dpm99

Whatever! This is totally fine, and the only reason it bothers you is that you've stared at it so much. Even if I commissioned you to build this guitar for me, I wouldn't be concerned about this. Nice work on those frets too!

I would think the easiest way to do it would be to replace the fretboard altogether.

You say it sounds fine, but the bridge isn't installed yet. I'm lost. Are you using drumsticks on it?

Mine is sitting around with only two strings after recent installation of a TremKing bridge. I need to get it up and running again. Love that guitar.

Yeah. I'd bring that one to church.

Y'know, I wouldn't mind seeing a Tele like that without a front or back added. Just big holes. You could play it in church, since it's so holy.

Welcome. Looking forward to seeing your work!

Feedback is caused when the sound from the guitar, amplified through a speaker or amp, causes additional resonance in the guitar, which leads to more vibration in the strings, hence more sound from the speaker, hence more resonance again in the guitar, and so forth. Feedback is a point at which the vibration the guitar is picking up resulting from speaker sound takes over and creates a sound loop. At least that's how I understand it. The more resonant a guitar is, the more likely feedback is to occur. An acoustic guitar is so resonant that it can produce enough sound to fill a room with no external amplification. That's why it has so many feedback issues. In theory, the louder your guitar is acoustically, the more likely it is to produce feedback. A soundhole creates an effect called Helmholtz Resonance. It turns the guitar into a sort of bellows, where the air moving in and out of the guitar causes the top to move, creating resonance, and therefore sound. Without airflow, Helmholtz Resonance cannot occur. That doesn't mean, however, that feedback is impossible, as the only thing required is sufficient resonance of any type.

That'll do it. Should be an easy fix. Let us know how it works out.

I haven't done a build thread in a long time. Usually when people say that, they've been cranking out guitars by the dozens and just don't have time to document it all. With me, it's just the opposite. I work very, very slowly, and tend to get distracted by other projects (not to mention family and work). But I thought this one was interesting, and I have a sneaking suspicion I might finish it sometime in the not-too-distant future, so here we go. When I first started building, I tried to build a hybrid electric acoustic guitar out of some 12/4 African Mahogany. Total failure. There was router tearout everywhere. I tried to fix it with homemade wood putty, but to no avail. The final straw was when I goofed up on the neck pocket and cut off too much wood. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, but I did think about it. I've been planning to build a six string bass in the Fender Bass VI style, short scale (30") and strung EADGBE, an octave below a regular guitar, and a hybrid to boot. The plan is for a hollow body with a braced acoustic top and an acoustic bridge. Here's the plan: Modified headstock design: Now back to that old piece of Mahogany. I was looking at it the other day, and it occurred to me that I might be able to salvage it with a little work, and the 3" thick body would lend itself well to an acoustic bass. I don't have money for materials right now, so it's all gonna have to be built from scrap. Here's where I am, as of today: The body is coming together. It's taken a lot of work, and it's nowhere near done, but I think it's gonna be ok. That neck is rift sawn Bubinga. You can see my skills have progressed some by looking at the obvious glue line on the body and the much less obvious glue line on the neck, which I ripped and flipped. The headstock veneer and bridge I made from an old scrap of East Indian Rosewood I had leftover from a previous neck. Here's a closeup of that bridge. It's not perfect, but considering it's the first acoustic bridge I've ever built, I don't think it's so bad: Here's a closeup of the headstock veneer. It's not a perfect bookmatch, but I think it's pretty: Here's the top side of the body. I'm just starting to hollow it out: And finally, remember how I said I goofed up on the neck pocket a long time ago, and took off too much wood? I decided the best solution was just to cut off that entire section and rebuild it. Here it is now: I know someone's looking at that picture with concern over structural integrity. I'll solve the problem by doing a long set neck, extending well into the body. The back of the body isn't gonna be pretty, but I have two ideas. The first is simple - paint it black. The second is a little more complicated, but might be worth the trouble. I could inlay a contrasting strip of wood down the back. Maybe some flame maple or something. Like this: I haven't decided yet, but whatever solution I arrive at will have to involve that glue line on the back. The top's gonna be painted anyway. It's a piece of Western Red Cedar I got for free that's as ugly as sin, and not even bookmatched: So far my cost on this is $0. Eventually, I suppose I'll at least have to buy some pickups and tuners. Even that will be cheap. I'll be using a homemade piezo pickup under the bridge, a high output tele bridge pickup stealthed (for a Bass VI sound), and probably an active Musicman style pickup in the "sweet spot" as the primary pickup. Most likely it will be Bartolini or EMG, as I've heard rumors they both use bar magnets, which in this case will be critical. I'll probably be building my own preamp as well, unless I find a product already on the market that can handle the instrument's range, and blend magnetic and piezo pickups. If anyone has suggestions on that one, I'm all ears. Thanks for checking it out.

You don't have to remove it all. Just make sure it's not touching any bare wires around the jack.

This is the issue I mentioned. When you connect your ground (including grounded shielding), and your live line, you get a short circuit. That's how most kill switches work, actually.

Also, consider how a fret or a nut works. It changes to active length of the string to the distance between the fret/nut and the saddles. If you fret at 12, for example, you half the active length of the string. A fret and a nut do essentially the same thing, if the nut slots are cut correctly. Consider the following illustration: In the first picture, the active string length begins in the middle of the nut, which makes the active string length longer, and consequently makes the note lower. In the second picture, the active string length begins at the edge of the nut, like it should. Could that be the problem? Regarding your electronics issue, I'm wondering if you might have a short circuit at the jack. If the lead and ground wires are making an electronic connection sometimes, that will mute your sound. That problem can be fixed by shielding the wires near the jack with electrical tape. Just a thought. EDIT: In retrospect, I pretty much just illustrated what Prostheta was saying, but I hope that's helpful nonetheless.

Search for David Myka's jig. Here's one of the threads: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=44897

David Myka is a bit of a hero to me and many others here, so any similarity between anything I design and something he's done I'm going to choose to view as a sign of progress on my part. His is still a little different than mine. I'd wonder where Yamaha was sourcing those tuners, except they're Yamaha. I definitely dig that design. Thanks for point those out, pukko.

I wish someone would have told me this when I started doing this. At least I have a lot of interesting exotic scraps. And while this is not by any means universal, there seem to be a trend among new builders toward very exotic woods, whereas many experienced builders migrate toward more common, domestic, or even local wood. I think I might just ask for a chainsaw for Christmas this year.

Nicely done on that repair!

Woah! Good eye, jbis. It looks very similar. But that one's flat across the top, so there's a little difference. Thanks to Tim for that. I knew I hadn't drawn the tuners to scale, but I didn't realize I was as far off as I was. I think that string pull is straight enough to avoid getting snagged in the nut on bends, so long as I cut the slots correctly.

Generic is kinda what I was going for. It really does share a lot in common with a John Birch headstock, doesn't it? That makes me like it a little more, actually. Huh. It's already 7" long - at least v.1 is. That's the length of a steel string headstock, and longer than most electric 3x3s.

That's interesting. Ok, one more for Tim, and then I'm putting it to rest for the night. Here's version 1 again, with the tuners repositioned:

Ok, version 3, with a few lessons learned from PRS:

Well, sure, the geometry's off, it wouldn't function well in reality, and it's completely non-functional, but doesn't it look cool?! v.2 (optimized for reality) Good call. It does look like the PRS Santana, though the key difference is that the PRS design is much better.

I realize it's all been done before, but I value subtle originality in headstock designs. This is a classic design with more or less straight string pull. You guys are a wealth of knowledge with this stuff, and I wanted to ask if you've seen this one. I'm sure someone's done something almost identical at some time and some place in the world, but I don't think I've ever seen it. Thanks for your help!

Yeah, I know exactly the type you mean. I don't have access to a welder though.