foil1more Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 I'm in the early stages of planning an electric cello. I say early because I won't have the money to do this till next summer but I want to start getting my ideas in order and getting opinions. The purpose of this is to be a rock instrument. I already have an acoustic cello but the feedback is horrible with a pickup. I also wan to play with effects. I borrowed my teachers pickup to experiment with. Celli sound pretty good with distortion and a wah pedal. I've been playing cello since 4th grade so I guess I've been playing around 9 years. I'm okay on electric bass but I really want to be able to use my bow (I tried it on the bass and it didn't work). My plan is to build a six string cello tuned F-C-G-D-A-E (tuned in fifths like a normal cello) It would give me a range from bass to guitar. The string length for a cello is generally around 28 inches so it would be roughly equivalent to a baritone guitar without frets. I plan to use an L.R. Baggs element implanted in the bridge for an acoustic sound. I will probably have to make my own magnetic pickups. The radius on a cello is very small so a normal guitar pickup wouldn't be curved enough. I will also have to use steel wrapped strings with a steel core. I'm posting this on this forum because I will build it like an electric guitar using guitar parts or building my own parts but if anybody knows a place that can do compound small radius fretboard please let me know. A cello fretboard is over $100. I'm probably looking at around $150 for one set of strings and about the same for the acoustic pickup so I'm trying to save as much as possible. If anyone has made a cello, please help. I only think I know what I'm doing. Some sketches will hopefully be done this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 One thought came to mind about the magnetic pickup. You may want to wind six individual coils and arch their height to match the radius of the fingerboard/string placement. Maybe one solid coil with adjustable polepieces would be enough, but I don't know, the middle strings might be awfully far away from the coil. Just something to consider. Also, if you're trying to save money, I suggest making your own fingerboard. If you read up on it I'm sure you could produce one. You can do it with a handplane by planing parallel to the FB's taper rather than parallel to the centerline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 There have been a fair number of ideas about electric cellos, so there is a lot of research that you can do. I suspect that making the fretboard to you requirements is probably the best way to go than to buy one...afterall, you are not going to need to fret it... I'm not at all sure about the six string concept...also, do cello strings have a steel core? Would normal bass and guitar strings chew up the bow if you were to use them? You may also want to look back to the precursors of the cello and string family Viol (wiki)(pronounced like vile!)...which developed as a bowed version of the vihuela from which the guitar also came. It was the time in which these instruments were merging then drawing away from one another... The Viol or Viola da gamba came in different sizes like the violin family and look very similar but they share many of the features of the guitar and is so a true hybrid. For one thing they had more strings like you are suggesting and the curvature of the bridge was far less...it also had frets. Essentially it was a bowed guitar and while it had the curvature in the strings to allow bowing, the frets and the flatter more guitar like board allowed them to play chords... So...looking at medieval music to get some inspiration if you wanted to go more in that direction. There may be problems with very thin strings and no frets even with the bow to provide sustain...generally thinner stringed instruments are a lot shorter...I don't know, but it might be something to consider. Anyway...lots of ideas to think about and explore... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted October 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2008 To Geo: I was thinking the same thing with the pickups. I have a couple ideas: six individual pickups and a p-bass like pickup with a curved bar polepiece. I'll post some sketches soon. I'll probably also make the fingerboard. To MexicanBreed: That Cobra Cello is pretty close to what I want to do. The original idea was spawned by these. The larger instruments, the double bass and cello bass (same scale as most electric basses) have magnetic and a special piezo. I'm still waiting to hear back from L.R. Baggs about using the element or ribbon with the Ctrl-X mixer. I might end up making my own piezo bridge. Those cobras are the first fretted cello I've seen. I won't fret mine though. To pete: Cello strings can made from almost anything. Here are some examples The only thing that I need to worry about with steel is the higher tension (and different feel) compared to the nylon core I'm used to. according to the NS site, a guitar high E can used. I could probably use guitar strings but I don't know how they would sound and work for tuning. Bowed strings are flatwound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted October 25, 2008 Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 Well...I was thinking that legit cello strings or whatever at $150 is perhaps excessive...there are plenty of flat wound guitar and bass strings...also I'd be going thicker than a guitar...after all with no frets there is no bending going to be happening... For magnetic pickups...if not using a nylon core...then magnetic pickups will work...otherwise...most likely not! If you wouldn't mind the look, you could angle two single coil pickups...if you wired a rwrp like a P-bas picku...the pair would be humbucking. The, if you angle them so they only cover 3 strings each (two poles per string) you could also mount them at an approximate curve of the strings as well. Piezos will work and there is potential to build your own or use some factory ones out of china...the problem is that if you are getting very low bass frequencies, the EQ in them may not cover the range as well as you might hope. SOme of the sddle piezo ribbons in these systems are flexible and could be built into the bridge itself. Alternatively...you could go with the DIY buzzer thing and I know there are a few bass circuits around the net that suit this purpose and can mix the piezos and magnetics successfully. I quite like the Ferrington designs in his string quartet...but there are lots of cool possibilities. I went to the museum here recently and they had some display of high school design students work and one of the exhibits was a very cool double bass made from scratch and electric/acoustic...but with touches like electric bass tuners and such... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted October 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2008 Okay. I may have found a source for a steel core high e and low f. I'm going to call tomorrow. It will probably be expensive but I'm willing to pay up to $200 for a good set of strings. This may seem insanely expensive. The only difference is that cello strings don't break often (if they are take care of). A set can last for a few years. I also want all the strings to be the same style of construction and the same tension so I have consistent sound and playability. They also won't chew up my bow (expensive to re-hair). I will also probably be making my on piezo bridge. The two L.R. Baggs pickups can't be used with the Ctrl-X mixer. I saw a link to a small preamp that boosts the single to match a magnetic pickup. I also found a nice link with the basic piezo parts that are used on the expensive production pickups. A lot cheaper than buying a pickup and modifying (possibly destroying) it. In other news, I did something productive in my freshman seminar class today. We were watching a movie so I pulled out my notebook and made a sketch. The headstock isn't actually going to be a carved scroll. It just looks like the profile of a scroll from the front. I'm leaning towards a p-bass style pickup with curved blades. The split coil will allow me to wind it as a humbucker. I'll have to find the place where the string vibrates the best to place the pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted February 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 I was doing some more research and found some more info. I looked more at the NS website and they give substitutes for the high e and the low f is a type made with a steel core. I somehow didn't see this before. I also found this site http://www.windworld.com/index.htm . They have the basic parts to make a piezo pickup for a lot less than buying one. They also have mini magnetic pickups. I probably will buy a set of them. They make a good point that bowed strings vibrate side to side so the best way to have magnetic pickups at an angle (the best would be parallel with the bow but that would be in the way). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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