Five string guitar (non-bass): How can one be altered, purchased, or constructed by a non-expert.

Wouldn't you just need to modify or replace the string notches in the nut and bridge/saddle? The saddle redesign would be the toughest part for a non-luthier. As for tuning, either standard tuning minus the low-E or banjo (G) tuning, I would guess.

It has been done. http://www.emando.com/players/Gregory.htm is probably the biggest champion of 5-stringed instruments tuned in fifths. The idea didn't take off. Schecter produced a couple of short-lived commercial 5-strings that you may find designated Celloblaster, A-5X, C-5X, and CB-2000. I'm not really clear on the distinctions, I think Celloblaster was a general name, I don't know if there were 2 or 3 versions or what. It doesn't sound like there are a lot of them. You'll find some but not a ton of info searching around that. It sounds like they are to be had used but not easy to find. Hopefully that's a good enough answer to justify my saying you will be a lot better off learning to play a 6 string properly. My guess is you developed a screwed up grip on the ukulele and if you correct it you will start to get the hang of it. But whatever the issue is you will not improve it by playing to your weaknesses. All the millions of guitar books in the world, all the standard non-standard tunings, standard electric tuners, all the guitar tabs that are out there... It's all made for the 6-string. It has been the standard form of the guitar since the mid-18th century. You're trying to solve the more difficult problem.

For sheer fucked-up-itude, you could try to find a bugarija - Croatian guitarish thing. Most of them (and they come in different ranges) have five strings - bottom two (lowest tones - where the low E woudl be on a guitar) are octave drones, plus three more strings spaced out into a major chord. Of course, the bottom two strings are very close together. However, you could fashion a new nut and bridge relatively easily. Or you could have a luthier make you a new nut and bridge for a regular six-string, with only five notches. As for tuning, you could just omit the low E from guitar tuning (fourths, mostly), extend mando/violin tuning to an additional fifth, use banjo tuning, or bugarija tuning (dD A D f#)

Is it really that simple (regarding nut/bridge)? If so, my prayers have been answered. I had psyched myself into thinking that the answer was more complex. The question becomes: How likely am I to fuck that up while doing it vs. how much is a luthier likely to charge (ballpark) for a service of this type? Also, any suggestions about where I could find a chord diagram generator for this chimerical instrument? Any other pitfalls I'm ignorant of, or tips I should follow? Thanks.

I think that rocket88 is right. It seems pretty simple--I bet a reasonable luthier/guitar repair guy wouldn't charge too much.

Hey, another option would be a Brazilian http://www.ericmartins.mus.br/instru.htm or viola sertaneja. It has five sets of double-coursed strings--10 strings in total. You could just take five off, and leave the bottom-pitched five, and you'd be in business with no alterations.

Different guitars have different neck and bridge widths and different between-the-string distances. These things vary widely between and even within brands. If the issue is how close together the strings are, the solution is probably not to have fewer strings, but to just find a guitar that has more space between the strings. Some general rules of thumb (which are not universally true): Taylors have more space between the strings than Martins. Seagulls fall somewhere closer to the Taylor end in that respect. Fenders have narrower necks and closer strings than Gibsons, with Telecasters being the narrowest with the least space. Nylon-string and classical guitars have very wide necks with lots of space between the strings. And it goes on and on. Keith Richards plays a tele with only 5 strings on it, but it has a very narrow neck and the strings are close together. So that won't help you. Rather than doing some radical redesign of bridge and nut (the bridge will be the tricky part) so that you can have 5 strings, I would recommend just finding a guitar with wider spacing and learning on that. If you can already play the uke, the extra two strings will only confuse you for a short time, and then you'll be glad you learned on a standard instrument.

If the issue is really the distance between strings rather than the number of strings, I'd recommend a classical guitar with gut strings, similar to those on a uke. Student models can be had relatively cheaply. Classical guitar necks are noticeably wider than steel string guitars. My first guitar was a classical, and it was several years until I graduated to a narrow-neck steel string model. Gut strings are a lot easier on the fingers as well.

There exist several banjos with full-length, non-routed fifth strings - though none cheap. Now, they'll sound like a banjo, and need some nut work to come out of a non-rëntrant tuning, but you've got five strings right there, and a tailpiece that's designed for five strings. Alternatively, there are older (and quite cheap) English zither banjos which were designed to take six strings, but only have a neck the full width of five. These can be cheap, but will need TLC. It might not be the string spacing that's the real problem with the guitar, but the steel strings. If it's an acoustic, you might be able to get a luthier to modify the nut and the bridge to take hard nylon strings.