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Rand Moore's Cigar Box Ukulele Project 2, Part 1

Posted by Rand Moore on August 10, 2010 at 1:00am
Hi All.

I completed my Cigar Box Ukulele Project 1. The instrument turned out pretty good, but because I chickened out and only put diatonic fretting on the neck, I discovered that it makes ukulele playing a lot more confusing rather than simplifying it. Perhaps, with GCEA tuning, diatonic fretting doesn't work. I know I was confused, so I re-tuned it to "D-A-d-d" and used a nut and bridge set up to support dual course melody strings spaced 1/8'' apart from each other and 3/8'' apart from "middle" string (which is 3/8'' away from the bass string). So, it ended up as a short necked stick dulcimer (strum stick) with dual course melody strings and diatonic scale. I actually like playing the instrument a lot, except a lot of song tabs also use notes off string 2 which is a single string, so it sounds "odd" switching from single string to dual coursed and back periodically thru the song. So, I'm thinking of doing a 5-string long neck string dulcimer with dual course melody and middle strings, and a single bass string. Or, maybe dual course everything, but then the melody won't stand out so much from the drone strings.

Well, I have been a bit side-lined due to frustration over my poor woodworking skills. Then I decided to read up on woodworking in general on the Internet, and one of the articles I came across was the need of a good, solid workbench. This rang a bell with me, because the table I was using as a workbench is really shaky. It was built out of junk wood collected by my father-in-law and just nailed together. So, I have modified the table so that the back side is more rigid, and have added some additional pieces so that the table fits well tightly against the front porch wood railing, so essentially I'm using part of the house to stabilize the work bench. It also now has a 26'' wide x 13'' deep x 1'' thick "marble" top, so it's a lot more steady now. I have also sacrificed some wood to use on my workbench to help me hold my work piece tightly. I have no vice, and only 2 clamps, so I have to get creative sometimes in terms of how to clamp things down and hold my workpieces steady so I can cut them accurately. The results have been pretty good, so now I am starting up another Cigar Box Ukulele project. This time a tenor cigar box uke, with a 17" scale length.

The other thing I want to build is a hardwood miter box with 15 degree and 90 degree cut angles. But, I think I'll wait and make it in China as my collection of tools, parts and instruments has grown significantly and I need to port it home in my luggage. That's in 9 days. So, I'll wind up my current Cigar Box Ukulele project (project 2) and then carefully pack everything for my return trip.

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For CBU Project 2, the neck will be an inch longer, and the bridge on the box will be moved back to about 2/3s of the way to the "tail piece". This will provide a 17'' scale length. As I recall, the string spacing is a slight bit wider on a tenor uke, but I'm planning to use 3/8'' sting spacing like on my concert uke. I feel more comfortable with that string spacing. However, I like the idea of having a longer scale as when I playing up the neck, I'll have more room for my fat fingers. On my last project, the last few fret positions get hard to play, so hopefully a longer scale length will help correct for that. A 17'' scale length is also about the same scale length as a prima balalaika, so I'm thinking that down the road a bit, I may try to make it imitate a balalaika by using balalaika sized strings and tuning. This instrument will definitely be chromatically fretted. Here's a diagram.


Notice the changes in my design of the sound box. A single large sound hole in the middle replaces two smaller ones on either side of the strings. This is made possible by doing away with the through-the-body neck. Instead, I have beefed up the side of the cigar box which will receive the head/neck assembly, which will be attached using two 2'' long #10 wood screws. What is not shown in the diagram is a 2'' heel attached to the bottom side of the neck to make this connection stronger. Here is a diagram of that.


Also notice that the bridge & tail piece has be redesigned into a single piece and is backed up on the bottom side of the sound board with another board to distribute the strain of the string tension better. I'm also thinking of mounting a pair of piezo pickups under the bridge, possibly as part of the bridge assembly. But, I have not yet decided to do it as some people say it will sound better if the piezo pickups are mounted to the soundboard away from the bridge as they will be less sensitive to other noise (I assume on the strings, like pick strike noise on the strings). So, likely I will need to do some experimenting; again, once I'm back home in China. My soldering irons, heat glue gun, etc. are over there.

Well, that's the plan for now. Have to go now.

- Rand.










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String Space Guide

Posted by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on July 28, 2010 at 7:30pm
Hey all, here is a handy guide to use to determine the spacing of the strings at the nut and the saddle/bridge. The width should be 1.5" for a 4 and 3 string CBG. Use the center and the two outside lines for a 3 string. The horizontal lines mean nothing except to provide a perpendicular guide to the strings. They are NOT fret marks.

Enjoy.

-WY

Bitmap file:

StringSpaceGuide.bmp


Placable Encapsulated Postscript File:

StringGuide.eps


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Rand Moore Cigar Box Ukulele Project 1, Part 3

Posted by Rand Moore on July 27, 2010 at 11:00pm
Well, last time I messed up on the head/neck scarf joint. The two mating surfaces weren't 100% flat and so when I clamped one side down, the two pieces rolled a bit, and I didn't notice it until after the two pieces had dried that there was a big gap on the other side. (Sloppy wood working, I know. Well, I'm just a beginner at wood working. I also screwed up my 3-string head/neck assembly (my other on-going project) by using super (crazy) glue to glue on cut nails as frets. Lesson: Forget using super glue! Maybe slower drying epoxy would work. I may be able to salvage my 3-string head and neck assembly, but I'll have to pry off the frets and do a lot of sanding, then re-stain and re-varnish it.) Well, since then I have made a lot of progress on my new head/neck assembly for my concert sized ukulele which I will describe in this post.

1.) On this build, I made the scarf cut joint with a "short head" rather than the "long head" as I had done with my last attempt. With the short cut head, after the scarf cut is made, the head is flipped over and the diagonal side (scarf cut side) of the head is glued to the bottom side of the neck. This differs from the long cut head, where the bottom of the head is glued to the diagonal side (scarf cut side) of the neck. Both methods produce a head with a 15 degree slope, but the "short head" method places the scarf joint entirely on the headstock, while the "long head" method places the scarf joint entirely on the neck, below the nut. I decided I liked the "short head" method better because when I glue on the "wings" (side pieces glued onto the head to widen it to at least 2'' wide), these side pieces strengthen the scarf joint. A diagram will probably make my words more understandable.

To resolve the "probable area of difficulty", I cut my wings (side pieces) a half inch longer so I'd have more material to work with. In the end, I filed most of the extra wood away, just leaving enough to cover the red area in the diagram above. My new head/neck assembly also differs from the drawing above in that the side pieces (wings) are 0.75'' wide, rather than 0.25" wide. I did this because I just have hand tools, and I thought one cut down the middle of a 1.5'' board would be easier than two 1/4" cuts down the length of the board. So, my new headstock is a very squarish 5'' long by 3'' wide. The following diagram was used to figure out my tuner placement and includes the 0.75" side boards in its dimensions. I printed this diagram at something near to full size and used it as a pattern to drill my holes for the tuners.




2.) I've also slotted the lid of the cigar box so that the head/neck assembly would pierce the cigar box as per my original drawing. However, this cigar box's lid was not as deep as the last one, so I decided to slot the neck about 1/4'' in two places so you could close the cigar box around the neck. The two lower box edges fit nicely into these two neck slots. Eventually I'll glue the neck to the top of the box, but after most of the project is done. There is also a shallow 1/8" "hollow" on the fret side of the head/neck assembly that will provide clearance for the sound board (top of the cigar box) to vibrate more freely. I am also thinking about gluing shut the lid, but I haven't decided yet. I do want to make some sound holes in the cigar box. I'll need a special drill bit (or something) to cut that. All my drill bits are 1/4" and smaller. I was thinking of a couple 1/2" holes followed by a couple 3/8" holes. Then put grommets on to make them look a bit spiffier.

3.) This time I also installed frets using real fret wire (medium size) and a hobby "razor" saw. They seem to be working, but I have yet to test to see if they are properly placed for good intonation. I used the WFret.com program to calculate the fret spacing, having had pretty good luck before using that program. Now I am staining and varnishing the head/neck assembly. I'm using polyurethane (not really varnish). The cigar box has some paper edger decorations, so I am thinking of varnishing the box as well. Do any of you know if this is a good practice? Will have to inquire of one of the forums. It'll be a couple more days for the varnishing to be complete (I want to do 2 coats). In the mean time, I have another 3-string canjo in the works using a fair sized spaghetti sauce can and will orient the can at a right angle to the canjo stick. The canjo stick's head will also be slotted in a manner similar to my McNally Strumstick.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the fretting on my new head/neck assembly is diatonically spaced, making the instrument more of a stick dulcimer (strum stick), but with a short neck. I was thinking that I could do two sets of nuts and bridges which would be removable (just held on by string tension). One would have the strings equally spaced across the neck, while the other would support dual melody strings for the first pair of stings (spaced 1/8" apart, and the other 2 strings (string 3 and string 4) spaced 3/8'' away from string two. I'm not sure if I can tune it to GCEA and get a diatonic scale that is useful, but it would be cool if I could produce an instrument that was either a 4-string ukulele, or a 4 string stick dulcimer, depending on which nut and bridge you use, and how you tuned the instrument. I am also planning to use ukulele strings, because nylon is easier on my finger tips and I like the more mellow (less twangy) sound they produce.

Any constructive comments on my build would be appreciated.









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A change in the build.

Posted by Paul Stephen Eklund on July 26, 2010 at 12:08am
After doing some tapping on the top with and without the bridge support I broke it off. It dampened the sound from the box by a good 1/3. I'll wait to try it again when I make a box out of 1/8 ply.Yes I started on a diddley bow but can't bring myself to make a one stringed instrument. I"m a coward...LOL Instead it'll be a 3 string meant to be played like a 2 stringer. The two lower strings will be close together for cording. Leaving the higher string free for slide use.I can see were a band saw is a God send when working on these things. Using a hand held jig saw is challenging. Lots of sanding to do afterwards. LOL
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Got started and hit a snag...LOL

Posted by Paul Stephen Eklund on July 25, 2010 at 5:21pm
Finally started my first build. It'll be out of a 10 3/4 x 6 1/2 cigar box instead of a box I build myself. Be a 3 string fretless. Got me some bone to cut into the nut and bridge. Got everything going and then hit a snag. Even though it'll be fretless I'd still like to mark the frets. Went to 'fretfind-2D and printed out a 22 fret 24 scale fret board. Just to get a 23 fret 24.5 scale pic. It doesn't matter what I program the thing to give me. It always send me a 24.5 scale neck. LOL So I've got a fret scale charts coming ( thanks to a link by Randy S. Bretz. His link,










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Cigar Box Ukulele Project 1, Part 2

Posted by Rand Moore on July 18, 2010 at 1:05am
Back again. I have been building a concert sized cigar box uke, but I messed up gluing together the head and neck (the scarf joint), so I'm going to try to build it again in a day or two. One of the surfaces I glued was not completely flat and when I glued, then clamped the two pieces together onto my "work bench", both clamps were on one side and I failed to inspect the back side. Had I done, so, I'd have noticed the big gap that only got bigger when I clamped them tight. I didn't notice till the next day when un-clamped the neck/head assemblage and inspected the work. Not very good. So, instead of proceeding with my cigar box ukulele build, I decided that I could use this messed up head/neck assembly as a testbed for learning to fret a neck with bailing wire as was suggested somewhere on Cigar Box Nation. To do this, I first downloaded the program WFret.com (also discovered by reading some post on CBN), and ran it. I entered "18" for the number of frets, "15" as the scale length, then clicked on the radio button that specifies "inches" instead of the default "millimeters". I then clicked the button to calculate the new scale, and then printed that. The print out had two rows of vertical lines whose spacing indicates the fret positions relative to the nut (marked 'N'). I cut out the two rows and taped them together, overlapping them at the 12th fret. I then did a few spot checks to see if the printout looked accurate, and it was as far as I could discern. So, I used this fret scale to mark the neck of my messed up head/neck assembly and then drilled out a hole on the headstock for a tuner (tuning machine), installed the tuner and a eye bolt for the tail piece. I then found an old wire banjo string and used it to string my ruined head/neck assemblage as a 1-stringer, but without a resonator. Next, I added a nail for the nut and a bolt and nut for the bridge (as is common practice on CBN). I then tuned my 1-stringer to D using my digital tuner and tried to play it using the fret markings on the neck. With the tuner still on, I noticed that the notes for the first 12 frets (first octave) seemed to be fairly accurate, so I decided it was time to add the frets.

I disassembled what I had made and used a hack saw and a carpenter's square to cut the fret slots as accurately as I could (with the neck/head assemblage clamped to my "workbench"). After cutting the slots, I used a small 3-faced (triangular) file to widen the fret slots a bit to receive the fret and to make them lie a bit lower on the fretboard (neck). Then I marked each fret position on both ends where I thought the legs of the staples made of bailing wire would go -- about 1/8'' in from the edges. So, I drilled a bunch of holes using a drill bit the same diameter as the staples, which was my smallest drill bit. After that, I fashioned a bunch of staples one at a time, matching them with the holes I drilled to make sure they would fit. Then I inserted the home-made staples in, one at a time, and tapped them into place using a small hammer. So, now I had 18 bailing wire staple frets installed, plus a 19th one for the nut. I put the tuner back on, strung up the instrument as a 1-stringer (still no resonator), put on the bolt & nut bridge, and tuned it up again with my digital tuner. The result was really good, much better than I thought I'd have for a first try. The notes were pretty much all in tune until about the 14th fret where they started getting a bit off, but still close enough for you to recognize the note, but slightly sharp.

Liking my results, I again disassembled the 1-stringer, drilled two more holes for two more tuners (tuning machines) to make it a 3-stringer, and then I added a cigar box as a resonator. After stringing it up and tuning the instrument, I tested it against my digital tuner. All three strings were pretty accurate; well thru the first 12 frets (first octave), with slight inaccuracies creeping in the higher (pitch-wise) the neck I went. But, for a first try at fretting, I thought it was quite a success. I played it a while as a chromatic 3-string CBG, but decided I'd like it better as a diatonically fretted instrument like my McNally Strumstick. So, I disassembled it again and pried out all the frets that I wouldn't need (comparing it with my Strumstick just to make sure), and then I reassembled it again. But this time, I changed out the strings for Worth nylon ukulele strings (mainly because my fretting finger tips are so raw and sore from fretting wire strings), using the first 3 strings of a set (which I had purchased months ago so I could use the Low "G" string on my Tenor Uke back in China). Well, that was yesterday. Today, I have been playing it quite a bit, and I really like its tone with the cigar box as a resonator, especially as compared to the soda cans I had been using on my canjos. The wooden cigar box couple with the nylon uke strings make it sound very mellow, but not a lot of volume. Maybe I'll use it as a test bed for electrifying my cigar box instruments sometime in the future.

Well, that pretty much brings me up to date. I'll start again to build my 4-tuner headstock for the Cigar Box Uke project. As I do, I'll describe it some more in these postings. I do have a couple of new diagrams which may illustrate my plans. I'll upload then now.


It was this scarf joint which was not perfectly flat on both sides that caused the ruin of my first attempt at building this head/neck assembly. When I clamped one side, the joint closed on the side facing me, but opened wider on the side facing away from me. So, don't glue until you are confident that both sides are perfectly flat and mate nicely before gluing and clamping them together. Then, inspect both sides to make sure that something unexpected doesn't happen to the far side of your joint.

After the scarf joint has dried, you can glue on a pair of wings (side pieces) to the headstock to widen it to at least 2 inches. Here's the diagram that shows that...

I am not sure the actual dimensions of the two wings yet. They should be approximately 3.75'' long (maybe a bit more), about 1/4" wide (since the neck is already 1.5'' wide on my build, two 1/4'' side pieces would make the head 2'' wide), and the depth should be whatever the depth of your head will be and still be thin enough for your tuning machines. That's the key measurement. If your tuners only have a 3/8'' clearance on the post for the head, then you'll need a 3/8'' head (or at least an area cut out to that depth for each tuner). Other tuners may allow 1/2'' clearance for the head on their post. That makes me see that the drawing above is not accurate and I will have to revise it. Maybe I'll have to rethink my design to find an easier way. Since we have to thin the depth of the head to fit the tuners, and add the wings (side pieces) to the head, maybe we should start with a wider, but less thick piece of wood (same kind of wood) and use it as our head to do the scarf joint, killing two birds with one stone. Another possibility is to increase the width of our wings and drill the holes for our tuning machines to reside entirely on our wings. This might put more stress on the wings, so it might also be a good idea to use dowels in addition to gluing the wings on. I'll have to give some more thought as to which way I want to go.

Well, that's all for now.









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Cigar Box Ukulele Project 1

Posted by Rand Moore on July 14, 2010 at 4:30am

I have found a couple sources for Cigar Boxes around my "summer home" in the SF Bay Area. I quickly made a one-stringer (diddly bow-like) CBG w/o frets, mainly to get the idea of how to attach the neck to the cigar box. Another goal was to make an instrument I could use to play around with a slider while using a chop stick to pound on the strings (a new style of playing), as well as picking while fretting with imaginary frets (also a new experience for me). Wish I knew more about how to play the Blues. My 5 y.o. daughter likes to fool around with this one- stringer as well, so I might just let her keep it as a toy. Anything to encourage her music interests. I can always add frets for her later.

Since all of the cigar boxes I've found are smaller than I imagined, I think they're probably best suited for use in a smaller instrument such as a ukulele. Fortunately, I'm familiar with ukes, and my favorite sized uke is the concert size (length = 24'' or 25'', a 15" scale with 17 or 18 frets, and 4 strings tuned GCEA). So I have been thinking about building a Cigar Box Ukulele (CBU). I'll use this Blog on CBN as my "thinking pad", and perhaps some of my ideas can be of use to other want-to-be Cigar Box luthiers (like me).

My first concern was how difficult it might be to reach the highest (pitched) frets (15, 16, 17 and 18) which are usually found on the part of the fretboard that overlays the body. With a somewhat bulky rectangular cigar box as a body, they might be hard to get to, so I decided I want to extend the neck a couple more inches so all the frets will be on the neck. To make sure this would work, I ran the Stew-Mac Fret Calculator to make sure I could get all the frets on a 10" neck. So, here's the fret positioning information for a 15" scale length ukulele:


As you can see, with a 15" scale length, you can have a 18 fret "fretboard" on the neck of 10" and have
5 more inches of space across the face of your cigar box before you reach the bridge.

Let's see. The cigar box I want to use is 7.75" wide x 8.0625" high x 2.75" deep. I want the bridge placed about 1/3 of the way across the cigar box from the tail piece. That's 2.58" across to the bridge, leaving 5.17" of space before the neck, where you'd strum with your right hand. But, the bridge will have to go (2.58 + 0.17 = ) 2.75" up from the tail piece to maintain the 15" scale length, with 5" on the box and 10" on the neck. Compare that to my 20 fret concert uke which has just under 4.75" of space between the last fret and the bridge. That's not bad. I never use those higher frets (19 & 20) anyways.

Time for another diagram.

Hmmm... Need to use larger print next time. Or, keep my diagrams smaller. Well, at least you can see the relative size and orientation of the parts.

By the way, this is not a left handed uke. I draw them as I hold them, not as the audience may see them. But, if you want a left handed CBU, all you need to do is to reverse the order of the strings. Everything else is symmetrical around the central axis running down the middle of the instrument, so it's good for right- or left-handed players.

The ruler above the neck shows the 15'' scale length, with 10" over the neck for the frets, and 5" over the box for picking and strumming. The nut and bridge will be a movable bridge (at least initially) so I can (hopefully) correct for any intonation problems, at least those related to nut and bridge height and placement. An instrument with "good intonation" is in tune throughout its entire scale, and that means my fret placement has to be exact, as well as good nut and bridge placement. Also, sometimes tilting the bridge counter-clockwise a millimeter or two can help with intonation problems caused by thicker middle and bass strings (but maybe not for the re-entrantly tuned 4th string - another problem to be solved later). So, it's probably a good thing to keep the bridge and nuts movable until you've completed your instrument build and have played with it a while and have had a chance to tinker with its setup to your satisfaction.

The ruler at the bottom of the diagram shows the length-over-all of the instrument, which should be (ideally) 24''. Mine is a bit short, I believe because of the short size of the cigar box resonator. Notice that the stick (neck) of my uke will run through the cigar box and come out the other end, by about 1". There I will either use some kind of bracket for a tail piece or drill 4 holes in the tail end of the stick and anchor the strings on this side using beads or something. I'll figure out those details later. I prefer this method of mounting the stick (neck) through the box because the stick (neck) will hold all the stress from the strings once they are tuned. That means I won't have to set up any internal bracing or figure out how to do any special neck-to-box joints. Keep it simple, Sam.

Notice I use two sound holes on either side of the four uke strings. This is pretty "un-uke-like", because most ukes have a larger single sound hole placed strategically under the strings like any acoustical guitar. However, this change is dictated by the fact that my uke will have a stick (neck) running down the middle of the box where a single sound hole would normally be placed. A stick covering most of the sound hole would make the sound hole pretty ineffective.

The Headstock

I usually begin at the head and work my way down. As the diagram above shows, the four strings will be run from the tuners on the headstock, across the nut, down the neck and across the cigar box to the bridge and are finally terminated at the tail piece. The strings are drawn 3/8'' apart, which is pretty standard for ukuleles and stick dulcimers. If you prefer 1/2" apart, you can do it with a wider stick (neck). The separation between the two outer strings and their respective edges of the neck is 3/16''. So, with 3/8'' string-to-string spacing, the width of the neck should be very close to 1.5''. For 1/2'' sting-to-string spacing, the width of the neck should be close to 2", providing a 1/4'' separation on each side from the two outer strings and their respective edges of the neck.

However, on a typical ukulele, the neck usually has a taper of about a centimeter on both sides, getting wider as it approaches the body. But, for simplicity's sake, I am NOT going to cut the neck with a taper. This decision is based on the fact that I am working with hand tools (no table saws, etc.) and because my wood working skills are rather limited. For these same reasons, the back of the neck will have minimal rounding and there will be no heel on the neck as used on traditional ukuleles to connect the neck to the sound box.

As you can see, the headstock design will be rather plain and simple. Like your typical ukulele or guitar, the head will be tilted "downward" by about 15 degrees. This usually involves cutting the head-piece off the neck at a 15 degree angle, flipping the head over and gluing it back on to the neck. I'm told that this is called a "scarf joint" and that the shallower the angle, the stronger the joint. So, a 15 degree angle will be stronger than say a 45 degree angle because there is a larger surface area for the glue to hold the two parts together. You can also use wood dowels or screws for additional strength, but my experience (so far) indicates that they aren't really necessary if you are using a good wood glue, are clamping the pieces together and letting it dry overnight.

My headstock will be 5'' long, 2'' wide, and 7/16" deep. Yes, I know the diagram says 0.75'' (3/4"), but I forgot to take into account the requirement of the tuners that the headstock be 7/16'' deep. Your tuners may differ, so double check that measurement with your tuners. I'll have to figure out how to plane down the head to 7/16". Lot's of planing, filing and sanding, I guess.

The headstock build will also involve gluing two "wings" or side pieces on to widen the headstock to at least 2 inches. The 4 separate tuners will be placed in a "2 by 2" configuration with about two inches separation so there will be plenty of room to route the strings to their respective tuners. Hmmm... Since I have to add to the width of the head, and plane it down by 1/4''; maybe I should go back to the hardware store to buy a piece of wood that is already 5'' x 2'' x 7/16'' (more likely 1/2'' deep), and preferably in the same kind of wood. That would simplify the job a lot.

Also, in the diagram above, I have added maybe 1/4'' to the length of the neck between the nut and the headstock for a 'slop factor", as my hand-sawn cuts aren't usually as accurate as I would hope.

I'll be focusing more on the headstock on my next post.


- Rand.









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Well, the first one is built and tuned...but that's all I can say. I think the neck is bowed slightly, so I can't play notes on it (does that make sense?). I'm not sure how to fix it... I'm already p

Posted by Stacey on July 13, 2010 at 9:33pm

Well, the first one is built and tuned...but that's all I can say. I think the neck is bowed slightly, so I can't play notes on it (does that make sense?). I'm not sure how to fix it...

I'm already planning my next build. I have a small Cruzado box I was thinking about turning into a strummer, but I'm kind of leary about risking another failure! Still, I feel inspired by what I think it will look like. I guess if all I get out of it is wall art, I shouldn't complain. :D

There's a music shop here in the Twin Cities that sounds intriguing. It's called The Homestead Pickin' Parlor...how awesome is that? here's their website -

http://www.homesteadpickinparlor.com/

I gotta get down there and check it out!

~Stacey

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Tragic accident.

Posted by Albert J. Guilliot on July 12, 2010 at 8:39pm
What is NUNU's? http://townmarket.homestead.com/http://deuxbayousgallery.homestead.com//I lost five guitars when a gallery that my guitars were in burned down this Sunday July 11,2010. NuNu's in Arnaudville Louisiana. It burned down Sunday with loads of art work and musical gear, P.A., Lighting, Kitchen, Bar.... It's all gone. The family owned establishment was family financed and family owned for the most part and the Art gallery was owned by a collective of artist. The contents of the gallery was not insured... They will need help to bring their dream back of helping develop new artist and musicians and showcasing established acts, and original works. If anyone wants to contribute money to the Clean up and rebuilding cause we are setting up a bank account for the family... they really did loose everything yall."What I lost?"I lost the triple neck guitar that I built to enter into a contest on Cigar Box Nation.I lost the "spiral bass guitar"I lost the custom painted "Vencent Darbey art set" guitar.I Lost the "three string b sting"I Lost the "real Player"$1,500 low ball valueYou can see these now only online, they are in my photos on Cigar Box Nation.I know for a fact that this family has pored their heart and soul in to this business to have it wiped out in one day... If you want to contribute contact me and I will let you know the account information. I am not personally setting up the account...The account will be set up soon though.The fund will be set up for the family only, you must specify if you want to help the individual artist which also lost a-lot, but not as much as the Marks Family. This family has helped people that I know as well as myself so it's only fitting that I try and help them by asking for support. We are talking about a benefit event to be announced with live music and a barn raising perhaps for them if we get enough financial assistance.Please remember that a bunch of small amounts add up, so send what you can and we will do the rest.pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/mail.rdrThank You,Albert J Guilliot
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Hello Everyone

Posted by Catalyst on July 8, 2010 at 4:24pm
I'm Tim from Mc Henry Illinois. Ive been making 3 strings for about 4 months. Im on my 6th build now and its a 4 string! I've got a set of d'addario light accoustics in front of me n im not sure what strings to use for a 4 string... Do i go high or low?
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3-String Headstock Design #1, Part 3

Posted by Rand Moore on July 6, 2010 at 2:00pm

This is part 3 of my 3-string headstock design and build project.

Well, now I have a block of wood about 5.5" long by 2.25" wide by 0.75" deep with which to build my headstock. It also has a 22 degree angle cut for where the head piece will mate with the neck. The headstock diagram I drew will soon be used to shape the headstock and to drill out the 3 holes for the tuning machines (tuners). Before starting this work, let's look and talk about the headstock diagram in more detail.



From the diagram above, you can see that I have centered the three strings with the mid-line of the neck and headstock. The two outer strings are spaced 1/2" on either side of the center string, which is a fairly common string spacing for a cigar box guitar (CBG). With a 1.25" wide neck, minus 1" for the strings, this will leave 0.25", or about 1/8" between the outer strings and the edge of the neck. If you are planning to use fret wire for frets (or some other fretting scheme that crosses the entire width of the neck), then this spacing should work fine. I am planning to use industrial sized staples (click here for that article) which are 1.125" wide, and I want a bit more room between the string and the edge of the staple-frets, so I have decided on a 3/8" spacing between stings. This will leave about 3/16" between each outer string and the edge of the neck.

With the string spacing decided, I extended the lines for the strings up my headstock so I'd know at least one side of the two angles for placing the tuners on the headstock. The other angle is formed by a line through the three tuner posts that will extend through the 3 holes we'll need to drill in the headstock. You can see this gray line on my diagram which passes through the three tuner holes highlighted in yellow. Notice that the line of tuner holes must parallel the edge of the headstock so the tuners can be mounted on that edge of the headstock. So, this angle pretty much dictates what angle I should use when cutting the left-hand side of the headstock. If you want a narrower string placement, then you'll need to increase the slope of this angle, and if you want a wider string placement, you'll need to decrease the slope of this angle.

The right side of the headstock (as viewed in the diagram) is not important, so I left it straight. The same is true of the top edge of the headstock. On my diagram, I show an "artistic" angle sloped upward at about 30 degrees. In practice, I left out this cut and just rounded off the corners. The other main differences in the piece I cut compared to the diagram above are the two angle cuts on the bottom sloping edge of the headstock. Instead of doing the "artistic" 2-cuts per angle shown on the diagram in black, I made a single cut as shown by the two gray lines, taking the shortest / easiest route.

The tuner holes should be about 1.25" to 1.5" apart. I split the distance and placed then 1 & 3/8" apart. This dimension, was in fact dictated to me, since the tuners I originally planed to use were the 3-in-1 kind where their is a single plate to be mounted that includes 3 geared tuners (as you'd find on a "3 x 3" six stringed guitar).In fact, my tuners are for a "3 x 3" six stringed guitar. The other 3-in-1 set of tuners I'll probably use, but will likely have to flip the headstock design around so the knobs of the tuner are on the right (or if holding it guitar style, the lower edge) of the headstock. I have heard (and seen) that the proper orientation of a geared tuner must be so that the round toothed gear sits below the worm gear (and post of the tuner) and closer to the neck. I'm not sure it this is an actual "must", or if it is just another old luthier's tale.

Okay, so why did I decide on a different set of tuners for my headstock? Well after building the headstock and drilling the holes for the tuners, I placed the 3-in-1 tuner in place and found that the holes on the tuning post (that the strings go come through to attach to the tuner) were not visible. My headstock was 3/4" thick and the Chinese made 3-in-1 tuners assumed the headstock would be about 1/2" thick. Well, luckily I had gone to a guitar shop a few days earlier and bought several sets of individual geared tuners. These tuners have two holes, one set higher on the tuner post than the other. These fit my headstock just fine, so now I plan to use them instead of the Chinese made 3-in-1 tuners. The lesson learned is to measure the height of the hole in the tuner posts relative it the mounting bracket to see if it will fit given the thickness of your headstock.

Well, I'm getting ahead of myself here. One of the purposes of having a drawing / diagram of your headstock is so that you can print it out in full scale and use it to position the tuner holes on your headstock. Well, the way I did this was to draw the headstock using MS Paint. After saving my headstock diagram, I printed it using the Windows "Preview" utility that you can activate by right clicking on the image file's icon on the desktop. If you use MS Paint to print, it will wastefully print it on 4 pages which you'll have to cur and tape together. After so many versions of Windows and MS Paint still has this "feature". Yuk. Well, I printed it out and it turned out too small. So, by a process of trial and error, I used the Windows "Preview" utility to zoom in a bit, then did a screen capture (Ctrl-Alt-Print Screen) and saved the image using MS Paint. With MS Paint, I'd edit out all the screen image except for the enlarged headstock diagram, and then re-save it. I would then leave MS Paint and use Windows "Preview" to print it again. After 4 attempts, I got it right. I then cut out the headstock piece of the diagram and used it as a template to place the holes for the tuners. I then used a sharp nail to punch through the paper of the diagram and mark the wood where it would need to be drilled. I then drilled out the three holes using a succession of larger drill bits until the tuners could fit. I did have to ream-out the holes a bit to make the 3x1 tuner fit (before realizing the holes weren't visible).

To mount the tuners, you will likely need a 3/8" counter sink drill bit so you can widen the hole for the do-ma-jiggy metal piece on the other side from the geared tuner to fit. I need to see what these things
are called. So re-write and expand upon this here. Should also drill guide holes for the mounting screws.



Problems with my build?

1.) I used a hand drill instead of drill press, so my holes for the three tuner posts are not lined up or cut as straight through the wood as they could have been with better tools.

2.) One tuner hole cut through a dowel, which may compromise the strength of the center-line joint of my headstock. If I do it again, I'll plan my dowel placement so the avoid the tuner holes. Alternatively, I make life simpler and start with a double-width board for my headstock, rather than building from 2 half-size pieces. This way, the grains will match.

3.) The angle of the cut for the right (or top) side of the headstock cut through the same dowel described above, making that side a bit uglier than I had originally intended.



Still a work in progress...

Was messing with the neck, trying to see how to fret it. I had thought the staple route might be easiest. That route was to use electrical staples 1.125" wide, and I bought some at Home Depot, but now that I sit down with them, I wonder how that guy was able to cut the side prongs down to say 1/4". That stuff is pretty stout stainless steel. He must have a real machine shop. My little nippers and files are probably not up to the job. In addition, the stapes are nearly as wide as my neck. I could slot either side of the neck and make them fit. [Hmm... that's an idea. I could put a string on either side of the neck. No, that would only complicate the playing of the instrument.] For now, I'll forget the idea of using the staples. I'll do it next time I have a 1.5" or wider neck, maybe for a 5-string banjo or a 6-sting guitar project.

Instead, I think I just have to come to terms with my fears of fretting a neck using standard fret wire and my finest saw. I'm sure I'll screw things up along the way, but the longer I put it off, the longer it will be until I perfect a professional looking fixed fret technique. I've tried a couple frets just for practice on scrap wood and it seems to work with the tools I have. So, I'll give it a go. That will probably be a week away as I have to take my wife, daughter, and her cousin Disneyland during the remainder of this week. (July 6th, 2010).

In the mean time, I think it's time to stain and then varnish the neck and headstock. I've been sanding on the neck and have got it pretty smooth, and the corners comfortably rounded. I've got a small can of pecan wood stain and a can of polyurethane. A couple coats of each should probably do the trick. I can start the staining today and finish with the varnishing when I get back from SoCal. After that, I'll be ready to add the frets, then join the head and neck.

I also need to be thinking about how to join the round cookie tin to the neck. I plan to have the neck pierce the cookie tin in two places so when I terminate the strings on the "tail end" of the neck, the string tension won't be carried by the cookie tin. I have also seen that some builders whittle away an area of the neck just under the "drum head" so that that surface will be more "free" to vibrate. I will also need to be thinking about what to use as a bridge. Since this is my first build for a 3-stringer, I'm taking my time with it, thinking through all the alternatives and documenting the process as best I can so I can replicate and improve upon my work in the future, and to share with you all my experience.



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CBG # 1

Posted by Stacey on July 5, 2010 at 10:27am
I put the strings on the guitar on Saturday, but found that the bolt I had planned on using for the nut doesn't work. So now I'm searching for an alternative. :(My youngest son wants his own guitar now. I think I'm going to surprise him with the one I'm working on, since I'm already planning on a strummer for my next build. :)My hubby is excited about this project of mine. He got out his old violin and has been practising every day. He told me that he's looking forward to us playing together, so I need to hurry up and get this thing built and start practising myself. :D
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3-String Headstock Design #1, Part 2

Posted by Rand Moore on July 4, 2010 at 6:00pm
Once you have a board prepared for use as the headstock (as described in the previous post), you need to decide how you will be attaching it to the neck and how you will be installing the tuning machines (tuners).

Let's start by discussing how I plan to connect the headstock to the neck. As you may recall from the first post, my neck and neck stock both have a 22 degree cut (plus or minus a degree), revealing a sloped surface about 2 inches long. The question is how the headstock will be positioned relative to the neck for gluing. Here are the four possibilities:

Here's my first diagram, and when positioning the two pieces relative to each other. Notice how this "method" tilts the headstock down by about 20 degrees, like many guitar heads. The reasoning for doing this is based on hearsay (not first hand scientific testing), and the story goes that the strings will stay in the groves of the nut better and that the strings won't buzz at the nut. I really don't know. It's likely just an old luthier's tales. But modeling an instrument after traditional design practices are more likely to produce a better instrument. So, I'm planning for a 20-25 degree tilt in the head relative to the neck.


However, I don't really like how exposed (visible) the head-to-neck joint will be. This is better illustrated in the diagram below (circled in red). I think this placement will look ugly without doing a lot of work with wood putty, bondo, or some other "filler" to round out and sculpt the joint to make it look better. But, that may make the problem worse should I go to stain and varnish the wood. So, at this point, I'll skip this method and move on to the next possibility.


The next head-to-neck positioning possibility places the headstock over the neck, hiding most of the ugly head-to-neck joint. This is how I'm going to do mine.



Like the first method, this second method tilts the headstock downward about 20 degrees or so, like a real guitar. But, unlike the first "method", this "method" hides the ugly neck joint under the headstock, making it a lot less noticeable as shown in the diagram below (see the red circled area).



There are a couple other possibilities... but they don't provide the traditional headstock tilt found on most guitars and other lutes. I have tried this third option on a "soda can on a stick" variety canjo and it worked pretty well, especially when I did a similar cut and join on the "tail" end of the canjo stick for the "strum hollow" and the can resonator. The net effect of this canjo design was to raise the "fret board" area of the neck up closer to the strings for easier playing action. This design would also allow you to sit your canjo down and it would rest on the flat lower head an lower "tail" sections, assuming you mount your tuners so the knobs point out to the side and the gears are recessed into the headstock. Issues for another article/post, I guess. The down side of positioning option 3 is that the ugly neck joint is again starring you in the face.

Well, the fourth method doesn't make much sense, but if you had to have a flat head-to-neck layout, it could be done; and the ugly neck joint would be mostly hidden by the headstock.

Okay, now that I have decided how to connect the headstock to the neck, I going to hold off on actually attaching the two pieces until I have finished drilling holes for mounting the tuners in the headstock, and until after I add frets to the neck. Adding frets with a 20 degree downward tilt in the neck is more difficult unless you've build some kind of "rig" to hold the neck steady without putting pressure on the headstock.

[As a note, when I do glue to two pieces together, I also will screw them together using a short wood screw. Want to mention that now in case I forget mentioning it later. The screw hole comes through the bottom of the neck through the headstock where the two pieces join along their sloped sides.]









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1st cbg

Posted by William McCauley on July 4, 2010 at 4:10pm
Finished my first cbg last week. Looks pretty good but sounds like crap. I had to restring it several times until I got it right. Any suggestions? Also, I can't play a guitar, would that have anything to do with it?
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Headstock Design #1, for a 3-String Cookie Tin Canjo

Posted by Rand Moore on July 4, 2010 at 10:00am
I'm working my way up from "one string soda can on a stick" variety canjos to "3-string round cookie tin Banjo-Canjos," I finished a "2-Stringer" a few days ago and have been playing and tweaking it, since. The instrument is tuned G-D, and the second string plays/sounds best as a drone. So, playing it is not much different than a one string canjo, but it sounds a lot better. Now I want to add another string, but that means a more complex headstock design. So, here are some ideas I have been floating around in my head for the first design. Need to get the ideas on paper, so I will do that here.

My 3-String Banjo-Canjo Project -- Building the Headstock

The first thing I did was to buy some pine wood stakes from the local garden supply store, picking the three best looking ones. These pine stakes are 3 foot long by 1 & 3/8" wide by 3/4" deep. I am doing this project with pine, a soft wood, as I am still a "beginner" wood worker. The pine should be easier to cut, drill, plane and sand as compared to a hardwood like poplar or oak. However, the resulting instrument won't be as durable. If you prefer hardwood, go right ahead.

To form the guitar headstock (head), I sawed off two pieces from two of these pine wood posts at maybe a 25 degree angle. The angle should be anywhere from 15 degrees to 30 degrees, but not much more. The angle I chose was enough to provide a 2" long gluing surface when I join the head to the neck. Next, I needed to decide which sides of the two 5.5" boards to glue together to form the headstock, and I did this by trying to match up the grain of the wood as best I could (not very well). To strengthen this double-wide board for the guitar head, I carefully measured & drilled 2 holes on each side for dowels, placing them roughly 2" apart and centered along the length of each board. I then glued in the two dowels and pounded them in with my mallet for good measure, and then glued the two sides together and pounded them together some more with my mallet, again for good measure. I then clamped the two pieces together, wiped off the excess glue and let it dry over night. That was 2 evenings ago. Yesterday, I planed (with a hand plane) and sanded the two boards so that they look like a single board, then cut the corners off the lower, angled side where the head would fit the neck.

In the meantime, I drew up a design for my headstock, Pretty basic. Here's the target design:


After cutting the two 5.5" boards, installing the dowels, gluing them together and planing them to form a single double-wide board for the headstock, I went back and drew up these diagrams to document the process. So,
here are the diagrams to better illustrate the steps I've made so far...


Step 1: Making the cut


Obviously we'll have to make 2 pieces like this to make a wide enough board to make our headstock out of.


Step 2: After cutting the two halves of the headstock.


Step 3: Drilling the holes for the dowels.
Also, for the second piece, pay close attention to which side to drill and glue because that
view is not diagrammed here. For the second piece, the top side (rather than the bottom side)
will have to be drilled and glue so that it matches the first piece. You can see this pretty clearly
in the next diagram below.

Step 4: Inserting dowels & gluing both halves together.
Notice how the "Head Board Part 1" piece has the holes drilled in the bottom while the
"Head Board Part 2" piece has the holes drilled in the top. After drilling, hand fit the pieces
together to make sure they fit. When it looks like they'll go together right, apply glue to the
ends of the dowels, press in the dowels, glue the sides and the other end of the dowels and
press the two halves together. Tap them together with a mallet if necessary. Then clap
them together tightly and let dry as long as recommended by your glue's manufacturer.


Step 5: The Joined Halves of the Headstock

After the two halves are glued together and have dried sufficiently, you'll have to plane (as with
a hand planer) and sand all the surfaces so that the result is a single sooth surfaced board of
about 2.75'' wide.

This project continues with my next blog post.

-Rand.






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I have everything I need to start, just aint started....

Posted by Paul Stephen Eklund on July 3, 2010 at 11:06pm

Still reading thew articles both on this site and others. On everything from the pros and cons of an internal resonator, bridge placement, piezos, materials for nuts and bridges..and the list goes on. Yep you caught me. I’m a geek who likes to have all my ducks in a row before I start. LOL For me the challenge is the best part. I’d be no fun at all to just toss a stick of wood on a box and call it done. I realize I’m setting myself up to make a lot of mistakes. I’m looking forward to learning form them. I’ll salvage what I can from one build and use it on the next. It has to make me happy before I can be satisfied with it. Still looking at all the pride and skill that went into the musical instruments in that Tenn. museum. That’s what I want to make.


The frets and piezos from C. B. Gitty came in QUICK! I think the guy is phychic and had them in the mail wile I was thinking about ordering. LOL I have most of the tools I need now. Just making some final tweaks to the drawings.

Build plan.

11 x 8 box out of 3 ply 1/8 plywood.

24 scale 22 fret neck.

4 string.

Internal resonator supported by two thin bolts that will also support the bridge from the inside. No bracing under the thin top. still thinking about what size the resonator should be.

2 piezos in parallel just behind the bridge. still thinking about what to incase them in. I was thinking about suspending them in wax. But haven’t come up with an idea of how to keep them in one spot if the wax gets warm enough to melt. Just thoughts........

A volume pot.

Wire will be shielded by first twisting the hot and ground together. Wrapping that in aluminum foil. Covering that with shrink tubing. A third wire will be added to that to go first to the pot. Then to a metal plate at the back of the guitar where the strings go threw. I’ll be using the strings as a ground just like on an electric guitar.


Also I’ve got two books on leather tooling coming. STOKED! Wont be using the designs on this build.


Was at an auction Friday night. Really long dresser FULL of usable wood. Someone else wanted it more than I did. LOL In reality I couldn’t justify outbidding them just to dismantle the thing. They probably needed it for a dresser. There’ll be more. Looking forward to finding more on trash day too. Free is always good!

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