Do it yourself

[rockola]

I'm about to start an ambitious project, namely, building a tapping instrument myself. I'm lucky to have a professional luthier to guide me (I'm enrolled in an instrument making course at a local community college of sorts), but of course he has no experience with tap guitars.

The instrument is still in the planning stage, but here's what I have decided so far. It will have 8 strings and most probably will be tuned in fourths. The pickups will be Bill Lawrence's SM-8 single coils, originally intended for an 8-string lap steel, but presumably they'll work in this application as well. I've already ordered a pair, one reverse wound reverse polarity so they'll form a humbucker when used simultaneously.

To get the bass I currently don't have with an ordinary guitar, the instrument will have a scale length of 34". It's a tried and true length, and strings are readily available. I haven't decided on the neck wood yet, but maple is a likely candidate.

The part I'm having the most trouble with is the bridge. There are no 8-string bass bridges available from luthier supply stores. I might go for individual bridges, but as that would be expensive I may also try to build one myself from brass or aluminum.

On the whole, the instrument is going to be a no-frills tap guitar, without any fancy features like inlays or binding. Also, no fancy wood - I'm going to investigate the possibility of using local woods like birch or alder. There is precedent in using birch for neck stock, and I already have some experience in working with alder - I have an unfinished Tele clone with a 2-piece alder body waiting to be put together. Alder is a very easy wood to work with, but it's not rigid enough for necks.

Any comments? Does anybody have experience in building a tapping instrument from scratch? What features would you like to see in such an instrument?

[wmlusk]

Ola,
I saw this product and thought of your bridge question.

http://mailboxmusic.zoovy.com/product/BBRINDI

Do you think something like this would work for an 8-string like you are contemplating?

-b

[rockola]

I'm sure those (individual bridges for each string) would work, if they're not too wide for the string spacing used.

[wmlusk]

How are you coming with your new instrument?

[rockola]

Actual construction hasn't started yet. I still have a Telecaster to complete before I move on to the tapping instrument.

However, I just received a shipment of parts from Rockinger in Germany. I am going to try to use Strat saddles and machine a bridge plate to hold them. The tuners will be Klusons. I bought two sets of 3-per-side tuners - perhaps the leftovers will go to an electric mandolin, I don't know yet. A double action bass truss rod was also in the shipment, I just am not quite sure if I should get another and put two in, reinforce the neck with carbon fiber, or just try my luck with the one rod.

The pickups have also arrived. I am still waiting for fretwire - it's coming from a vendor in the Netherlands, so this will be quite an international instrument. The frets will be Dunlop 6000, the highest I could find at 1.47mm (0.058") crown height.

I still haven't got the wood. I am probably going to get maple for the neck and alder for the body. The general shape will probably be very much like an 8-string ADG, with an even simpler body outline.

I also haven't decided whether I will go the traditional Fender route and have an all-maple neck or if I will put a rosewood fretboard on it. If the latter, I might also inlay it - any ideas?

About the individual bridges, they're 10mm wide which makes them too wide for this application (I am going for as little string fanout as possible).

[wmlusk]

Have you considered Dave Bunker's electro-mute?

It would eliminate the need for a damper and can be switched off if you wanted open strings to ring out.
Just a thought.

[rockola]

Electro-Mute? Too expensive & complicated. This will be a no-frills instrument. Does Bunker Guitars even sell it separately?

I will go with the easy solution, aka Rubbermaid(TM) damper in the first fret (as used in Megatars and early Warrs).

[rockola]

An update on the "DIY 8-string tap guitar" project...

I now have the 8-string bridge. I cut the bridge plate from 2 mm thick brass and installed 8 Strat saddles just as I planned.

Also, today I went shopping for the wood. The body blank is already glued together from two parts of American red alder. The neck will be maple, four parts laminated together. I already cut the maple slices but didn't have time to glue them up, on the plus side now I still have the possibility to add a contrasting veneer between the maple slices, don't know if I will though. Still no clue where to find a fretboard wide enough. The fretwire is already here, so I have all the parts except the fretboard. If all goes well I'll be able to go to Belgium in July with this one.

[rockola]

The adventure continues... I was able to locate a source for extra wide fretboard blanks. The fretboard will be Asian rosewood, with a matching headstock plate. I also ordered a spare set so I may have to build another right after this one's finished!

[vallste]

Hi, I'm new in this forum.

Due to the fact that here in Italy a Touch style instrument is hard to find and expensive i was thinking to design and build it.
My project is similar to a Bass Stick (8 strings all 4ths from low B String spacing 10.41mm) but I've got few doubts/problems (also because I don't know any owner of TSI):
1) a problem to find guitar strings long enough to fit the 34" scale length. I was thinking to reduce scale length to to 31" but what I suspect is that I will have problems to reach the low B and mantain a correct string tension.
2) what kind of tuning machines I should use?
3) what kind of Pick-up, I'm thinking at 6 string bass type but I suspect it lacks in high frequencies response.


Any suggestion is welcomed
Thank you for your attention, bye

[traktor]

Vallste wrote, regarding his homebrew project:
My project is similar to a Bass Stick (8 strings all 4ths from low B String spacing 10.41mm):
This is a good spacing choice as standard Strat saddles are just about 10mm wide, so you can use standard saddles, and either cut two standard plates, or make one custom plate from L-shaped material. My suggestion is first try cutting two plates, each with four holes. I think it will be easier.

Once the string space is a given, then do some geometry, figuring out how wide the strings should be as they pass over the pickups. Then, given your chosen scale length, you can calculate neck and nut width.
1) a problem to find guitar strings long enough to fit the 34" scale length. I was thinking to reduce scale length to to 31" but what I suspect is that I will have problems to reach the low B and mantain a correct string tension. The biggest problem with your proposed 31' scale length is it will probably weaken the bass tone somewhat. Stick, Warr, and Megatar have all chosen to make the bass strong by using a scale length of 33-33.5 inches.

Does that long length weaken the melody tone? Yes, it does. Best solution would be Novak fanned fretts. (See www.novaxguitars.com or the ToneWeaver model at www.megatar.com.)

I once had a tapping instrument which had a 27.5 inch scale length. Nice melody sound, weak bass. At 31 it might work, because I think 'picolo' basses are about 30 inches.

But if you're just trying to solve the strings problem, buy strings from Stick, Megatar, Warr, or TouchStyle Publications. That's the easy answer. In fact you should be able to find bass strings for nearly all your strings, and you can always tie a bit onto guitar strings. Looks stupid, but works fine. 2) what kind of tuning machines I should use? If you try to use big bass tuners, your tuning head will have to be very very long, and thus probably too heavy. So use 16:1 guitar tuners. You will have to get a Dremel tool and drill out the string holes for the lowest 2 or 3 strings, but this is an easy modification. 3) what kind of Pick-up, I'm thinking at 6 string bass type but I suspect it lacks in high frequencies response. Guitar pickups work pretty good. I've never tried bass pickups, so I don't know, but I'd have the same suspicion as you. Different pickups have different qualities so if you can try them that's the best. Try wiring it up and holding it *above* the strings and moving back and forth to find the best sounding place. Use of modelling clay for support will make this easy, with the instrument placed flat on two big books on a table.

Good luck!

Please keep us informed!

[vallste]

Thank you Traktor!
I was thinking at the fanned fretboard too, It will complicate the project but will allow me to increase bass lenght, I have to design a "fanned" headstock so I can use guitar strings (short but easy to find).

Bye

[rockola]

Another progress update for those who care:

My DIY 8-string tap guitar is coming along, if a bit slowly. I only have access to a workshop for 2.5 hours a week, so bear with me.

I decided not to use the lap steel pickups I had originally planned to use as I could not get a nice fit between their 3/8" pole piece spacing and the bridge spacing of 10 mm. Instead, I ordered an EMG 5-string bass active pickup. It's a blade design, so there are no pole pieces and thus the string spacing is not an issue, and the maximum string spread is about 79 mm which is plenty. I've never had an instrument with active electronics before, so I'm extremely curious to see and hear how it works out.

The 4-piece maple neck blank is laminated. The headstock was cut from the blank and sliced back at a 15-degree angle. I fabricated a twin compression truss rod out of 5 mm round steel bars, routed the concave channels for it and will finish gluing the fillers on top of the bars next week. After that, the fretboard goes on, then the frets, then I'll carve it to its final shape and finish the neck with Tru-Oil (often used for gun stocks, sometimes for guitars as well).

Unfortunately it looks like I may not be able to finish it in time for the July seminar in Belgium. It's funny how even the smallest details take a lot of time.

[traktor]

Originally posted by rockola
... After that, the fretboard goes on, then the frets, then I'll carve it to its final shape and finish the neck with Tru-Oil .


I assume that you will slot for the frets before you install the fretboard? Probably easier to work on before installation.

Also, in the interest of getting a nice flat set of frets -- be sure to get the top surface of the fretboard as flat as possible before installation, and then maybe a touchup before installing the frets. If the fretboard has a very flat plane before frets go on, then you will minimize the work you need to do on the frets and have a better fret job as well.

Did you say you were going to use a true nut, or a zero-fret?

[rockola]

Traktor, you're right, I'll to do the fret slots before the fretboard is glued on. I'm going to use a true nut if I can find a nut blank that wide.

[traktor]

Originally posted by rockola
I'm going to use a true nut if I can find a nut blank that wide.

Nut blanks that wide are difficult. But other than a bit of fussiness, I see no reason why you couldn't also make two smaller nuts. Then you could find blanks in any material you wanted.

Another approach: If you don't find a 'nut blank' wide enough, why not use a non-standard material? I've seen nuts made of brass, and you can get/machine that to any size you want.

[rockola]

Excellent idea Traktor, thanks! I hadn't thought of making a brass nut even though I already made a brass bridge for the instrument.

[rockola]

Dear diary, :p

yesterday was the last session with my tap guitar project until September, so I definitely won't be taking it with me to Belgium until 2004. I glued on the headstock veneer and started sawing the fret slots, which went surprisingly well for a first attempt. Of course the true test only comes when the instrument is strung up and I'll hear for myself if it intonates correctly. I am fairly confident it will.

I told my teacher I'm going to use a brass nut and he replied: " :eek: Well, better get yourself a set of nut files then 'cause you certainly won't be ruining ours on brass!" I do have a set, but I may look for alternative materials. Corian would be nice, if I could find a scrap piece somewhere. Reindeer antler might also be a possibility for that exotic touch (a bit of Arctic contrast there between the Cambodian rosewood headplate and fingerboard), it's fairly readily available here, knife makers use it a lot for handles and handle ornaments.

[traktor]

Ola,

There are plenty of files in the world. It doesn't matter if it's a nut file or not.

And I repeat: why not make two separate nuts? Then you can use any material. It would not be weak, or problematic.. Heck, you can glue the two together end to end with superglue. Glue some little piece of something else in between and -- presto! -- it's a design feature!

Of course, I think you like the idea of the reindeer antler. But I would suggest something even better: the shinbone of a viking! Yeah, that's it!

[rockola]

It doesn't matter if it's a nut file or not.

How would you file the slots for the thinnest strings with anything but a nut file of the proper width?

why not make two separate nuts?

It would seriously screw up the Feng Shui of the instrument. Or was it Tai Chi? I forget.

I am surprised that a man of obviously vast worldly knowledge such as yourself is ignorant of the fact that Vikings were not from nor did they probably ever come near Finland. Reindeers, however, are and did.

[Mark Rende]

I think I'm with you on this one, Ola.

I usually like to give my guitars female names, but if it had two nuts, that would feel kind of strange.

;)

[wmlusk]

You could always name in Xena!

;)

[rockola]

Dear diary,

the fret slots have been sawed, the frets haven't been installed yet though. I'm having some trouble with the headstock shape as I noticed I didn't make the headstock area quite wide enough and it's difficult to get all the tuners in a pleasing arrangement with a straight string path. When the headstock and the frets are done, next stop: shaping the neck, cutting the neck pocket in the body, and fitting the two together for the first time. I'll also have to make some inlays to hide the holes for the two screws which held the fretboard and neck together when glueing.

This project is definitely taking more time & energy than I thought when starting, and it would have definitely made more sense to just buy one if I just wanted an 8-string. Making an instrument for yourself is not just about that, though.

[rockola]

Dear diary,

the project is slowly starting to resemble a musical instrument. Since the last update, I've routed the neck pocket, so I was able to fit the neck and body together for the first time. I also installed 2 of the 3 planned fretboard inlays, round mother-of-pearl dots on the 12th and 17th fret. The one on the 5th fret is still not there because I did what every aspiring instrument maker must do to earn their wings - I routed the inlay cavity BEFORE, not after the 4th fret. D'oh!!! :eek:

Not to worry, I hadn't thrown away the scrap pieces from the fretboard blank, so I made a rectangular patch, enlarged the false cavity so the patch fit, glued it in place & levelled it, and now it's almost as good as new :D The patch doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, but some of the grain doesn't quite match. Well, live and learn.

[traktor]

That's the right attitude, Rockola. It's only by making the blunders that you actually discover where they lie in wait, and it's the overcoming of the blunders that creates the skill that leads to mastery.

If you can get through this first instrument, encountering and dealing with only FIXABLE blunders, you are a big winner. I might reference yesterday's Bloggard post (http://www.bloggard.com/blog/item/346) as particularly appropriate in this case, as you will see.

[rockola]

Dear diary,

things have progressed at a leisurely pace since the last update. However, there is still a slight hope I might get this project done by the seminar in Belgium this July (of course, I said the same thing last year).

The headstock is now shaped and drilled for the machine heads. I still have to take off some wood to get the machine heads seated correctly; I had to take a spokeshave to the back of the headstock to thin it down to 13 mm, and it's not quite level enough. Prior to that, I also inlayed the 24th fret for completeness, so there's now a round inlay on the 5th and octave in both octaves.

Also done is the control cavity. Again, I made a blunder :eek: I planned to use a Forstner bit to take the wood down to 5 mm for the pots & jack, but didn't do a practice run (ignoring the First Law of Luthiery: PRACTICE ON SCRAP FIRST! :p) and so drilled straight through the top of the body. Fortunately, the hole is a perfect fit for an ElectroSocket, a special kind of jack plate. I'll just have to find a stereo jack that fits it; the one that came with the EMG pickup has different threads. I almost made the same mistake twice, and one of the pot holes now only has about 3 mm wood; however, it should be OK unless the pot gets a direct blow from above, in which case the top might crack. There's very little I can do about it now, so hopefully the instrument will be treated with care... Anyway, if the top does crack, a control plate can be installed, so it's mainly a cosmetic issue.

Some metal work has also been done. I made a cover plate for the control cavity out of brass. As the strings will be inserted through the body, I also made a plate against which the ball ends of the strings will be stopped.

My quest for the elusive nut blank is over :D A local guitar repair guy happened to have a 120 mm wide Tusq nut blank. Tusq is a synthetic material, used in lots of guitars.

[dr_scrimshaw]

Go to the pet section of the store and get a dog bone. If you look around you can find really dense (cow shins? femurs?) that are a foot long or longer. K-Mart has bleached, sterilized ones. If you can build fretboards, etc. you can saw a blank out of a bone. I usually saw the knuckles off on a band saw, then saw it lengthwise. Then I saw out an over sized nut (or bridge inlay) and finish it up by sanding it to size. Put the sandpaper on a FLAT surface (glass works). Admittedly, I haven't done a wide nut this way, but I see no problems with it. There are lots more cows than reindeer in the US, so it's easier to find exotic "shin du bovine" than antler of reindeer.

[Clark_Kent]

I have a homemade touchstyle instrument, and I just used an acoustic guitar saddle made of micarta.
It measures 4-1/8" x 15/32" x 1/8" and makes a great nut.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddles/Acoustic_bridge_saddles/3/Acoustic_Bridge_Saddles.html

Also I use (believe it or not) a set of feeler gauges to cut nut slots. I just used a coarse file to rough up one edge of the gauges, and now I can cut a nut slot from .008 to .135, for about $5.
I won't work on brass, tho.

[rjgoos]

Well, dang it, Clark....got any pictures of your instrument? We'd love to see it.

Jay


P.S. I've been meaning to ask you some questions for a long time, Clark....like how you can take off your glasses and NOBODY recognizes you? How does that work??

[Clark_Kent]

My homemade project started as a stick clone, down to the last detail. I had a friend who had an ironwood model which he let me play, and I was instantly hooked. I couldn't afford a new one (or a used one) so I decided to build my own.
(Yes, I know...BAD me.)
Anyway, I finally added a small body to it so that I could put in full sized bass and guitar pickups.
...gotta picture of it here somewhere...

Project number 2 has been started. This time I'm building a 10 string Warr guitar knock-off (seems like the next logical step in understanding tone)

As for the glasses...
It works the same way as when I shave off my beard, and people ask me if I got a haircut.
People are just that way, I guess.

[Fredrik]

I will go with the easy solution, aka Rubbermaid(TM) damper in the first fret (as used in Megatars and early Warrs). [/B][/QUOTE]

Yo, Ola - where would you order these?

Hows it all turning out with your instrument??

Fredrik

[rockola]

Originally posted by Fredrik
I will go with the easy solution, aka Rubbermaid(TM) damper in the first fret (as used in Megatars and early Warrs).

Yo, Ola - where would you order these?

At least in Finland the stuff is easy enough to find in a regular hardware store. You can even choose the colour (I have it in white and yellow). If not, I would imagine Megatar Industries would be willing to send you a slice for a princely sum. I'd volunteer, but all my guitar-building materials are in transit, and it seems that they'll stay that way for a while.

Hows it all turning out with your instrument??

Thanks for asking, it's coming along nicely, all the woodwork is done, I just need to put all the parts together & fashion a nut, and it's there. Unfortunately it might take me a while still, moving to the other side of the planet tends to slow these things down.

[Glenn Drakeley]

Fredrik,

I have one whole unused roll, 1ft x 4ft, of damper material that you may have, free of charge. It's lavender in colour, not the most appealing of colours i'll admit, but it's worked great for me on my Box JC-35, which arrived damperless !!! email drakeley@monmouth.com if you'd like the whole roll or just a slice !!!

Happy 2005 !!!

[Tiptannick]

So, the Rockola's TapGuitar is it done now ?

We want to see pics !!

[BrendaEM]

Hi,

I am using Black Delrin for the nut on my instrument. It's nice plastic for nuts because it's slippery.

http://www.mcmaster.com/ has 3/16" sheets for around $20, which could make a lot of instruments. Their site navigation is all java, or I would point you closer. Try searching for 8575K114
They have white too.

You might be able to find it locally.

[rockola]

Originally posted by Tiptannick
So, the Rockola's TapGuitar is it done now ?

We want to see pics !! So do I, but it's still not done... Let's just say that it hasn't been a very high priority recently. I will put it together one day, I promise.