Kids's Sized 4 String Guitar...

[mattharris75]

Last Thursday (4/17) one of my best friends had his first child, and he named me the Godfather. So, in honor of the occasion I decided to build his son a small (2/3 size) guitar as a surprise gift. They live in Atlanta, so it will be at least several more weeks before we can get over there to visit and before they are really feeling up to visitors. So, I've put a rush on this one. Typically i'm a slow, methodical, and leisurely builder, but in this case it needs to get done quickly. So, I've been going 100 miles per hour working on this thing.

I drew up the plan on Thursday and started gluing and cutting. I was able to mostly use scraps of wood I already had. The only thing I've ordered is a fretboard from LMI. The fretboard should be here this Friday. I'm also waiting on the brass stock for the bridge and the single hot rails strat pickup that will go in it.

Here are the specs; The body is roughly 8.5 x 12", the scale length is 17". It will have 20 frets. The neck is composed of a maple/walnut laminate with a carbon fiber rod down the middle. The headstock has a flamed maple laminate over it. The body is black walnut with a padauk top and a black laminate in between the two. The top is fairly carved and contoured, though it's a bit difficult to tell in the pictures because of the scale. The tailpiece is wenge and ash.

Technically, depending on how it's tuned, I suppose this would be considered an 'electric tenor ukulele'. Pretty cool.

After a grand total of 6 days of work since the conception of the project, here are some pictures of where I stand:

Here is a mockup shot:

Here's a shot of the body from an angle that shows the lams:

Here's a picture of the back of the body showing the child scale tummy cut and control cavity:

Here's a picture of the neck:

And finally, here's a picture of the body with my hand resting on it to get a sense of scale:

One interesting aspect of this is how enthused by the project my wife is. She's usually polite and tolerant but fairly indifferent to all my guitar building, but in this case she thought it was a great idea. She said it was so cute that she wasn't sure she wanted me giving it away when I was done. I assured her that I would build more when we have our own kids, and she seemed happy with that.

[avengers63]

I assured her that I would build more when we have our own kids, and she seemed happy with that.

Ya think?!?! You just promised to have kids.

Of course, you'll have to break that promise. Once you have kids, your guitat making time is GONE!

[mattharris75]

I assured her that I would build more when we have our own kids, and she seemed happy with that.

Ya think?!?! You just promised to have kids.

Of course, you'll have to break that promise. Once you have kids, your guitat making time is GONE!

Heh, well, no big deal there as we are planning on trying to start having kids in the next year or two anyway.

And as far as time for guitar building after having a kid, I'm sure you're right. But, I think I can knock out all the woodwork on one of these puppies in about 2 weeks. Less if I have all the parts on hand when I start. And finishing with tru oil on something of this size should be fairly simple and quick.

I spent a few hours this evening working on sculpting the tailpiece. It's hard to capture the contours in pictures, but it's looking pretty slick now.

I'll post some more pics after this weekend. With any luck I should have the neck finished and glued in by the middle of next week.

[mattharris75]

OK, decided to post a quick picture of the tailpiece. I sanded it up through the grits, and the grain of the wenge just ended up looking so cool that I thought I'd go ahead and post it. The body attachment area hasn't been shaped yet, but the rest of it is close to being done. I'll probably put a couple of coats of tru oil on it once I get to the finishing stage on everything else. I'm quite pleased with the 'jauntiness' of the shape. It's a bit hard to see all the contours in the picture through the crazy grain.

[Jehle]

Man, this is awesome looking. This could be the smallest GOTM entry (hint hint) ever!

[mattharris75]

Thanks Bill! Maybe it will be ready in time for next months competition. We'll see!

Some more progress this weekend. Neck and headstock routed and rough sanded. I expect to get the neck sanded to 40 grit, fretted, get the neck pocket cut, and get it glued in this week. Still waiting on the pickup to arrive.

[LPboco]

Looking great man

Awesome Project!

i wish i had one...

Connor

[mattharris75]

The neck is fretted, carved, and sanded to 400 grit. I tagged a corner of the headstock with the rasp by accident and slightly dinged it up, so you can see in the pictures where I have glued in the repair, which is currently drying. I'll sand that down once it's dry and then hopefully i'll be able to find time this weekend to drill tuner holes before I glue the neck in. The woodwork will be finished up next week.

My finishing schedule is going to be 2 coats of z-poxy, sanded down, followed by 5 thin coats of Tru Oil, burnishing with 0000 wire wool, 1 final coat of Tru Oil, and then waxing.

I've still got to route the area for the brass section of the bridge to fit in the base, and also cut the control cavity cover (which will be padauk).

[mattharris75]

More progress.

Got the neck pocket routed and glued in the neck, then routed the tenon flush with the body. Also routed the channel for the brass part of the bridge and fit the wood and the brass together.

I've still got a few odds and ends to do. Control cavity cover, pickup route, hole for bridge ground wire, string through holes in the tailpiece and then mount the tailpiece.

Once all that's done, it's hit everything with 400 grit one more time and get started finishing. I've done the bulk of the woodwork in under 3 weeks, which is pretty much flying for me. Details and finishing will probably be another 3-4 weeks I'm thinking.

Anyway, here are the pics:

Here's the mockup shot:

The back:

And finally, a picture with me for scale. It's a cute little thing at only 26" from tip to tip:

What do you guys think?

[avengers63]

Only one pup? No biggie, but why so close to the neck?

[Daniel Sorbera]

Thats really cool, but that last picture of you looks really really scary.

[mattharris75]

Only one pup? No biggie, but why so close to the neck?

Because I am keeping this simple and cheap. One pickup, only volume control, using cutoff and found wood, cheap tuners, plastic nut, etc. And as for the position, since there's only one pickup I placed it in the position I thought would be best. A guitar of this size is obviously going to be trebbly and bright so I wanted it as far forward as possible. And, it's not as far forward as it looks, keep in mind the scale of the instrument. The back of the pickup route will only be 3.25" from the bridge.

Thats really cool, but that last picture of you looks really really scary.

Yeah, yeah. It had been a really long day.

[Dean]

I like the guitar and think it is great your doing this for someone else.It feels good to do something for others ,and the enjoyment they will get out of it.I bet the parents will love that open cord at top volumn, say at 6 in the morning.Drums for the next one?

[mattharris75]

Spring practice has kept me busy these last few weeks, but I finally managed to get the template for the pickup made and get the pickup cavity routed. I also added in a flamed maple veneer spacer for the nut, and some other details such as that. The last things I need to do before starting the finish sanding and finishing process are drill the hole for the tailpiece, drill the screw holes for the tuners, and drill the hole from the bridge to the control cavity for the grounding wire and from the pickup cavity to the control cavity. Getting into the home stretch on this one. I figure i've got another week of odds and ends and two weeks of finishing before it's completed. I'm planning on going to Atlanta to visit my friends around mid June, so hopefully I can have it completed by then to give to them.

[mattharris75]

Control cavity cover is completed. I originally cut the control cavity with a forstner bit (Part of the keeping it simple nature of this build, one less template to have to make). In order to have a boss to screw into I sanded a small piece of mahogany to match the inside radius of the cavity and epoxied it in against the side. I cut the cover using a hole saw with the pilot bit removed. I used a 2 3/8" bit, and only had to sand the edges very slightly to make it fit the 2 1/8" ledge.

[mattharris75]

Pickguard is cut. Still needs a little tweaking. It's made of the same flamed maple veneer that is on the headstock laminated on top of black wood fiber. Unfortunately it's a bit warped at the moment. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get it back to dead flat so that I can finish it? If I can't achieve that I may end up having to cut another one out of walnut.

[anderekel]

I'm sure I'm wrong here and would be glad to be corrected, but could you just steam it with an iron or whathaveyou, and then press it flat? That looks awesome by the way. I didn't see it before, may have just missed it, what tuning are you gonna put it in?

[mattharris75]

I thought about trying an iron with a damp towel between the pickguard and the iron, and with a piece of 3/4 MDF underneath it for a flar surface. Since someone else thinks it might work, I guess i'll go ahead with it if I don't get any other replies.

As far as the tuning, i'm not 100% sure yet. First I'll try GCEA, like a tenor ukulele, since it is the same scale length. But, since I haven't made a guitar like this before, i'll play it by ear. If I prefer the string tension and sound in a different tuning, then i'll go for that, since there are no rules for a small guitar like this, really.

[avengers63]

My gut reaction was to moisten it somehow and clamp the heck out of it between a couple pieces of whatever.

The mini-ax looks really killer. Very classy, very fun, very cool.

[mattharris75]

My gut reaction was to moisten it somehow and clamp the heck out of it between a couple pieces of whatever.

The mini-ax looks really killer. Very classy, very fun, very cool.

Thanks.

Yeah, I think i'm going to go with the combo heat and moisture treatment, and once it's good and warm, clamp it down flat and leave it for 24 hours. I'll be applying both the heat and moisture to the black substrate rather than the thin veneer so that I don't run the risk of delaminating it.

By the way, a more specific answer to your earlier question about pickup position; if you were to scale down a picture of a strat and overlay it on this guitar you would see that with the placement and angle of the pickup you essentially cover both the neck and middle pickup positions. I'm hoping that this ends up sounding as good as I think it will.

[mattharris75]

I went ahead and tried to flatten the pickguard. 24 hours later I pulled it out, and it's still slightly damp, so I re-clamped it. I did put it in the first mockup picture before reclamping it, though. I did a few little things, such as getting the pickup mounted on its springs for height adjustment, drilling for the tailpiece attachment and string holes, etc, etc. Lots of little thing to get it to the point that it was playable. The biggest thing I did was slot the bridge for the strings. This went fairly easily, except for the first slot I tried to use a guide which just ended up messing me up. Due to that the lowest string is a hair over a millimeter off from the others. Really nothing I can do now other than making a new bridge, which I doubt I have time for and am not particularly inclined to do. Although it doesn't look particularly terrible, and the playability is just fine, so it's 75% an aesthetic issue. I suppose that's what happens when you rush things. But then this whole guitar is a bit of a rush job.

Anyway, it looks great and plays quite well. You can see where I mounted the strap buttons as well. One on the tailpiece and the other on the heel of the neck. It balances well there and is quite comfortable to play.

Now I'll get it disassembled and finish sand and clean up a few things before I start the epoxy/tru oil finish.

Also, given the possibility that I may have to make a new pickguard, what would you guys do? Would you do one in a traditional pickguard material, and if so what color/kind? Or would you go with a solid walnut guard? I'd love to do one in macassar ebony, but I don't have any large enough chunks.

[Dean]

I like the job you have done,as I was looking at it ,it reminded me of the snack Gold Fish.The body that is.

[mattharris75]

I like the job you have done,as I was looking at it ,it reminded me of the snack Gold Fish.The body that is.

Yes, now that you mention it, it does sort of favor a goldfish cracker.

I never noticed that before. I imagine the fact that the top is padauk really reinforces that likeness.

Does anyone have any opinions on alternative pickguards? Black? White? Cream? Solid Walnut? Other ideas?

Edited May 22, 2008 by mattharris75

[Xanthus]

I liked that the maple pickguard went well with the headstock and bridge assembly, so my vote is for maple or something similarly lighter-colored.

But Walnut would definitely work as well. In either case, I would be prone to keeping the pickguard wood, because the whole rest of the guitar is natural wood.

[anderekel]

I'd say go with the maple one, I really liked the look and the shape of it. The whole thing's lookin' really cool.