Posted by Rand Moore on December 28, 2010 at 7:37pm
Here's my 'finished' version of this 2-Stringer, with corners glued in place. I decided to build a second one to test steel strings and metal frets, as I also like the mellow sound of nylon (or Aquilla Nygut).
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This CBG sounds quite mellow as it has both nylon frets (tie-wraps) and strings. With the corners partially re-covered, its not as loud, but it's nicer looking. I made the second CBG with "cut-corner sound holes" because I wanted to keep this one using nylon strings. The new one has both steel strings and nail frets, so it sounds quite loud, the loudest of any of my instruments I've built to date. Maybe you should build one for your next CBG project. I think my next CBG will be of the same design as this one, but the box built from scratch, featuring the same kind of "raised octagonal soundboard" look. Thanks for the great idea of cut corner sound holes.
Thanks for the comment Shawn. If I call it anything, I'll name it after the guy who originally proposed the idea, a CBN member called Hipbone Bellaire. My implementation was a bit more extreme than he envisioned, but the idea is his. Maybe the Bellaire Box, or the Hipbone Box. I've got another one almost finished, with a smaller corner cuts, cut-nail frets, three metal strings, and an enlarged head stock to hold 3 open geared tuners. Right now I'm in the middle of gluing up the frets. Using 2-part epoxy glue, but still messy. But, better than super glue. At least I can glue a few frets on before the glue drys, repositioning them as needed, etc. Will put photos up when I'm done.
You may notice that the direction of the wood grain on the NE and SE corners are in the wrong direction. I did this after gluing in the NW and SW corners because I found they physically fit better in that direction. It shows my corner cuts were not spot on. I also turned the corner pieces upside down because the tax label on the SE corner was damaged and so would be quite a bit uglier. I'm getting to like 2 stringers because you can play them 3 ways: pick the melody using only string 1, pick the melody on string 1 and use string 2 as a drone string, or pick the melody on both strings 1 & 2. You can also mix it up a bit, playing verses in alternate ways. This 2-stringer is tuned G-g, an octave apart.
Comments
This CBG sounds quite mellow as it has both nylon frets (tie-wraps) and strings. With the corners partially re-covered, its not as loud, but it's nicer looking. I made the second CBG with "cut-corner sound holes" because I wanted to keep this one using nylon strings. The new one has both steel strings and nail frets, so it sounds quite loud, the loudest of any of my instruments I've built to date. Maybe you should build one for your next CBG project. I think my next CBG will be of the same design as this one, but the box built from scratch, featuring the same kind of "raised octagonal soundboard" look. Thanks for the great idea of cut corner sound holes.
-Rand.
Thanks for the comment Shawn. If I call it anything, I'll name it after the guy who originally proposed the idea, a CBN member called Hipbone Bellaire. My implementation was a bit more extreme than he envisioned, but the idea is his. Maybe the Bellaire Box, or the Hipbone Box. I've got another one almost finished, with a smaller corner cuts, cut-nail frets, three metal strings, and an enlarged head stock to hold 3 open geared tuners. Right now I'm in the middle of gluing up the frets. Using 2-part epoxy glue, but still messy. But, better than super glue. At least I can glue a few frets on before the glue drys, repositioning them as needed, etc. Will put photos up when I'm done.
-Rand.