pickin' stick

[darren]

last Christmas I 'assembled' a few Griz. Uke kits for two of my boys and now the youngest one (5 years old) has been giving me grief over it. So i saw a build thread of one of these 'Pickin Sticks' on another forum and thought it would be fun to put together for him. It's tuned to an open chord and he should be able to just wail away on it. I picked up a cheap set of tuners and a stick of mahogany and off we went.

dimensioning wood and laying out the headstock and body.




Drilling and slotting for tuners





I did a quick porefill with CA on the 'fretboard' before fretting - felt the hog was a little soft... I absolutely hate using CA, but couldn't justify mixing up some zpoxy for this tiny area.


after fretting cut the shaft close to my neck depth and started blending with the head and body.




Made a tailblock and glued it up.



Maybe I can get the top and back on in the next few days. :D

[darren]

I don't know if this goes in 'Guitars' or what. it's not a mandolin, ukelele, or guitar - Where's the 'Other' catagory?

Admins can move if necessary. :)

[johnnparchem]

Looks like a fun project. I noticed that you do have frets. Since you will tune it to an open chord he can bar chord through a progression strumming away. If he has trouble fretting all three strings put a guitar slide on his index finger.

[darren]

Good idea with the guitar slide, that might be a fun sound. Not only can you bar chord through a progression, you can solo on the first string while strumming all three. Here is a good explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73VlbPYF ... re=related

I'm loosely following the book by John Ressler. My design is a little different in that I'm using a headstock angle, and my body gets deeper towards the tail. All the ones I've seen have been straight body/necks like in the video. Maybe it won't work, but we're going to find out. :)

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Darren,
I have no idea what this is. Do you have a picture of one complete you can post? Looks interesting.

Kevin

[darren]

Hey Kevin, the video link above has one being played, here is the cover of John's book that shows what they look like:

[Kevin Sjostrand]

This is VERY cool. I will be anxious to see how yours turns out. I have 4 grandkids that would love one of these.

Kevin

[Ken Hundley]

Yeah, great sound coming off of that, and very simple to play. I may need to make one now.....where did you find the plans?

An easy way out is a similar product, the Strumbly, which can be made from a kit.
http://www.harpkit.com/mm5/merchant.mvc ... _Code=sale

-tommy

[darren]

Ken, the book by John Ressler is all you need - it doesn't have plans/blueprints but has dimensions to everything in the assembly instructions. I'm doing things a little different but I believe I know what are critical dimensions for playability. :) One thing that attracts me to this little thing is that you can almost do it with scraps leftover from building 'real' instruments.

I got the book at amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Pickin-Stick-Buil ... ckin+stick) but I've also seen it a few other places.

Tommy thanks for the kit link. appropriate for this forum :):) That does look easier! I actually thought about the body being separate materials from the neck like the strumbly (that makes wood selection and neck carving even easier) but decided against it. Maybe next time.