Petition to name the full scale Mustang "The Clydesdale"

#13 Bass VI mock up- finally. hope to have it done by mid-week.

I'll get some pics of the Clydesdale tomorrow- mostly done, just need to attach neck and start assembly next week.

c jury wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 8:40 pm

#13 Bass VI mock up- finally. hope to have it done by mid-week.

I'll get some pics of the Clydesdale tomorrow- mostly done, just need to attach neck and start assembly next week.

Very impressed by this. Looks sick af!

Better pic of the Bass VI- I've got some serious work to do around the low E and A. Always a problem on a Bass VI. And here is a mock-up of the Clydesdale-should finish it up tomorrow, maybe? Then it needs to find a new home.

I've watched this thread with keen interest since it first emerged all those years ago, and at the ripe old age of 44 I've finally jumped into woodworking in earnest. I could have sworn we had a woodworking thread but I can no longer UTFSF.

Of course project number one had to be a pedal board! I've had a lot of fun making mistakes and learning how to make those mistakes again, only less obviously. Perhaps the most fun bit of this entire project was the building of a box joint jig. My school woodworking teacher would be proud:




What I'm actually here for is some advice from luthiers and instrument builders here - I'd like to build a monochord/zither type instrument and have a few questions about how to go about this:

• I'm not about to invest in expensive toanwood for a first stab at this, and intend to repurpose some old oak/mahogany furniture. That said, should I be mindful of what I build the bridge out of?
• Given that it will be a wooden bridge suspending steel strings, is there anything I need to do to make it more durable over time?
• Tuning pins - I intend to use zither pins, and from the looks of things these go directly into the body into tight ass bores. Is there anything I should be wary of in relation to tuning stability (beyond making sure the holes are adequately sized for a solid fit)? I fully expect this to be an instrument that drifts out of tune worse than Japanese catalogue guitar with a tin can whammy bar. I can live with that. But anything to mitigate it would be cool, right?
• I'm toying with the idea of making it 24 string, with a lower set of six. The plan is to use acoustic guitar strings. Is this a bad idea? Should I be looking at more bespoke strings for an instrument like this?

This is veeeery much an exercise in doing something for the sake of doing it. I'm obviously not a luthier or folk instrument builder, I'd just like to make a relatively primitive drone instrument to play whilst I sacrifice humans in the name of Bronson Pinchot.

Bisous, Rimbaud.

zzaaff wrote: I've watched this thread with keen interest since it first emerged all those years ago, and at the ripe old age of 44 I've finally jumped into woodworking in earnest. I could have sworn we had a woodworking thread but I can no longer UTFSF.

Of course project number one had to be a pedal board! I've had a lot of fun making mistakes and learning how to make those mistakes again, only less obviously. Perhaps the most fun bit of this entire project was the building of a box joint jig. My school woodworking teacher would be proud:

What I'm actually here for is some advice from luthiers and instrument builders here - I'd like to build a monochord/zither type instrument and have a few questions about how to go about this:

• I'm not about to invest in expensive toanwood for a first stab at this, and intend to repurpose some old oak/mahogany furniture. That said, should I be mindful of what I build the bridge out of?
• Given that it will be a wooden bridge suspending steel strings, is there anything I need to do to make it more durable over time?
• Tuning pins - I intend to use zither pins, and from the looks of things these go directly into the body into tight ass bores. Is there anything I should be wary of in relation to tuning stability (beyond making sure the holes are adequately sized for a solid fit)? I fully expect this to be an instrument that drifts out of tune worse than Japanese catalogue guitar with a tin can whammy bar. I can live with that. But anything to mitigate it would be cool, right?
• I'm toying with the idea of making it 24 string, with a lower set of six. The plan is to use acoustic guitar strings. Is this a bad idea? Should I be looking at more bespoke strings for an instrument like this?

This is veeeery much an exercise in doing something for the sake of doing it. I'm obviously not a luthier or folk instrument builder, I'd just like to make a relatively primitive drone instrument to play whilst I sacrifice humans in the name of Bronson Pinchot.

Bisous, Rimbaud.

Very cool pedal board-

I'll take a stab at answering all of these- and someone smarter than me will likely have better answers.
-No need to go overboard on the wood, but I would invest a few bucks if/when it makes sense. 1st, the amount of time you'll spend resawing/planing and such is considerable. 2nd, not all wood bends well. some things they call 'mahogany' are not, and do not bend, no matter how much heat or steam you apply. For a bridge, you'll want something stable. Rosewood is nice, but oak, maple, any fairly tough hardwood is fine. More important is the bridge plate underneath, which should be something robust (maple is ideal).
-Again, make sure you have a good bridge plate internally, or if the bridge is at the end of the instrument, make sure you have a stout tailblock.
-I don't know zither pins, but assuming they are similar to acoustic pins, I've had better luck using a tapered reamer, so I can be very accurate and the hole generally has a taper, which adds more friction than a tapered pin in a straight hole. Either works, but I just feel better about the fit.
- Acoustic strings should be fine. I would get some good info on the gauges used on zither so you don't end up adding too much tension.

best of luck, and I hope you'll show us pics along the way.

Finalized "The Clydesdale" tonight. It is for sale, cheap, since it is a prototype. I'll want to run it through the paces of a Bismarck practice to insure the setup is perfect. Let me know if you want it. P94 pickups, My favorite topload style bridge from the old 80's Fender elite hardtails. Mahogany and basswood body, jumbo frets, 25.5" scale. Also had a chance to upgrade my boring brown strap.

a huge fuck-yeah on that strap

use 9-penny nails on your next one!

Off the wall question: I noticed you tend to put bridge pickups further from the bridge saddles than is common on a lot of dual humbucker guitars. Is that deliberate? How do you think it affects the sound?

Usually just for build simplicity, but if I'm being honest I do prefer middle/neck pickup placement.