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OUR DESIGN:
For our project, we chose a simple box guitar design. The frame of the box in our prototype is constructed of mahogany with a spruce face. The mahogany helps to create structural stability, while the spruce face produces a more resonant tone. The neck on our prototype has been constructed with scrap wood to minimize cost while we experiment with trial and error, but we have begun to construct a neck made from mahogany for our final product.
Design Challenges:
So far in the construction of our prototype, we have had no trouble constructing the frame of the box and the design of the neck. Our true challenges lie in the frets and tuning pegs, which require much more precision. If even a single fret is slanted or improperly measured, it will prevent the guitar from playing chords properly. So, we are carefully measuring each fret and carving the lines with a blade before we install the metal fret wire. The tuning pegs have also been a major challenge for us because of the complexity that they have. We need to design a simple and easily replicable tuning peg, and so far, our first attempts have not been successful. Our three attempts are all variations of bolts that are either hand-tightened or tightened with a wrench. The problem is that as they are tightened, they grow taller on the headstock, therefore lifting the string above the nut at the top of the fretboard. If we can construct it in a way where it only slightly lifts the string or doesn't at all, it will prevent the string from being lifted above the nut.
The way we solved this issue is by utilizing a cylindrical wooden dowel with a bolt at the base that is slightly larger than the dowel. This will prevent the tuning peg from moving up the headstock and maintain tuning stability.
Design Inspiration:
Body of the guitar
We opted for a simple box guitar design for our project. We took inspiration from an article by Woodcraft Magazine on how to build a box guitar, but have crafted a much simpler version.
TUNING PEGS
The tuning pegs have proven to be the most challenging. After our initial design failed due to it raising up when tightened, we thought a design similar to the Eye-bolt example on the left would be ideal. However, after speaking with Pete, we determined this design would ruin the integrity of the guitar and the overall sound of the strings. To create this final design, we used half-inch wood dowels with a small screw inserted into the top. We filed down the threads of the screw to create a smooth, thin shaft for the string to wrap around. We discovered that without any gears, we can wrap the string around a very thin shaft/screw that will reduce the torQue on the peg, improving and maintaining the precise tuning. We then shaved down the opposite end of the peg to fit tightly inside the hole of a metal nut, and used epoxy to attach the two pieces together. The metal nut will allow the pegs to be tightened with our wooden wrench in a simple and efficient manner.
Frets and Neck
We determined early on in our design process that the fret spacing was solely determined by the scale length of the neck. So, we used the STEWMAC calculator to determine the exact spacing of each before we began installing them. We also purchased a cheap fret marker on Amazon that helps mark the exact location of each fret. We then use a fret saw to mAKe an initial mark in the wood and use the butt end of the 2mm thick steel wire to cut out a cavity in the neck to place the fret.
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