Guitar
I've made the spine of the two-string, nylon string, fretless piezo alu T-beam stick bass. Now I have to stick some wood and some piezo pickups on it.
Some photos:
I will shorten bot ends of the T-beam down to the tuners and string holes. Btw, these are not nylon strings as originally described, but flatwound steel strings. I found out that the pull of nylon strings wasn't that much lighter than that of steel strings, so I went for these instead.
I've played it with a cheap non-preamplified piezo pickup on the flange. Sounded very good and feels very alive... I'll make some sound samples to go here. It even sounds good bowed. Plus it was easy to bow; since it only has two strings, they are easy to hit even though the fingerboard is flat (as in not being "radiused" like the fingerboard of e.g. a violin). So far, I am really, really satisfied with it.
Common bass tuners mounted in oak blocks. Bronze saddles through top flange. And yes, the saddles aren't completely perpendicular to the top flange. I'll mount them in slots in the top flange rather than in threaded holes, which will make it possible to adjust intonation. And then I won't have to worry about my crooked thread-cutting.
Action is ridiculously high at the moment, but if I set it lower, the strings don't press properly down on the saddles. I need a string tree, but I'll make it myself, since the strings are 18 mm apart.
Making the wood sides is next. Plus, I might trim down the "fretting" part of the neck to 25 mm (1") thickness. It feels too thick as it is now (4o mm). I was going to do that at some point anyway, but now I'll do it sooner rather than later.
The local staircase manufacturer kindly donated a nice piece of mahogany, and I've just bought a table-mounted circular saw. Plus, I am eager to use my router that I bought over a year ago and haven't used much. Making the wood sides should be a breeze.
Hope springs eternal.
- A Sliding Pickup
There has been several attempts - by for example Westone and more recently Norton Guitars - to make a pickup that can be moved to the areas of the strings where different antinodes and their corresponding overtones are located. This gives you the sound...
- Wooden Sides
I made two wooden sides from some spruce, just to test how it worked. Also to avoid messing up my good mahogany plank with early mistakes. I routed the cavities for saddles, nuts, strings and tuners with an ordinary plunge router in a table. I have little...
- Setting My Sights A Little Lower
It can't have escaped anyone's attention that I haven't yet built the T-beam guitar. Even though I've talked a lot about it, nothing tangible has emerged. I've bought the components and there's nothing much missing. It's just...
- The Aluminium Bars Have Arrived
The flat bars of aluminium, which I ordered, have arrived. If I arrange them as a T-beam and add the other components I have already bought, it looks like this. The guitar is almost complete, right? All that's lacking is some wood. Not exactly. I...
- Making My Own T-beam
As mentioned earlier, I've had an unexpected hard time finding a suitable T-beam. There are lots of them available, but none wide enough for me to make holes for the pickups without intersecting the top flange completely. For now, I have given...
Guitar
Stick Bass Pictures
I've made the spine of the two-string, nylon string, fretless piezo alu T-beam stick bass. Now I have to stick some wood and some piezo pickups on it.
Some photos:
I will shorten bot ends of the T-beam down to the tuners and string holes. Btw, these are not nylon strings as originally described, but flatwound steel strings. I found out that the pull of nylon strings wasn't that much lighter than that of steel strings, so I went for these instead.
I've played it with a cheap non-preamplified piezo pickup on the flange. Sounded very good and feels very alive... I'll make some sound samples to go here. It even sounds good bowed. Plus it was easy to bow; since it only has two strings, they are easy to hit even though the fingerboard is flat (as in not being "radiused" like the fingerboard of e.g. a violin). So far, I am really, really satisfied with it.
Common bass tuners mounted in oak blocks. Bronze saddles through top flange. And yes, the saddles aren't completely perpendicular to the top flange. I'll mount them in slots in the top flange rather than in threaded holes, which will make it possible to adjust intonation. And then I won't have to worry about my crooked thread-cutting.
Action is ridiculously high at the moment, but if I set it lower, the strings don't press properly down on the saddles. I need a string tree, but I'll make it myself, since the strings are 18 mm apart.
Making the wood sides is next. Plus, I might trim down the "fretting" part of the neck to 25 mm (1") thickness. It feels too thick as it is now (4o mm). I was going to do that at some point anyway, but now I'll do it sooner rather than later.
The local staircase manufacturer kindly donated a nice piece of mahogany, and I've just bought a table-mounted circular saw. Plus, I am eager to use my router that I bought over a year ago and haven't used much. Making the wood sides should be a breeze.
Hope springs eternal.
- A Sliding Pickup
There has been several attempts - by for example Westone and more recently Norton Guitars - to make a pickup that can be moved to the areas of the strings where different antinodes and their corresponding overtones are located. This gives you the sound...
- Wooden Sides
I made two wooden sides from some spruce, just to test how it worked. Also to avoid messing up my good mahogany plank with early mistakes. I routed the cavities for saddles, nuts, strings and tuners with an ordinary plunge router in a table. I have little...
- Setting My Sights A Little Lower
It can't have escaped anyone's attention that I haven't yet built the T-beam guitar. Even though I've talked a lot about it, nothing tangible has emerged. I've bought the components and there's nothing much missing. It's just...
- The Aluminium Bars Have Arrived
The flat bars of aluminium, which I ordered, have arrived. If I arrange them as a T-beam and add the other components I have already bought, it looks like this. The guitar is almost complete, right? All that's lacking is some wood. Not exactly. I...
- Making My Own T-beam
As mentioned earlier, I've had an unexpected hard time finding a suitable T-beam. There are lots of them available, but none wide enough for me to make holes for the pickups without intersecting the top flange completely. For now, I have given...