Cigar Box Guitars

Ok does anyone in here know much about these? Any of yall ever played or built one. I got a wild hair to build me one and was looking for some feed back. Let me know whats up in Cigar Box Guitar world.

GW did a review about them a few months back, forget what brand. They're real good for slide, but for general playing, they're not so hot. I've never played one though.

Well I have really been turned on to older blues. I haven seen a couple of you tube clips of a guy just doing some increadible stuff with . I would want to make mine electric and have been reading up on how to build one and dosent look to bad at all. (hell im 2 test away from being a master automotive techniction I aught to be able to handle this...lol). If anything else I think thay would make awesome art pieces hanging up in a jam room. I got 2 different ones I have in mind. I want to make one normal one and one made out of a cookie tin (you know the ones like you get those christmas cookies in). Man im just ate up with this...lol. Here is a little taste of what im talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7CDzqTHX8g

Well im all excited. I found, orderd, and purchased most of the parts im needing for my little Cigar Box Guiter. Got a few things floating in my head about the neck and the frets. My most exciting thing of the day is I made my very own (home made) pickup today and tested it out on my acoustic...... "It Is Aliveeee". Ohh well im rambeling .... very excited.

I'm with ya on this. :cool: I got my cigar box and the wood for the neck. I'm checking out pickup designs and ideas. Not sure about fretting or not. I did find a pattern to layout a fretted neck but I have doubts about the playability of such a neck on this style of guitar. Seems to be a better slide guitar. :D

Well I just talked with a guy earlier about fretting mine. I decided not to on my first attempt. He mentioned that slides work alot better on fretless necks and that is what I want to go for on this guitar. Nick I dont know if your interested but I made my pickup for less than 5 bucks ... he he . Let me know and I'll drop you the info if interested in checking out this rout for your sound. Glad to see im not the only one out ther with the cigar box bug...... :)

If you have a website or something for the pickup let me know. I was considering a humbucker but I think for the first one I'm leaning toward the piezio electric. I've been trying to decide also on 3 or 4 string and what to use for my bridge and nut. I will probably make them out of metal so the strings don't dig into them and keep going out of tune.

I went with a piezo myself. Cheep and easy to get my hands on. Figured I would try to keep the amount of cost down. I decided on a 3 string fretless myself due to the fact I want it be primarly a slid sound out of it. May try the frets on the next one (wich is going to be a metal one made of a cookie tin). Got a really cool idea for the marking on the tabs lines though. I read where alot of folks are burning the lines. I experimented earlier using a flat blade and a hack saw to make a perfectly straight cut about an 1\8 of an inch deep. Im going to use wood filler and some die to fill in the cut and sand it down so I will have white fret lines to match the box and tuning keys.

MAVERIC777 I got your PM thanks. I'm posting my plans here so others that might be interested can see how I'm planning to go about this. I have no idea how this will work yet so don't look at these plans as anything other than an idea.



The metal cap on the wood bridge is half of a ford front brake caliper slide that I'm cutting polishing and screwing into the wood whose top I shaped to the same contour. This should stop the strings from cutting into the wood and detuning the thing on me. The wood under this metal cap should I hope allow the resonating of the strings to transmit into the cigar box (fingers crossed). The nut is the same idea. Wood block drilled to fit a solid steal shaft cut and slotted for the strings and glued. I will use small washers on both sides of the neck pressed and glued to keep the strings from digging into the wood on the body side. the strings will simply go through the neck and the standard string grommet will keep it from going through the holes. The tuners will be standard tuners but the head stock will be cut on an angle like a strat to keep the strings straight. 3 string configuration I'm hoping steal strings but without a steal rod in the neck it might bow the neck in time. The neck will be notched so the top of the neck will be flush with the top of the cigar box. I think that's about it so far. Not sure on the pickup design yet. Questions ideas are more than welcome. Just a reminder this is just my idea not a tried and true method.

Hey man looks like you are heading in the right direction. I like the idea of insetting the washers on the back to prevent to cutting of the wood. I personaly am going to cheet and use acoustic pegs (like in a normal acoustic) to mount mine. Figured I just need to make the hole just the right size where it is tight to insert but able to remove if needed replaced. I got about 3 hours of work into the neck last night .... im jacked over it now looking sweet. Well im off to brouse through Low's and try to come up with some more Ideas. When I get home I'll try to snap a few pics to show ya what I got going on this end. Peace!

Sounds good. I have to wait to maybe next weekend to start mine. I have to many interruptions this week end and it's still chilly outside. I want to do my cutting and sanding outside.

Hey man I got the neck giong good last night. I did some experimenting with the marks on the neck. I didnt want to go with the burnt wood thing ike alot of folks do. I made the marks by hand with a hack saw (for a fine clean cut) and a drill. I found this epoxy made by super glue that you can add paint too and get the color you want . I decided since I was going to keep the white and gold thing going (to match the box) I decided to make the fret lines and dots white. Think It turned out decent. Learned a few things along the way of getting this nek going. I got the mount holes done on the box and the neck fits good and snug. That took a while due to the fact I was using a small file to take off small amounts to keep the neck tight on the box but not tight enought to bend the structure of the box. I cant figure out how to get the pics on here or I would show ya what im talking about.

Think I got something going for the pics. Let me know if it dosent work.

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t7/MAVERIC7771975/?action=view¤t=.my_first_widget.pbw

Try this link think it will get you to the slide show I got set up. Let me know what ya think.

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t7/MAVERIC7771975/?action=view¤t=.my_first_widget.pbw

Dude that's looking great. What did you do for your fret markers? They're nice and easy to see.

It was kinda a pain... well not that bad just tedious. I used a small measuring square and a C-clamp. I lined up the square on the board and secured it to the board with the C-clamp (I was sure to use a shop rag so I wouldent damage the wood). I used a hack saw (to keep the cut clean and thin) and run it aginst the edge of the square to make sure the line was straight. I found an epoxy made by super glue you can add oil base paint (like an artist would use on a canvis) to make the color you want. I filled in the lines and drilled holes with the epoxy let dry. Then hand sanded my ass off...lol. I did the head and the back of the neck with a hand router. That was harder than it looked, but after even more sanding it came out looking decent I think.

Ok I got a chance to start mine. Still need to put in the dotted fret markers, decide how I want to fill the fret markers and such and final sand. My tuners should be here in a few days as well as well as my 1/4" jack. I need to get over to my brother in-laws to use his drill press so everything stays straight. Anyway you can see my progress in pictures here:

cbg Pictures

How are you sealing the wood or are you? I was thinking of just polyurethane. I really hate using lacquer.

Hey guys I just wanted to chime in and say your guitars look GREAT!! I have the GW Magazine that has the cigar box guitar review and I thought it was cool back then....Now I am inspired to make one myself. :) I hope you guys will post a video or Mp3 when you get them done so we can hear them. Keep up the good work!

Finger thanks man. I hope you have as much fun building yours as I am having building mine. Nick that is one cool looking guitar you got going man. Ahhh love the box you got. Making me jealouse man. Hey let me tell ya something I figured out the hard way. On the neck give it a sand with like 220 grit paper (to smoth out the poors or veins in the wood some). When I added my filler it seemed to fill in the poors of the wood and im having a hard time getting all the white out. I did a test piece I sanded before hand and had no trace of the white after the sanding. I got the stuff I used at work and I cant rember exactly what it is but it worked perfect. I know it is made by super glue and I bought it due to the fact you can add paint to it to color it. I'll drop a line in the morning with the name of it and part #. I finaly built my bridge today. Couldent figure out for the life of me how I was going to do it then all of a suddon it hit me. It went back to the K.I.S.S. saying (keep it simple stupid....lol). One last note.... I went to my local "go to" music store where I orderd my tuning keys and showed the owner what I had cooking. He was tripping out over it and asked if I was planning on making more and if I would be interested in consignment sales. On top of that a young guy (who was sitting across the room picking some cool tunes on an Ibanez) came over and started questioning it. Said he wanted one and wanted to know how much. Man I came home tripping out. Ohhh well eather its the beer or im still pumped.... I'll stop rambeling now....

Definitely Let me know what that glue was cause it looks like it worked great. It's very cool people are showing interest. If this one goes well I was thinking of making a few and trying to sell them. I bet people who don't even play would like them as decor. Especially if you can get some fancy cigar boxes. I bet out here in the Hampton's ("playground for the rich and famous") they would sell for $150 or better each in the little boutique and antique shops.