All Blog Posts (289)

I cant believe Ive been a member this long. thanx Ted, and whoever else is involved with this group. decided to put a CBG together. been collecting parts for a long time. so, Ill be asking questions for sure,

see ya soon :)

For my first CBG, I wanted to test my limits and see how far I could go with building a guitar. None of these "fret-less three-stringers" for me; no, I wanted a fret board and at least four strings, which I felt was the limit before I'd have to worry about bowing the neck. So, wanting to be sure I was understanding all I needed to do, I ordered David Sutton's book "Cigar Box Guitars", and waited patiently for it to arrive.

When it finally came in the mail, I read through it carefully,…

Hi Folks!

I'm Nath. I am a hobbyist instrument builder, producer, songwriter, and i've been tinkering and twanging with guitars and auditory science for 21 years...with no professional guidance other than the internet. Everything i've created is therefore quite obviously DIY, slightly rough around the edges, produced on a buget, but retains some of the charm of…

Anyone have some building plans and scale templates for a diatonic canjo? Trying to come up with a simple, easy to build, an inexpensive one for a bunch of elementary school kids (maybe twenty of them) to build and decorate. One stringer, no frets, and a hardware store eye hook (or something similar) for a tuning peg. Need to keep cost way down. I'll probably pre-cut and pre-drill everything, and mark the fret positions, then they can paint or decorate the neck themselves. Might use…

Had a very long hiatus from building due to "life" issues Family, health, time, and on and on.....thought I'd better get this done before it's to late........Building this for Saffyre (age 6) I actually had started this a few years ago..... here is the progress so far....…

If you read the intro to these series of blogs, it will not be a surprise that I don't plan ahead when building an instrument. (unless somebody asks me to build one) There are no drawings, there's no list of parts and there is certainly not a budget. The way an instrument will look in the end depends solely on the (free) materials that are available and scale length and…

Now, I am one of those people who has never build a cigar box guitar. Really! 

That's because I'm living on a lonesome hill in central Portugal and I just didn't find any cigar box here. Call me a "purist" but I do not want to buy a box or any other part for that matter. Not only because of the choice once made to go and live in a place where…

I just recently finished a 3 string and it seems like the strings are a little hard to fret. I have it set up on a 25 inch scale, if I move the bridge toward the neck will it make the strings easier to fret without sacrificing tone quality? It plays great with a slide. I am also wondering if I might have the frets set too low. I am using an 8/32 bolt for the bridge and a bit smaller bolt for the nut.

In open G tuning, is there a trick to make tuning the low G string  easier. I am using a A string for it

OK, so now I can finally put the picture up. This is a guitar lesson with the Denver Chapter of Guitars4Vets two weeks ago. Veterans from the neurological program at the Denver Veterans Hospital are recommended by the department staff for lessons to learn guitar playing. If they finish 10 lessons they are given a new guitar to keep. It is a great program and a privilege to be part of it.…

Sorry, I have been trying to upload the picture for 40 minutes but this furschlugginer website refuses to take it. Maybe another day?

This is a photo of one of the guitar lessons we give in Guitars4Vets. I am in center back. We have given away three guitars to vets who complete the 10 lesson cycle.

I recently finished a 3 stringer with 2 pickups controlled by 2 volume pots,instead of a 3 way switch.Thanks to David L.for telling me about this idea (Stracciatella Mod). I used the coils from 2 Gitty Gold Foil pickups.Diodes are soldered between each pot and the jack. Instead of soldering my grounds to the back of the pots, I flattened a piece "tin" from a can and mounted the pots thru the metal and tied all the grounds together with a bolt. It made a nice clean connection

Just…

Going to try this again.  Wanted to build a Gourd Banjo. A friend gave me a gourd and I managed to get it cut and all looked well. Then I went to level the cut top on a belt sander. Not a good idea.
it cracked the gourd.  This one is thicker and I'll be more careful.

Hi

I am in the process of building a portative pipe organ.



Here is a video if the first 5 keys (not tuned yet)





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXnOqCrpnFQ…

Salut je me présente je suis québécois mais amis m'appel Harmo je joue dans 2 band de blues et j'aimerais savoir si il y a des francophone qu'ils soit français belge africain ou québécois peut importe faite le moi savoir alors A+ et bonne route !!!!