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Hi guys,

this is my first post here and I'm sorry to say I'm gonna be the clueless noob who isn't actually invested in the craft. That being said, I am going to make a guitar and I do need your help.

My plan is to make a mini electric guitar, about the size of a mandolin. I know this is going to seem like an unreasonable project to most of you, but please just try to assess whether it will work, not whether its a worthwhile project. I am going to just layout how I hope it will work.

I am going to get an unmarked guitar neck/fretboard and hack the low end off to my desired length. I will then fasten it to a hardwood body and headstock shaped by myself. I will use the appropriate hardware for a combination of bass and guitar strings, allowing me to achieve the same tuning as a standard length guitar. Because I will not be using this instrument with standard guitar amps/pedals/etc, I am going to use an EGR pickup with built in pre-amp, allowing me to plug the guitar directly into my sampler/sequencer or headphone amp.

I know having a normal guitar would be the ideal scenario, but this is a luxury I cannot afford. Actually, having a steinway and a selmer balanced action would be the ideal scenario for me, but unfortunately I live in my car and none of these, for space and security, are feasible options. A chromatic harmonica just doesn't get the itch for me, and that's why I've conceived of this idea -- what I hope will be a small, hideable instrument with quality tone and multiple voices. Then all I have to do is learn to play the guitar!

Any feedback on my plans is much appreciated. Thank you guys!

Allan

Hi, Allan, and welcome to the forum.

I'm not just sure how to approach answering your query, but here are a few thoughts, in no particular order.

-A bass guitar gets most of its power and playability from having a longer scale, rather than a shorter one. Notwithstanding, Ashbury made a really short-scale bass, with special strings. You might consider Aquila Thundergut U-bass strings, but these will not work with a magnetic pickup.

-You might consider doing this in several stages. For example, buy a used Squier Bullet Strat (the cheapest electric guitar I can think of offhand), and rework the nut, tuners, and bridge to accept your proposed bass experiments to see if they work. Then see about shortening the neck.

-Shortening the neck isn't quite as simple as removing wood with a saw. The truss rod is a big factor in making an instrument playable. It may be easier to make a new neck than to shorten one and do it well.

-A standard guitar can be shortened by reshaping the body so that there is basically nothing behind the bridge. It can also be shortened by converting the neck to a headless design.

I hope this helps, or at least gives you some thoughts that will help you make some progress.

OK, if you cannot afford a $100 guitar from GC or someplace, you definitely cannot afford to build one.Sorry, but building anything costs more than buying a factory made one always.

Also living in a car I doubt you have any real work space or equipment for such a project. Quality tools and work space are required to get any type of worthwhile results.

Being as you cannot yet play a guitar will make this process infinitely harder as you have no experience to guide you in building something so odd and learning to play it may be harder than learning on an actual full size guitar......

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

could just get a ukulele, without the longer scale your bass strings will amount to crap anyway, or even a mandolin, $50 and theres nothing wrong with an all fifths tuning

Several issues have been addressed above, in addition, you cannot cut length off the body end of the neck to create a new scale length. The fret distances will all be off. I is not like eliminating the other end of the neck with a capo. I don't see anyway that bass strings on a short scale tuned to guitar pitch can be anything but a set-up nightmare. There are just too many competing factors to achieve what you want. I agree that you would be better off getting a cheap mandolin or uke and learning to play that instead. You won't get to play in guitar range but at least you will be able to play it.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.