Nick Takenobu Ogawa

The prototype is done, and I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty bad ass. I’m pleased with the results, at least for a first try. I wanted to see how putting frets on would go, and while they work, it never occurred to me how essential vibrato was to the overall sound of the cello until I was unable to use it. I’ve already gotten the ball rolling for the next version, which will use an ebony fingerboard and no frets. I learned a lot in the first run so more than likely the second attempt will be the one I use for performance.

I’ve been slowly but surely putting the finishing touches on this body, using a beautiful piece of curly maple. It looks about a million times better than the plywood version i did below. I’ve just started finishing it, using a nice “vintage amber” stain. The photo resolution on this pic doesnt reveal the shimmery curly effect of the grain, but that should come out more when I add the gloss coat. In a couple weeks expect to hear how it sounds!

I routed out a trial run of the body. It needs some serious sanding, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to use it anyway. The plywood started to split, and while the glue seems to have done the trick for now, I’m not sure I want to go ahead and install everything onto something I’m not sure of. Nonetheless it’s good routing practice.

got a router and started on it, but i totally underestimated how loud it would be. Not to mention the sawdust. Tomorrow I’ll get earplugs and a mask. It probably wouldn’t be too bad an idea to talk to the neighbors too, just to let em know what I’m up to. Here’s what the first pass looked like at least:

I cut out all the slots in the fingerboard and will be ready to hammer the actual fretwire into the fingerboard soon. I’m still trying to determine if it’s better to glue the fingerboard to the neck first, or if it’s okay to have the frets in before gluing.

I guess trial and error is the way to go. It’s doubtful that this will be the only one I make. I’ve got the pickups and wiring all ready to go. I plan on routing the body tomorrow.

I’ve got my supplies, as you can see below. Although I hate to burst any bubbles about my amazing craftsmanship, I must admit I purchased those two parts online. I did however draw the design, and will be routing that myself, out of wood not pictured here. I would’ve posted a pic of that too, but it’s just a couple of pieces of plywood glued together and struck me as a very boring picture. I’ll be installing frets on the fingerboard soon, so we’ll see how that goes, more on that later. Some people might ask, isn’t putting frets on a cello cheating, and to those people I say, who cares?

I’m using this fantastic instructable as a guidline more or less, because my goal is to make something really authentically electric, instead of all the bizarre looking instruments out there that are called “electric cellos.” What the heck is the point if it looks like some kind of crazy mechanized weapon, or a bizarre avant-guard piece of art. Not to say that I don’t intend for this to be art, but the point is for elegance and functionality, not some sort of utilitarian implement.