Guitar
Among the drawbacks of my old T-beam designs were the lack of a truss rod or similar system to control the bow of the neck.
A way to help this - but still use stock aluminium beam for the guitar - could be having a neck in two layers - an upper flat beam, tightening itself by pulling on a similar lower beam.
I hope the picture explains it, but in case it doesn't: The design uses a screw being retained by a bracket attached to the lower side of the top beam. The screw goes into a threaded hole in the end of the lower beam. When tightened, the screw will draw the top beam downwards, counteracting the pull of the strings.
With this build, I'll try if it works. The upper beam is only the length of the neck. It has frets mounted directly into it. The lower beam extends into a narrow body.
On the bridge end, I plan to mount a "stick-and-screw" tuner system. The prototype shown here works decently. I imagine, that using a brass bracket rather than the aluminium one here as well as harder steel for the screw threads will improve that.
The nut end contains a brass bar for holding the string ends, plus - on the bottom side - a bracket for the screw, that tightens the neck against the strings' pull.
Today, I cut the fret slots in a home made miter box and mounted the frets. The glue (two component epoxy) is hardening at the moment. Tomorrow, I shall see how well it turned out.
Next steps will be making the brass bar and bracket for the nut end plus drilling the screw hole in the lower beam.
- To-do List - Status
I am having slow progress on the T-beam bass (remember the to-do list?). I have carved out the curves for neck and body on the aluminium beam using hacksaw and file. There is still some filing to do before I mount the mahogany sides, which will also have...
- New Tuners
I've always wanted to try out my a particular form of tuners for headless guitars and basses. They work by having a scew pulling a brass block in which the ball end of the string is mounted. The main inspiration was Jeff Turpin's tuners; drawings...
- A Locking Nut That Didn't Work
Since I put the T-beam guitar on hold for a while, I bough a cheap Gibson SG copy for various experiments. One of the first things I wanted to try out was a tuning system, which uses a locking nut in combination with a Schaller 456 fine tuning bridge...
- 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...
- Alternatives To The T-beam
I've tried quite a lot of places to get the crucial component, the T-beam. It is more difficult than I originally expected. I've tried a couple of scrap metal dealers and the leading Danish metal distributor. Plus a couple of web-based stores....
Guitar
Two-layer aluminium neck
A way to help this - but still use stock aluminium beam for the guitar - could be having a neck in two layers - an upper flat beam, tightening itself by pulling on a similar lower beam.
I hope the picture explains it, but in case it doesn't: The design uses a screw being retained by a bracket attached to the lower side of the top beam. The screw goes into a threaded hole in the end of the lower beam. When tightened, the screw will draw the top beam downwards, counteracting the pull of the strings.
With this build, I'll try if it works. The upper beam is only the length of the neck. It has frets mounted directly into it. The lower beam extends into a narrow body.
On the bridge end, I plan to mount a "stick-and-screw" tuner system. The prototype shown here works decently. I imagine, that using a brass bracket rather than the aluminium one here as well as harder steel for the screw threads will improve that.The nut end contains a brass bar for holding the string ends, plus - on the bottom side - a bracket for the screw, that tightens the neck against the strings' pull.
Next steps will be making the brass bar and bracket for the nut end plus drilling the screw hole in the lower beam.
- To-do List - Status
I am having slow progress on the T-beam bass (remember the to-do list?). I have carved out the curves for neck and body on the aluminium beam using hacksaw and file. There is still some filing to do before I mount the mahogany sides, which will also have...
- New Tuners
I've always wanted to try out my a particular form of tuners for headless guitars and basses. They work by having a scew pulling a brass block in which the ball end of the string is mounted. The main inspiration was Jeff Turpin's tuners; drawings...
- A Locking Nut That Didn't Work
Since I put the T-beam guitar on hold for a while, I bough a cheap Gibson SG copy for various experiments. One of the first things I wanted to try out was a tuning system, which uses a locking nut in combination with a Schaller 456 fine tuning bridge...
- 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...
- Alternatives To The T-beam
I've tried quite a lot of places to get the crucial component, the T-beam. It is more difficult than I originally expected. I've tried a couple of scrap metal dealers and the leading Danish metal distributor. Plus a couple of web-based stores....