Carl's guitar project.

[warpedbored]

It must be a guitar it has frets on it.

 

Last night I finished my saddle slotting jig and cut the slot in the bridge for the saddle. Today I finished leveling the fret board and hammered in the frets. It was both easier and more difficult than I expected. Easy in the sense that it didn't take long to get the hang of how to do it and difficult in the sense that I had a couple of frets that didn't want to seat right. The tang of the frets has little barbs on them. If you just hammer them straight in they can come out too easy. because the barbs cut a channel straight down. If you tap in the ends first then tap in the middle the barbs slide slightly sideways making them stay in better. First I ran the fret wire through the bending jig I made a few months ago to put a radius slightly tighter than the radius of the fret board. Next I cut the frets slightly longer than the fret slot and slightly chamfered the top of the slot. Two reasons to chamfer the top of the slot. One it makes it easier to start the fret and two it makes it easier to get them out when it needs re-fretting. To hammer them in I used a small dead blow hammer.

 

http://oi48.tinypic.com/1punsw.jpg

 

 

http://oi46.tinypic.com/34glcmu.jpg

[tsap seui]

I look at that geetar Carl, and I hear Django Rhinehart playing flamingo. Cool, it's coming together.

 

tsap seui

[Mick]

It really looks great, Carl. You did a great job with the frets.

[warpedbored]

Worked on the bridge today. It is nearly finished. Next I will make yet another jig to locate the bridge in the proper position and glue it on. Then make the nut. It's getting close to the point where the rubber meets the road. Setting up the guitar itself. I'm more than a little nervous about it. Several factors are at play that will determine whether or not it's a playable guitar. Scale length, saddle compensation, neck relief and action. The height of the nut and saddle have to be low enough to play easily and high enough to not buzz on the frets. There are a lot of misconceptions about truss rods. Many people think they are to set the action, they're not. Their purpose is to set the neck relief. A very slight bow in the neck so that when a string is pressed against the fret at the 1st and 14th fret they will clear the 6th fret by no more than 1/32" and no less than 1/64". Once I'm happy with the action and the neck relief I'll need to file the saddle for compensation. Notice the angle in the saddle from the bass to the treble side. The bass strings are thicker and stretch more requiring more compensation. An acoustic guitar is impossible to set perfectly. When you press on a string it stretches it making the scale length longer than an open tuning. To compensate I'll tune the guitar open then check it at the 12th fret. It will be flat or sharp. I'll file the front or back of the saddle for each string until it is in tune at both locations.

 

http://oi47.tinypic.com/1j2mvr.jpg

[tsap seui]

Carl, I thought about you today. Wenyan and I took Fengqi to buy him a geetar (I taught him that word too). I wanted to buy him yours but he wanted one now...LOL

 

We got him a basic simple acoustic to start off with and see if he likes playing. We can even take it back, if he takes care of it, within a year and get full refund to use towards a more expensive geetar. I don't pretend to be a guitar player but I know a few chords and I showed him how to hold the pick and where to press the strings on the frets. It kinda brought back some memories of Christmas 1964 when I got my first geetar. I hope he takes to it but time will tell. Just more cool stuff to do with my son.

 

It's great to see your work coming to fruition.

 

tsap seui

[warpedbored]

If he works as hard on the guitar as he does his school work he will be successful. Most kids give it up because it hurts their fingers and it's too hard to learn. You have to really want it. The problem with learning on really cheap guitars is if the action is too high it can be painful. Epiphone makes some pretty decent guitars that don't cost a fortune. They're owned by Gibson but are made in China and Korea. Tell him if he wants to learn he must practice every day.

[Mick]

Like Carl said, it takes practice, practice, and more practice. At first, the pain in the fingers is almost unbearable, especially if the action is set too high on the guitar. Of course, if it is too low, you get a lot of buzz, so finding the happy medium is the key. But tell him if he can just play through the pain, his fingertips will toughen up in short order and then it is smoother sailin'. I once heard in a biographical video how Stevie Ray used to play in clubs in Austin all night, sometimes until the callouses on his fingers fell off. He would Super-glue them back on and keep on rockin'. I hope he takes to it. Like Carl said, Epiphone is a great choice for gitfiddles. I like Ibanez as well. I order a lot of my stuff from Musicians Friend, which is located up there in Pennsylvania somewhere. Great prices and free shipping. You can find them at: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/?source=3WWRWXGT&ktid=37-3234639&gclid=CPnXpICC97UCFRGqnQodCTsADw.

[Urkidding]

Are you using a dremel tool on any of the detailed work. I use on here and I can see where one would be handy on some of items that you are showing us here..

 

Oh BTW - Happy belated Birthday - thought you'd let it slip by?

 

[warpedbored]

Are you using a dremel tool on any of the detailed work. I use on here and I can see where one would be handy on some of items that you are showing us here..

 

Oh BTW - Happy belated Birthday - thought you'd let it slip by?

 

I do have a Dremel but I didn't use it on this. I shaped the wings of the bridge by roughing it out on the band saw then chucking up a sanding drum in my drill press. I finished it by hand with sand paper.

[tsap seui]

If he works as hard on the guitar as he does his school work he will be successful. Most kids give it up because it hurts their fingers and it's too hard to learn. You have to really want it. The problem with learning on really cheap guitars is if the action is too high it can be painful. Epiphone makes some pretty decent guitars that don't cost a fortune. They're owned by Gibson but are made in China and Korea. Tell him if he wants to learn he must practice every day.

The height of the strings was the first thing I looked at on his guitar, Carl. I remember how it was with my first guitar. I was surprised that it was low.

 

Fengqi, told me this morning he feels the urge to play an instrument. Said he had taken a few piano lessons in China when he was younger but didn't really like it.

 

The guy who sold him the guitar told him to give it at least 6 months before he made up his mind. I agree whole heartedly with that and told Fengqi and Wenyan that again in the car as we went home. Also tried to explain to him the benefits of using a guitar teacher. Heck, it's once a week for half an hour, and is only $50 per month. I told him this morning as I took him ot school that I owuld be very happy to pay for his lessons and how they would greatly improve his learning, and his way around the guitar. I was a bass player and have forgotten everything I learned about guitars back when I was 14.

 

It's pretty cool stuff. I don't know how Fengqi will do and if he will do much more than plink around on it. I will be encouraging him where I can but I gotta telll ya, if he never does anything with that guitar, it was a pure joy for me to be part of his buying it, and to see the looks on his and Wenyans faces and to hear them chattering away in CHinese while we were in the store. One of those precious moments for me.

 

I don't know the name of this guitar, didn't really care at this stage, just looked at the action and handed the thing to Fengqi. He paid $99 dollars for it and it looks brand new.....it is used and started out costing $170. I offered my best to pay for it but he's like that. He gets some money from his father and his side of the family and he won't let me buy him anything. I told him how smart it was to buy a noname cheapo guitar to break his fingers in on and get some calluses going. NIce that the owner of the music shop will take it in trade towards a better guitar should he like to play.

 

My oh my, if he studied this guitar like he studys his lessons and for the SAT test...WOW...you are right Carl.

 

Thanks guys, we'll see how the pick picks, so to speak...lol

 

tsap seui

[Urkidding]

This guy has talent...and two hands to play with

 

[warpedbored]

He is good. Ambidextrous describes him well.

[warpedbored]

Check out this 8 year old girl.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/8-year-old-girl-is-epic-guitarist/1jrxo6xjs?q=viral&rel=msn&ocid=vt_fbmsnvid

[dnoblett]

I know this may be the next project.

 

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad334/dnoblett/Misc%20Junk%20for%20posting/484707_582742981744523_228869489_n_zps8ad56f1d.jpg

[dnoblett]

Here is a virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro on the Ukulele

 

http://youtu.be/puSkP3uym5k