In 2017, we challenged you to create new and exciting resonator instruments using paint can lids! Whether its sinking a lid into your favorite cigar box guitar design or coming up with some new and wild musical invention, you built to impress!
The comments below represent the submissions by Cigar Box Nation members. Dig through 'em and get some inspiration for your own next project.
sponsor: C. B. Gitty Tin Pan Alley Kit
The contest was judged by Damian Fanelli, online editor of Guitar World Magazine based on the photos you provided.
The paint lid reso concept was the idea of North Hollywood, CA luthier, Matty Baratto. He’s been building these ResoFiddles (the resonator version of his CigFiddles) since 1995 and has made them for Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl, Johnny Depp and others. Not only was it amazing to see Baratto actually enter his #250 guitar in the contest, it was even more mind blowing that he was edged out of the #1 slot. Here’s the top three winners:
Crowdaddy gets first prize, a $100 C. B. Gitty Gift Certificate and bragging rights. Guitar World comments, “(this is) the one I’d most like to own. I love the controls being on top… it’s nice and traditional with some extras.”
Matty Baratto comes in second place with his ResoFiddle #250. He will receive a $50 gift certificate from C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply.
Third place goes to Alberto Magotti. Guitar World comments, “(this is) a very attractive box…cool looking.” Magotti receives a $25 gift certificate from C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply.
Replies
The body is a spanish cedar cigar box.I removed the bottom and replaced it with a piece of book matched flame maple for the top of the guitar and used the hinged top of the box for the back,allowing easy access to the inside.The tapered neck and tailpiece is mahogany with the same maple for the fret board and the tail piece cap.Bone nut and ebony markers.The aluminum cover plate and tail piece were hand fabricated from pieces of an old sign (Warning Danger keep out ).There is a disc piezo pickup on the paint can lid under the hand fabricated adjustable maple bridge and a single coil, with volume for each and a three way mini toggle switch.I sanded the finish off the box and dyed it and the maple top with leather dye and finished it with lacquer. The neck and tailpiece have an oil finish.The F hole screen is painted 1/4 inch hardware cloth.
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Here is my entry. This guitar features a flea market found 8"x12" aluminum cake pan body. The paint lid has been turned using a cardboard form screwed down to a potter's wheel. A broomstick, WD40, and brute force was applied to stretch the metal and improve tone to the lid. The fretboard is 24" scale walnut with Fender pick hole punched fret markers. Bone nut, Maple/ebony bridge.Tuning is provided with Gitty long shaft tuners with pearloid knobs. Pickup is a Lowrider custom pickup in red foil. Tailpiece is a fork that has been shaped to hold the strings in place. It is quite loud and was a blast to build! Looking forward to seeing more entries.
Great homemade effort Wade, ticks all the boxes for me
Thanks Darryl!
Here's my submission. Built this out of cedar from an old planter. I oriented the neck grain vertically to help with strength. I went for the relic look...like something you'd find in grandpa's attic. Old hinge for a tailpiece, bone for the bridge, and a horseshoe nail for the nut (got that out of a box from when dad used to work horses 40+ years ago.) I'll put up a video and a few more photos up on my page.
Old-style screws and the slide in the video were a gift from turtlehead.
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I entered this contest a little late in the game, two weeks in I thought it would be fun project and it would only last two weeks. What a two weeks it has been. I documented part of it in the blog on my page.
Had some maple sides bent to build a guitar but it had issues and I thought I probably wouldn't use it (just learning how to build them and realized this one was a wrong path to take). A neck blank made up of sugar pine that I pulled off a pallet (23 1/2" scale). The top and back is some Baltic Birch plywood. Other than I wanted to do a sunburst I had no vision of what I wanted it to look like, just used what I could find to complete the next step in building it. It needs some setup, decent fret job but otherwise I am kind of happy how it turned out.
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As a custom saddlemaker and leather worker I fell in love with the sounds the cigar box has, I had to build one, then another, then more, now I find I get to enter a contest , a big step for me. This paint can lid creation has a African Paduak neck with a 14 1/2 degree headstock, maple fret board, sealed gear tuners, old salvaged pickup, a handmade and hand engraved ( another hobby of mine ) tailpiece along with a Purple Heart bridge and braided leather set into the rim of the lid. The 12 gauge shotgun shell case head tops off the volume control and custom designed and cut sound holes hopefully adds. Thank you for looking
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