from CB Gitty have the string hole toward the tip of the shaft, meaning I have to mount them differently than I'm used to.
This is another example of how easy it is to get mixed up when building a CBG and maybe I would have realized this problem if I had gone ahead to draw the side view of the head stock.
Well, thanks for bringing that issue to my attention.
-Rand.
Hi Will King.
I use MS Paint, a primitive drawing program, but one that I know well. It can be a bit tedious to use at times, but it is on everyone's PC, so if I have to draw something some where, it is usually my tool of choice.
-Rand,
That's a great drawing! Your idea is very similar to my first build. I too had to come up with a string guide to hold the strings down on the nut. Be aware that you'll need to reduce the thickness of the head stock from 3/4" to around 5/8" or 1/2" - 3/4" is too thick for the tuning heads. I ran the headstock area of my neck over the jointer and worked it down to a little less than 5/8" thick for the Grover tuners I used. Here's a pic:
Hi Rand, What program do you use to make all those great drawings with the labeling? The look very precise! Will