Honestly, the strings weren’t super slack. I think Billy Gibbons plays with .007-.038 strings, and I have to imagine that those are more slack than what I had. I think you have to just attack the...
Type: Posts; User: Walt
Honestly, the strings weren’t super slack. I think Billy Gibbons plays with .007-.038 strings, and I have to imagine that those are more slack than what I had. I think you have to just attack the...
For science:
https://youtu.be/zkBtpPUrr8k?si=WpmBNyUTerqU1J-r
This is my 18” electric octave capo’d at the fourth fret, which puts it a little over 14.25”. Then I tuned it down to G D A E with the...
Yes, the U-Bass, like the Ashbory bass, has silicon strings. What would be interesting to dig into instead are the octave violin strings. Are they just very heavy gauges? Or is something else going...
If you don’t have much to lose and want to try it, start using a string tension calculator set for a 14” scale. My electric octave is around 20lbs per string. That was a nice round number to start...
My 18” octave mandolin. .056-.013 gauges. Was basically going for an electric guitar in a mandolin form factor. It works for that. 18” is basically the crossover point, IMO. Longer than that and you...
Thanks everyone! Will check it all out.
Hey everyone, I’m planning a 16” L-5 inspired guitar and maybe a K-5 ‘cello this year. It has been more difficult than I thought to find archtop guitar spruce billets. The place I used before is out...
Thanks. That mandocello in my signature line was built by the great Joe Mendel. It was 27” and had a fantastic sound. With yours being an electric with single courses, you have a lot of flexibility...
What final tuning are you shooting for? CGDAE?
I just finished an 18" octave mandolin (electric 4 string), but I'm using custom gauges to get the tension/tuning where I want it. Beyond the...
I don’t have any insight on what box dimensions are desirable for those instruments (but IMO, the fact that we have guitars ranging from 0 to Jumbo means there’s room for variety in box size). A...
Check out one of the online string tension calculators to get you in the ballpark of where you need to be with regard to tension.
Even string output is always an issue with magnetic pickups. Plain...
Almost ready to wire up the electric octave mandolin. It’s nice getting to pop into the world of guitar tuning machines.
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I don’t know a lot about Yank Rachel, but I’ve been playing with string tension calculators for the past few weeks. D’adarrio had a great calculator that disappeared from the interwebs a while back....
Nice! Mine was built back in 2019. Here’s probably more info than you want on mine, lol: https://youtu.be/SbkOEdjRj50?si=uQ9_X5lrOpuipMHM
I’ve had it for sale on and off in the classifieds, so I...
Jerry, out of curiosity, what year/number is yours? I think I own a close sibling to it. Mine has block inlays, but is otherwise same specs (yours has nicer maple and mine has been through several...
Which set of strings are you using? What kind of pick? Does action feel low or high?
Thanks! Very good to know. I've heard people talk about "blush," but I never knew exactly what caused it.
I ended up just sanding it all back, taking it as an opportunity to focus a little more...
Thanks, y'all.
Yes, John, I set the bridge and tailpiece on there last night just to see if it made it look better--and it did.
In any case, looks like I'm going to get a second try with my...
Thanks all for the advice and tips. I ended up getting a $15 HVLP gun from Harbor Freight and it seemed to work great. Like I mentioned, I'm used to using the aerosol Zinnser, and this feels like a...
Thanks much, John and Richard!
For those spraying shellac before french polishing, what sort of setup and cut do you use?
For the last few builds, I sprayed a couple of coats of off-the-shelf aerosol Zinnser before moving into a...
Of course it could be amazing in the hands of a really accomplished builder. I mean, one of the coolest guitars on the planet is made out of chopsticks and a broken piano!...
As much as I love owning and working on OWWM, and as firmly as I’m currently stuck down the rabbit hole, I personally own the Dewalt 735. I’ve come across several old planers that I’ve almost pulled...
I'm almost done with this electric octave mandolin. It will have four single strings and a relatively short scale (18"). Shooting for something in an octave mando range in a mandolin/mandola-size...
I think it all looks normal. The back looks like quartersawn maple—that’s why you have the straight grain lines. And a lot of maple is unfigured, in which case you wouldn’t see much, or any,...