Readers' Instruments

[Hot Flatus]

 

Its a must for a pub band

[Torslanda]

NAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is your next project . . . !

[Steph]

Here's my current stable of strings





And here, to go with the curly axe topic, is the cello played by Hannah Miller of Moulettes. built IIRC by her Dad.

[T42]

I'm just getting back into music after a pause of ~20 years


El cheapo cittern & electric uke (now donated to er-um in law)


The only kind of harp I'll ever manage


Plus three guitars and a guitarita.

[T42]

I have over 400 captioned photos of the build process. I know many of you have seen them on Facebook, but even if you don't have a Facebook account you should be able to view them all here

I already have most of the tools (though my bandsaw is on the phutz) and I'm planning to get into that game in the new year.  Mind if I occasionally pick your brain?

[Steph]

Always fancied a cittern....

[bobb]

I have over 400 captioned photos of the build process. I know many of you have seen them on Facebook, but even if you don't have a Facebook account you should be able to view them all here

I already have most of the tools (though my bandsaw is on the phutz) and I'm planning to get into that game in the new year.  Mind if I occasionally pick your brain?

Not at all! What are you thinking of building?

[T42]

Cheers! Probably a Strat, there are lots of plans on the go.

I'm currently lusting after that Triton router.  I already have a big Metabo and a small Bosch but the Triton looks much more versatile.

I use a drill stand instead of a column drill - works quite well.

[pcolbeck]

Here you go T42 and Bobb. Something for inspiration. Martin's show guitar to commemorate them having now made 2000,000 guitars.

https://youtu.be/uNDiuwNhkMU

[bobb]

Probably a Strat

If you're going to build a Strat, then this video series will tell you everything you need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSDzBv_rIA&list=PLNBP5jXjfxM3WoWeK7NWEyZN7u4dqNQKR

[T42]

Always fancied a cittern....

Mine's a plywood horror from China, bought on Amazon Returns for 100-odd €, mostly out of curiosity. A bit like an Irish bouzouli with an extra course.  Blame this fellow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHY8ZZfqoFU

Funny thing about mine is that there's a bit of plastic foam under the bridge, which I suspect was intended to allow it to slide more easily when they were getting the intonation right.  You can get them new from Hobgoblin.

Here you go T42 and Bobb. Something for inspiration. Martin's show guitar to commemorate them having now made 2000,000 guitars.

https://youtu.be/uNDiuwNhkMU

Gawd.  I don't reckon the vibration would do the movement any favours, though.

Probably a Strat

If you're going to build a Strat, then this video series will tell you everything you need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSDzBv_rIA&list=PLNBP5jXjfxM3WoWeK7NWEyZN7u4dqNQKR

Ta.  I've been watching the Crimson Custom Guitars videos on & off for a month, too, in particular the series where he takes a cheap kit and turns it into something not bad at all.  I do rather fancy doing it all myself, though.

[bobb]

Yeah, I love Crimson. I'm subscribed to just about every luthiery channel on YouTube 

[pcolbeck]

Here you go T42 and Bobb. Something for inspiration. Martin's show guitar to commemorate them having now made 2000,000 guitars.

https://youtu.be/uNDiuwNhkMU

Gawd.  I don't reckon the vibration would do the movement any favours, though.

Yeah. Somehow I doubt that it will actually get played much.

[T42]

Yeah, I love Crimson. I'm subscribed to just about every luthiery channel on YouTube 

What makes me spit now is that I sold my woodworking combo three years back.  I had a bad fall from the bike in 2002 that stopped me lifting 3-metre flitches of oak, and it stood pretty well unused for 10 years. I had a thicknesser, jointer, spindle shaper and circular saw and they're gone. Ah well.

[PaulF]

And if you're as confused as I was about the difference between mandolins, citterns, mandalas and octave mandolins this article http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/cittern.html explains it nicely

[T42]

"Cittern" seems to cover several sizes of instrument from mandolinish to bouzoukiish. The stringing doesn't seem to be constant either: this roguish gent has a 9-string:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujr5liAH56E

[Steph]

T42, my axes, L to R, are:
Mandolin, arch body, spruce and maple, really nice bright tone. Very fond of it.
Octave mandolin, bottom two courses octave pairs, flatback and top, loud with a sweet sounf up the neck and very jangly low down.
Fiddle, cheap Chinese, owned and played for 48 years
Mandolin, second-hand electro-acoustic (pick up jack through strap button). Bioat keel neck (rounded V cross section) with a very sweet sound, plays very nicely. Flatback and top.
Mandola, cheapo flatback plywood thing, no truss rod (guitar style build), heavy action but a good loud session instrument, and I like it.
Mandolin, very cheap arch top and back, bought as a cheap spare. Heavy action, but what the hell, I won't cry if I sit on it in a pub.

[T42]

Lovely collection, too.  I tried a Neapolitan mandolin years ago but I couldn't manage an even tremolo for more than 30 seconds together, and TBH the instrument's convexity was mirrored by my own at the time and it kept trying to slope off kneewards.  I eventually passed it on to my son.

Speaking of sitting on mandolins, my first steps in lutherie will involve extracting the bent truss rod from my daughter's old bass guitar, which got stood on during a removal.  Not looking forward to that.

[Vince]

Probably a Strat

If you're going to build a Strat, then this video series will tell you everything you need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSDzBv_rIA&list=PLNBP5jXjfxM3WoWeK7NWEyZN7u4dqNQKR

Thanks for that Bobb ( a couple of hours lost so far! ) I had wondered how the frets get in the right position. Previously I had been frightened by tables of fret spacing based on thousandths of an inch.
The problem with these videos, is that they can justify the cost of the specialist tools in a workshop, whereas you could buy a good guitar for the cost of the tools. The Crapocaster would have been much better if I had stumped up for proper fret and nut files.

[De Sisti]

Ooh,I like the electric double bass. Doesn't take up much space, either...

Mrs W has almost banned me from owning an acoustic db. Master W had db lessons for a term (before he saw the light and took up saxophone) and even a little one was too much of a PITA for her. Not sure our current car would fit one either. The electric is perfect as I can just fold down the middle rear seat and slide it in (phnaar phnaar).

I could fit my double bass in my previous car; a SEAT Arosa. 

[T42]

Probably a Strat

If you're going to build a Strat, then this video series will tell you everything you need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSDzBv_rIA&list=PLNBP5jXjfxM3WoWeK7NWEyZN7u4dqNQKR

Thanks for that Bobb ( a couple of hours lost so far! ) I had wondered how the frets get in the right position. Previously I had been frightened by tables of fret spacing based on thousandths of an inch.
The problem with these videos, is that they can justify the cost of the specialist tools in a workshop, whereas you could buy a good guitar for the cost of the tools. The Crapocaster would have been much better if I had stumped up for proper fret and nut files.

Yeah. After looking at umpteen videos on Crimson Guitar, then Bobb's pics and then this I had a gander round my own workshop and reckoned that in spite of having built a stack of furniture I'd need a few hundred euros to get kitted out.  But then I could make N guitars, and maybe an electric double bass for my son.

[Plug1n]

The mention of B&H and Edgware a few days back prompted me to take this:




Briefly from left to right:

1. Pre-war B&H 1010 B flat with articulated g# and forked B flat
2. Pre-war B&H 1010 A
3. Pre-war B&H 1010 B flat
4. Pre-war B&H 1010 A
5. 80s Eaton B flat
6. 80s Eaton A
7. Yamaha German Boehm B flat
8. Yamaha German Boehm A
9. Late 60s B&H Imperial E flat
10. Yamaha E flat

While bikes come in n+1, clarinets generally come in n+2

[De Sisti]

Recently put on some new Helicore strings.

[BrianI]

My latest guitar:



I built it myself 

I have over 400 captioned photos of the build process. I know many of you have seen them on Facebook, but even if you don't have a Facebook account you should be able to view them all here

Impressive build, Bobb!    I wish I had a workshop and woodworking tools like that.  Have you been able to capture the guitar being played, yet?

[bobb]

Not yet I'm afraid. But all in good time....

It's actually in pieces at the moment. With all this lutherie talk, I decided to take the neck off and redo the frets. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while. Should finish it off tomorrow....