Yellow Dog Twanger

[Will Reyer]

The Yellow Dog Twanger
Will Reyer 09/23/13 (photos & .wav file attached)

I've been saying ever since I was in college that I'd like to try making an acoustic guitar. I've finally done so.

I figured a square neck resonator would not require a truss rod. Nor would it need a radiused fingerboard or actual frets, as the strings, played with a bar, never touch the frets. Path of least resistance. Start simple. I traced a Santa Cruz Orchestra Model for the body shape, as, if I ever get really into it, I'd like to make guitars like them. This eliminated making later jigs and bending fixtures for an OM. Made a drawing, plan and elevation, full-scale. Turned out that to fit the cone into the SC silhouette, I'd end up with a 12-fret-to-the-body guitar. Used 25.4” scale, so I don't have to re-fixture later. Made a biscuit bridge reso, less complicated than a spider bridge. Looked at vintage wood and steel resonators at the local guitar store, for body depth.

Ken and this forum were greatly helpful getting my Fox bender to work; see: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1042

Last Thursday I put the Corian nut and saddle on the guitar and tuned it up to pitch for Open G.  Sunday night I sat down with an inch-and-a-sixteenth wrench socket for a slide, no finger picks, and plugged in the mic for a .wav file to assault your ears with my total ineptitude at playing guitar lap style.  (Yes, I realize an untrained monkey could sound better, but I built it to learn on).
 
Back as an undergrad in Ann Arbor I played music on Friday nights with two guys.  Rhines was the other guitarist, a lot better one than me.  I said someday I’d like to try building an acoustic guitar.  “Well you can,” he replied, “but you’ve got to build about a dozen before you get one worth playing.”  That was 50-some years ago, and Rhines (God rest his soul) is long dead, but I have one finished now.
 
My late bro-in-law contributed two plain-sawn soft maple boards, via his widow.  They became the 3-piece neck and the sides.  A neighbor down the road, an actual luthier, contributed a basswood board for the linings.  The interior bracing and end blocks are white pine common lumber.  My old boyhood barber’s son (himself an old barber now) contributed a piece of walnut for the bindings.  The top and back are 6mm Chinese underlayment plywood, the headstock veneer and fingerboard are mulberry from my north fence row, the position markers are stickers from JoAnn’s Fabrics in Jackson, the frets are stainless steel gas welding rod, the cone cover is a Chinese tea tray from the Dollar Store, the tailstock cover is part of another Dollar Store tray, and the palm rest is a scrap of stainless sheet metal from Nick's welding shop.  Shellac on the headstock and fingerboard was 7 years out of date, and the brushed-on urethane for the body was over 20 years old.  The Grover tuners I bought about 15 years ago.  The joinery is sloppy, the finish is poor, but it produces sound.  A jazz guitarist who had seen it in construction played it Sunday.  He said the intonation was good, and if it wasn’t as loud as some, well, you can always put an electronic pickup in it....
 
So it twangs after a fashion, and it’s heavy. Does it sound like a Scheerhorn or a Beard?  No.  So I expect Rhines was right.  Except the resonator cone is also a found object, being a $2.99 electric stove drip pan from Wal Wort.  And as such, doesn’t actually sound too bad for what it is. You actual luthiers can be properly horrified.

[Dave Bagwill]

Well shoot, I think it looks just fine and sounds just fine, you should feel proud!!

[John Link]

Twanger has a very zippy response to the finger slide. Congrats.

[Kevin in California]

Will, the guitar looks great. I don't really know much about this type of guitar so can't comment much on the sound, but it surely does twang good.

Kevin

[Tim Benware]

Good job and if you aren't totally happy with it you now know what to do to make any improvements you'd like.