No, the westernisation process is to have the action low on the fretless fingerboard, to make it more accessible to my western fingersI have also included subtle fret marker lines. I am following the general dimensions of the original instrument (with the exception of the depth of the body and the height of the strings)
Is it fretted or fretless? I can see lines on the fingerboard but they look more like marker lines than frets. Hard to be sure though, so thought I would ask. The traditional one is clearly fretless, so I am wondering how far you are taking the modernisation.
As mentioned above it is fretless with markers, low action so as to permit stopping the strings in a familiar (to me) way, plus of course steel strings, flat wound jazz strings to start with, 56 and 42 with the option to use flat wound bass strings of a heavier gauge if the tones are too bright, I really am making this up as I go along. It is of course a shot in the dark, but who knows it may actually work🤪
A salute to you sir! Making it up as we go along is very much a proud tradition of the FrankenLab! Kudos!Originally Posted by impala59
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Thank you for that Sir! With another hat on, I also tinker, restore and generally mess about with pump action shotguns, my shooting club has christened me Frankengun 🤨 so I definitely feel an affinity with Frankenlab!!
Had to go to work today, Bah!!
thought I would add my projected next jobs for the MK
Pick up pockets routed
Relief of the bow zone (sounds a bit painful that one :0)
Rebate for control panel
MK2 (4).JPG (141.1 KB)
I shall have to see if Igor has a cousin in London he can recommend. Some assembly may be required though.😉
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Assuming you'll be playing it upright like a cello, I'd recommend putting the controls up near the neck where you can reach them. Where you have them marked out looks like they'll be down at floor level. Keeping them high also means less routing and shorter cable lengths.
Unlike a cello, these are usually bowed up around where the neck joins the body. I'd recommend stringing it up and having a go before coming at it with a router, it might change your perspective on what goes where and what needs to be done.
Last edited by Andy123; 01-05-2020 at 09:32 AM.
Point taken Sir!
Which is one reason why my drawings are on the photo, not on the instrument (yet). The body would not be too near the floor in a traditional upright playing position, but would be fairly low on my lap. (picture of proper Mongolian player) My other intention is to have a rotating "sharks fin" (similar to the Steinberg headless bass) on the rear of the upper left corner that would permit using a strap to play in a more guitar like position. Due to its relatively diminutive size and my placing of the neck/bridge some 2 1/2" further into the body (where a traditional neck finishes at the body) I have somewhat compromised my available places for controls (I do favour the Telecaster plate as an ideal) it may be that to rout from the back and condense the size needed for controls is the way forward, I will have to think on that. Also as another thought crosses the void in my head, relating to the neck placement, I may put a small cutaway in the top right to make access easier, it would not be without precedence as some traditional instruments are shaped thus.Thank you so much for your interest and input, there are many bridges to cross yet.
My daughter who likes to name things has christened it 'Mongo Diddly'
morin khuur play position.jpg (18.1 KB)
Maybe even reduce to just the one pickup and a volume control?
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