• Finished Guitar Case

    The Big One07/24/2017 at 04:52 0 comments

    I finished making the case tonight.  It didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but it is still OK.  The biggest problems I had were getting all the styrofoam layers cut to the same dimensions and getting the hardboard shell in place and fitting.

    First, here is the finished product.  After that I will walk through the construction process.


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  • A couple of different tunings

    The Big One07/22/2017 at 04:07 1 comment

    I am planning on using this guitar in Chicago tuning (DGBE), at least initially, since I already know the chord shapes from the ukulele.  I am now playing around with variations on that tuning.

    Unfortunately I don't have a bunch of recording gear, so both of these are just recorded with the on-board microphone on the D7000... it's not great, but it seems to have a reasonably clean sound that is fairly close to what it sounds like in person.

    First up we have a sample with the basic DGBE tuning:

    Next I have the same, but with a low D string (D2 instead of D3).  It gives the guitar a bit more body, but I don't think I like it as much... not sure what it is, but it feels a bit 'off' somehow.  Perhaps it is due to the large gap between the D and the G string.  It also doesn't help that the nut and saddle are not filed wide enough for the larger string, but I don't want to do that until I am ready to commit.

    I have also tried (no video, unfortunately), a low G string: so D3, G2, B3, E4.  That one felt worse than the low D... it was pretty awkward to have a larger string in the middle.  Again, probably just a mental thing on my part, but whatever.

    I am currently leaning towards just keeping it in the standard DGBE, at least for now, but if you have any thoughts / comments on it, please let me know!

    Cheers

  • Construction Pictures

    The Big One07/20/2017 at 20:46 0 comments

    I started out with a design in QCad.  I decided on an approximate scale length, shape, and features:

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