Converting a six string to a five string

[thistle3585]

I've seen discussions in the past about taking a mini guitar and converting it to a five string octave mandolin. Generally, at this point Mandocrucian jumps in and says to just capo a guitar and save yourself the trouble. Well, that isn't near as much fun as reinventing the wheel so here is the conversion I did for a cafe member. In the end, I'd concur with Niles and say capo it. I would have been better off just building an instrument from scratch but it was an intriguing project and forced me to look at building from a little bit different perspective.

It took three attempts to get the neck right because I wanted the spacer on the bass side to be part of the neck heel. There are more photos of the neck under construction here. By the way it plays and sounds great.

[Schlegel]

I'm about to do this with a mini version of Brian May's guitar. But I'm going to be lazy and just leave that extra tuner hanging. No shop yet.

Looks good, what scale length is it?

[Ben Milne]

how far did you go in regards to mods from what the original was?

I would be interested in a full rundown of the process you went thru, what scale the instrument is etc.

Just yesterday i took photos of a guitar i was thinking about considering modding a cheapie in quite an unusual way.

obviously the stock bridge and nut would be junked, probably the pots etc and pick up if all goes to plan...

[thistle3585]

The scale is 19". I tuned it CGDAE but I believe the owner is going to do an alternative tuning. I didn't make any changes to the body, the hardware or the electronics.

I really don't have any suggestions on how to approach it other than to start with a neck blank that is much wider than the pocket. First, layout the centerline of the board and install the truss rod then work off that as your centerline as it relates to the center of the bridge. If going to a five string then use the third saddle as the centerline. Don't use the glue joint of the bookmatched top as the centerline. I cut and fit the heel into the neck pocket first, which you can see on my website, then designed the fretboard.

I wouldn't do this again even knowing how to do it. I could spend the same amount of time building an instrument from scratch.

[Explorer]

Having done a modification of several full size guitars to full fifths tuning, I'm always curious as to why people don't want to extend the range of their instruments.

My own Rainsong six string and Ovation 12-string mandophones play in tune throughout their range, and sound really good. Capoing them at the fifth fret gives me the mandolin and mandola range, and playing them open gives the OM/bouzouki/mandocello.

I manage to play all the mandophones without problems of hitting more strings than I want to at any given time, and given that a lot of mando players can play less than all the strings on their instruments, I'm fairly certain it's not due to a lack of dexterity.

Is there a reason why someone would be strongly against a six-course instrument?

[OKMike]

T.J.

How about a rundown on the steps involved in doing a conversion on a six string. I am interested.

Mike

[mandroid]

that 6th sting, bass end, would have to be huge, like the 7th on a 7 string guitar,
consider a re-entrant tuning, F, an octave higher . just one step lower than the 4th, G string pitch

[mandroid]

F C G D a e ?, consider re-entrant tuning the F an octave up, f C G D a e

one step under the G, so probably the same size string.. rather than like a .06" off a 7 string guitar.

[Explorer]

How about a rundown on the steps involved in doing a conversion on a six string. I am interested.

Not much to tell... the intonation on the lowest string sometimes had to be touched a bit at the saddle to be right for the lowest note of C2, two whole steps below the normal E2 of standard tuning. If I were to go to a low F1 on an acoustic guitar, as some might think would be necessary, it would indeed be a thick string. I went in the other direction, with a high B4 on the highest course, and going down in fifths from there. Details on getting there are in the following listed threads.

The tuning on the majority of my acoustic guitar instruments is now CGDAEB, low to high. My eight-strings are electrics, both in full fifths, with the lowest strings being either Ab0 (high A4) or Bb0 (high B4). It's a versatile tuning for me.

Discussion about a related tuning on guitars, which touches on re-entrant strings and gets to full fifths tuning at the end:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=45977

About my first self-converted six-string to full fifths mando tuning:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=50620

About converting an Ovation 12-string guitar into a 6-course, unison-tuned mandophone:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=52587

If you have specific questions, I ask that you post them in the "Six String to Full Fifths Tuning" thread. I hadn't been looking to hijack this thread, but was just curious about why folks wouldn't use all six strings.

I'm still curious, in fact....

[delsbrother]

I've played around with this as well, with all types of scales. I'm far too lazy to go to the extent of cutting necks and pegheads though - I have several mini-guitars that I just keep in 4 or 5 string configurations by leaving off 1-2 strings and putting on a new nut. That way theoretically I could return the instrument to 6 string tuning should I want to pawn it off to a guitarist later.

As far as full 5ths with 6 strings, I think the problems with string tension and tunings just wore me down after awhile. At guitar scales, I always wondered why I wasn't just playing guitar. That being said, I'm a big fan of the Kress/Grosz/Freeman reentrant-type tunings, and if I had a big archtop laying around I'd probably give those a try. I'd be much more likely to do that than anything Frippish, LOL.