Scale length is 24 inches. It has a floating bridge and the break angle was copied from a Clareen banjo. As this has floating bridge, the tail stock is a separate cavity and it houses the simple wiring. Fretting is diatonic, the tuning is DAdd
The instrument is made from scrap wood , except the fingerboard which was bought at €5 for a 2 metre length. I got four fingerboards out of the wood, giving a unit cost of 1.25, there are two pieces on this build to allow for a capo.
The body is made from 6mm birch ply. The sides were salvaged from a carcass trim on a skirting board. The top and back are made of book matched 3 inch wide sheets of birch ply. The headstocks and tail block were made of teak from a salvaged door. The white trim on the tail and the nut are made from an old electrical socket. There is a little bit of mahogany trim on the tail from a veneer off an old wardrobe.
There sound hole rosette is from scrap birch ply. Kerfing and bracing inside was made from coffee stirrers. There is a piezo pick up, which I accidently cut in half when I drilled the sound hole, but it still works perfectly.
I used a tube of Euro shop epoxy glue, and a tub of Euro shop polyurethane varnish. The finish is very shiny and hard, I used the wipe on technique. Also pictured is the way I check string height using a scrap of wood to get the action level.
Costs
Teak – nil, was given a door as a present
White trim and nut – nil had lying around in a junk pile
Comments
Nice, very nice.
TEARDROP DULCIMER
An experimental design.
Scale length is 24 inches. It has a floating bridge and the break angle was copied from a Clareen banjo. As this has floating bridge, the tail stock is a separate cavity and it houses the simple wiring. Fretting is diatonic, the tuning is DAdd
The instrument is made from scrap wood , except the fingerboard which was bought at €5 for a 2 metre length. I got four fingerboards out of the wood, giving a unit cost of 1.25, there are two pieces on this build to allow for a capo.
The body is made from 6mm birch ply. The sides were salvaged from a carcass trim on a skirting board. The top and back are made of book matched 3 inch wide sheets of birch ply. The headstocks and tail block were made of teak from a salvaged door. The white trim on the tail and the nut are made from an old electrical socket. There is a little bit of mahogany trim on the tail from a veneer off an old wardrobe.
There sound hole rosette is from scrap birch ply. Kerfing and bracing inside was made from coffee stirrers. There is a piezo pick up, which I accidently cut in half when I drilled the sound hole, but it still works perfectly.
I used a tube of Euro shop epoxy glue, and a tub of Euro shop polyurethane varnish. The finish is very shiny and hard, I used the wipe on technique. Also pictured is the way I check string height using a scrap of wood to get the action level.
Costs
Teak – nil, was given a door as a present
White trim and nut – nil had lying around in a junk pile
Strings – nil, old recycled stock
Epoxy Resin €2.99
Turps €1.35
Piezo and jack socket €4.5- Maplin
Tuners €3.72 on Ebay
Fret wire €10 on Ebay
Fret board €2.50 local Co-op
Total €27.06