building plans for stick

[mighty mike]

I'm thinking about building a chapman stick like instrument and wonder if there are any building plans available. if not, I'd like to know how the 'open' strings are damped. probably with a piece of felt? any info would be nice!

[GaryOpenhill]

the "loops" side of velcro tape works well for me.

[rjgoos]

Mike:

As far as I know, there isn't a set of plans available for a tapping instrument (Stick-like or otherwise), either open-source, or for sale. Most of us had to start from scratch. But, designing your own, and watching the design go from lines on paper to an actual instrument, is where most of the fun is (at least for me).


Jay

[TheEclectic]

Seems that the most dificult part will be doing the frets properly.

Does anyone use a fret template? If so, where was it sourced?

What is the typical scale of a tapping iunstrument?

I came across this fret calculator, but you need to know the scale:
http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

Measuring and slotting to a thousnadth of an inch accuracy has got to be tough.

[rjgoos]

Someone has posted, but I forget the name of the company, who will slot fretboards for a reasonable fee, using computer-controlled equipment.

StewMac has fret slotting supplies, and guides/templates as well.

Someone correct me if I"m wrong but I seem to recall that Warr/Megatar/older Sticks are 34" scale. The newer Sticks, I believe, are 36" scale.

But, there are shorter scale tapping instruments as well, the Solene, certain Box models, the Alto Stick, etc, so I don't think there is a "set" scale length for a tapping instrument.

[BigDaddyPoo]

Originally posted by rjgoos
Someone has posted, but I forget the name of the company, who will slot fretboards for a reasonable fee, using computer-controlled equipment.

It was me who posted this info. I ordered a Cocobolo 25 fret 34" scale fretboard that was 120mm wide and machined and slotted for less than $30 with shipping. It came from www.lmii.com. I'm about to post some pictures of it on my building thread, in case you want to see it.

If you want to slot the fretboard yourself, you will pay a lot more for the tools and wood than this. But, I can recomend the stewmac system. I've seen it in action and it works well. The 34" scale fretting template also has a shortscale template (32" I think) on the other side.