A few years ago, a friend and I got the bug to start playing guitar again since giving up on it in our younger days. Now, I had known about CBGs for a long time, but never considered building one before. The basic concept is actually very simple. Stick, Box, strings. There is a long history I won't go into but just know that it is a growing community and full of active folks willing to help guide and teach different ways to make these things, much like our SOLIDWORKS Community!
I'm going to try and do this in steps so you can comeback and see more as time goes by.
I built the first one about 4 years ago and immediately had to model the basic box and neck so it was easy to visualize and plan out. Not being a skilled wood worker I try to take my time and understand how to do something before attempting. Woodworking
I took the time to scan the faces of the box and apply them as appearances for the rendering. Notice that I did not model the strings wrapping around the tuners. Why? Because I didn't have to! All I really needed was the placement of the neck in the box for the scale I was going to use 25.5" There needs to be a gap under the box lid for it to resonate and a pocket for the pickup to electrify it, string angle, nut and bridge placement, etc. Before you know it what seemed easy started to have really looking at the steps of it.
Luckily, components for this are cheap (which works for me in my limited workshop...no CNC router here...😁) so mistakes can be made. The beauty of a DIY instrument though is "There are NO Rules" so everything is game! I'm going to continue to add to this Post with more info, pictures, renders on a regular basis. Perhaps a few of you out there will even try to build one?
Until the next update here are a few pics of a few I built. Once you start...you can't stop!
The last pictured guitar even was present at 3DX World in Nashville as part of my presentation on Design Intent....but more on that next time!
UPDATE #1 - THE BRIDGE. One of the cool things about a No rules, Do it yourself instrument is that you can pick and choose exactly what you want to try. Because part of this hobby is to get away from "CAD" and build with tools and by hand I first tried to abandon the CAD aspect...but, like any good SOLIDWORKS junkie I couldn't help but know about the advantages of doing things virtually first. The bridge is one part I like to change on each build and get creative. This time I thought it would be cool to 3D print a bridge to hold the cut down thread rod. It worked surprisingly well! Carving small pieces of wood by hand is not always easy....but fun. This was printed on a MarkForge.
A little Visualize quick render....find what has not been modeled yet....
