Resonator build

[Tgraham]

Thanks Scott, I have turned it to the feeling lose stage the curve has lessened and yes I will recheck in the morning after a settling period.
Thank you

[Trevor Davies]

Unpacked it fully, the body is pretty rough, the neck has a noticeable convex curve , the holes for machine heads are different distances from the sides of the head stock, the neck is a lose in the pocket, cone has a dent in it and the spider legs are out of whack a lot - 2 legs touch the others are all about 2-3 mm above the cone. Have I got an end of the shift kit?

Hi Tgraham, it is disappointing if you are unhappy. I see that Tim has responded and is happy to replace or refund.

As for the curve of the neck! That is not a problem and I see you have already started to adjust it. Interesting that I have had a couple of very convex necks recently, but they have all eventually gone flat.

The rough body: I did use a bit of pine coloured Timbermate on the top around the shoulder and around a sound hole where a couple of splinters(?) of wood were missing. Then sanded it back. Nothing major! I definitely sanded the top, back and sides (with 240 g).

The machine head holes: I did dowel and redrill one of the holes (middle right I think!) as I thought it was a bit off.

Loose neck: My neck was great and did not need any work. I recall that Tim's neck was a bit loose. That can possibly be fixed by having thicker finish closer to the edge of the neck line! And more glue!

Spider legs: Mine were quite flat when placed on a glass shelf. I did need to adjust one leg. Is it 2 legs are too low, the other are fine? Is the cone shelf not flat? I did sand my shelf quite a bit, and had to remove a lot of glue, to get it looking good. I also packed it a bit with CA in one section as it had a few chunks from routing process.

Cone dent: Can you post a picture of the cone. I understand they are quite fragile.

I'm most concerned with the cone dent! The other things I think are fixable - if you are happy doing it. Maybe I was lucky with my kit!

[fender3x]

I think the post from Tim and from you must have come in while I was writing mine. Nice to know he stands behind the product.

The convex does not look to extreme. My guess is that the Weirdbits method will clear it up. With regard to the neck's looseness in the pocket, I keep some veneer around for just such things. We had a member for a while (Simon) who taught many of us that veneer has about a gazillion uses, but one of the principal ones is just the issue you are having.

[Tgraham]

Woke up eager to see how the neck responded - happy to report it looks much better than yesterday morning. It will be interesting what it does when strings are on and tuned. So I’ve learnt more about truss rods thanks guys.

Trevor the dent, I think won’t be a problem it’s just a small one as per photo - and yes I’m getting better at loading photos to, the dent is a perfect match for the corner of the saddle slot in the spider. Better packing for transit is needed, the spider was in a light foam sleeve and just floating around inside the body thus able to bang around during shipping hence the dent.

I will try the spider sitting on a table saw flange today to see exactly what’s going on there. Just looking at it it seems one leg in particular is curved down. Will watch StewMac video again and again. Should the whole thing be flat.

So many questions about building this thing I.e. is the saddle in 2 parts and is it notched for strings to sit in, how high is the tailpiece supposed to sit.
There will be more I’m sure
Cheers
graham

[Tgraham]

Veneer for shims hmm I’m sure there’s some at the men’s shed.
Thanks fender

[Tgraham]

Made a “jig” to try to make the sanding of the lip for the cone as even as possible. Double sided tape to hold sandpaper on. Started with 180 grit will see how that goes then go finer.

[fender3x]

Great idea! Simple and effective.

[Tgraham]

Replogle Resos is a great site for resonator information

[Tgraham]

Finally got the spider sitting nicely on the cone so time to put a couple of strings on the check for rattles and buzzing, went ok I can’t detect any resonator bugs. Also got a good idea of the height the action - very high, good for slide but a bit high for picking, will think on that for a while.

Question specifically for TD - did you try the saddle that came with the kit or did you just go with the wooden one?

Haven’t decided on colour yet - possible blue or green will experiment with those options on scrap timber.
Cheers
graham

[Trevor Davies]

Finally got the spider sitting nicely on the cone so time to put a couple of strings on the check for rattles and buzzing, went ok I canÂ’t detect any resonator bugs. Also got a good idea of the height the action - very high, good for slide but a bit high for picking, will think on that for a while.

Question specifically for TD - did you try the saddle that came with the kit or did you just go with the wooden one?

HavenÂ’t decided on colour yet - possible blue or green will experiment with those options on scrap timber.
Cheers
graham

Hi Tgraham,

I did try the kit saddle! See Link.

BTW, my old acoustic has that style of saddle. It is designed for 4 wound, 2 non-wound, acoustic strings. I'm using normal electric strings (so only 3 wound!).

My action was a bit high. But I did not lower the nut action as I wanted it setup for slide. The action is tricky on a resonator. It seems like the action is set at the end by filing/sanding the base of the bridge so that it sits lower in the spider. Also, having all six strings on will also compress the spider/cone assembly and lower the strings a bit more.

Your picture of the action does look a bit high. Just checking, is your neck straight? Is the nut action too high? Is the bridge seated correctly in the support?

Something to consider: if the bridge is not on the spider (so the strings are on the support only) would the string action be too low? At least then you know the action can be raised by the bridge to a good height!