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| Cool little guitar I made http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=33885 |
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| Author: | Nils [ Fri Oct 14, 2011 7:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Cool little guitar I made |
This right here is something I've wanted to make for a while. I'm pretty happy with it. The sound isnt as big as I had hoped for..but I guess its realistically what I should expect with its size and how I braced it. The scale length is 25.35 (stewmac preslotted) and the finish is nitro. I also made some mandolins next to this one...I hope nobody minds seeing them here too.         
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| Author: | Rod True [ Fri Oct 14, 2011 8:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Nice looking little guitar. What did you base it off? The bridge looks to be pretty low on the body which would possibly explain your disapponent in the sound. At 25.3 scale you want that on a larger body size to utilize the string tension and the larger surface area which would allow for move vibration... |
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| Author: | DennisK [ Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:12 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Cool mini! Do you have a pic of the braced top? And how thick is the top? I bet it could be made to sound pretty good. The bridge does look awfully close to the tail. I hope you've got a beveled tailblock in there, so it's no wider than the linings. You could also go to a 14 fret neck to get it more centered, although that might start looking too much like a banjo  I'd probably stick with 12 fret neck, but shorten the scale length to 23-24" (possibly fan fret) and use heavy gauge strings (plus the option of light strings for higher tunings!) to get the bridge farther north, and possibly fatten up the sound compared to twangy thin strings. And lose the 20th fret to get the soundhole more out of the way. Do a fingerboard floating extension for 20th fret on the top 2 strings if you really want it. Fan fret also makes it convenient to add an extra half fret without lengthening the board much, since it would be angled on the end otherwise. In fact, you could even go to 18 whole frets and 19th half, like on classicals.Another option would be to get rid of the soundhole altogether in its current position, and either put holes in the shoulders beside the fingerboard, or no soundhole but a very large side port, depending on whether it's intended for entertaining yourself or for campfire group music and such. Either way, you get more soundboard real estate. Although you could also do CF tube flying buttresses and cantilever fingerboard extension to free up the entire upper bout, in which case it might be better to move the soundhole back to the center again. Another thought... tune the back to a lower frequency than the top, to help support the low end. And of course, you could use nylon strings since they're less twangy than steels  Brian/oval soundhole got me inspired to build one of these in the near future, which looks to be very similar dimensions to yours. It sounds quite good in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLpEHg1wShk.But now I'm tempted to try one with steels as well  Too many ideas to build!
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| Author: | B. Howard [ Sat Oct 15, 2011 6:52 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Very nice looking guitar, mandolins too. |
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| Author: | cphanna [ Sat Oct 15, 2011 8:26 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Yes, they are quite nice. Oddly, I think it's more difficult to bring out the visual beauty of a simple, relatively unadorned design like this. But your little guitar is beautiful in its simplicity. If I could do that, I'd be very proud. Nice work! Patrick |
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| Author: | Nicholaspaul [ Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:55 am ] |
| Post subject: | Cool little guitar I made |
Beautiful! I love the headstock and neck. Very nice! |
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| Author: | Nils [ Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Hey thanks guys! I'm definitely not unhappy with the tone, its just that as the maker I had slightly different expectations. It has a slight banjoish pluck to it, which I wasnt going for. No biggie tho. Everyone whos played it has told me it sounds really big, especially for its size. The bridge does sit low on the body. This was by choice though. I thought about doing a shorter scale, but I really wanted to do the full length. However, there is plenty of neck angle so the saddle and bridge are both tall, which I do think helps to give more tone. The back is also lower pitched than the top. I do wish I had a picture of the soundboard to show you guys but I didnt take one. Its X-braced and the x is tight. There is just enough room to install an under-saddle transducer without putting a hole in the brace. Behind the bridge plate there arnt any tone bars. This is also the first instrument I made with a mold. |
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| Author: | Clay S. [ Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Cool looking little guitar! I've built a few size 1 guitars with long scales (25.4) with good results. I strung them with light gage strings. They were loud and well balanced. |
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| Author: | Terence Kennedy [ Mon Oct 24, 2011 12:31 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
I've built 4 or 5 size twos and splayed the X quite a bit using a longer bridge (Almost 7"). One tone bar. People like the sound. The oldest is about 5 years out now and holding together well. 24.9 scale 12 fret. |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cool little guitar I made |
Nice work! |
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