EASY TO BUILD CIGAR BOX GUITAR: AN UNCLE CROW STYLE CBG IN ONE HOUR!!

Today we're going to have a step-by-step cigar box guitar building class!  The total time to build is about one hour, not including the introduction video, or video 8, where we're just playing the guitar.



Build a three string, slide cigar box guitar with the following items:

Materials

  • wooden cigar box - $3
  • 1x2  - $1
  • three eye bolts, 3/16" x 3" , 24 thread - $1.50
  • six #8 washers - $.98
  • three wing nuts, 3/16", 24 thread - $.98
  • three 6/32 machine screws with matching nuts - $.98
  • machine bolt, 1/4" x 2" long - $.98
  • guitar strings, one pack - $5
  • three wood screws - 1 1/2" long - $.98


These items are really much cheaper than i list here. most of them are bought in bulk, so for just a little more money you could build a LOT of guitars. The prices listed above are the average hardware store price, if you were to buy the item in small numbers in individual bags from the pegs in the fasteners section.

Tools

  • drill
  • 1/2" paddle bit for three sound holes (you could use 1/4 bit with six holes)
  • regular smaller drill bits
  • phillips bit
  • hand saw (box saw is best)
  • sand paper


Additional items

  • guitar picks can be bought at most box stores
  • slides can be bought at home depot. go to the cabinet section, and ask for a 2" long 3/4" steel spacer. they cost $1.50, and are the best slides i've ever used!!

 

WORKSPACE, SUPPLIES AND TOOLS

 


NECK

NECK, EYE BOLT TUNER INSTALLATION AND BODY BLOCK


MOUNTING THE NECK AND SOUND HOLES


FRET CALCULATION AND FRET MARKERS

Fret Markings:  THANKS TO DAZEDLEMONPIE, the following fret measurements have been transcribed for us, and i've copied and pasted them here.

"i just written down all the fret measurement from part 5 of the video, I thought I would share it with those interested in building one.

The following are based on scale length of 59cm

59cm multiply .9439 (or any other scale length) equals your first fret location.  It should be marked as follows: 

  1. 55.6cm   
  2. 52.5cm   
  3. 49.6cm   0
  4. 46.8cm  
  5. 44.2cm  0
  6. 41.7cm  
  7. 39.3cm   0
  8. 37.1cm  
  9. 35cm     
  10. 33.1cm 0 (G chord)
  11. 31.2cm
  12. 29.5cm 00
  13. 27.8cm
  14. 26.2cm
  15. 24.8cm
  16. 23.4cm
  17. 22.1cm
  18. 20.8cm
  19. 19.6cm"

STRINGING IT UP, STRINGS AND EYE BOLT TUNERS


TUNE IT UP AN PLAY!


PLAYING THE CIGAR BOX GUITAR : COLLECTIVE SOUL - "SHINE"

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Sorry about resurrecting this thread.  I took a dive and built a vanilla "uncle crow" last night using a slightly warped cohiba box and a 1x2 I found in my scrap wood pile.  Well vanilla except for mistakes, that is.  One thing to add when attaching the neck, box and block to make it easier without having to flip the box over and over:  Use your scrap wood as a depth gauge!

   1. Mark center line and cross line on the neck.

   2. Mark center line on the retension block top front and on the back.

   3. On box, mark center line outside front (for neck), inside front and inside back (for block).

   4. Put neck face down, box on top and retension block inside, roughly line them up with marks.

   5. Fine tune the inside block by matching center lines.

   6. Line up neck to center line front.

   7. Take your scrap wood, 'T' with the neck at box front.  Use a pencil to mark the box bottom edge.  This is your "depth gauge".

   8. Slide the scrap wood T along the neck, adjust the box to match.  Rematch the center line, slide the scrap wood and adjust again.  Your neck is now even with the box bottom!

   9. Drive in the front screw..

   10. Recheck the neck alignment your "depth gauge".  Drive the rest of the screws.

Oh yeah, prices have gone up to 1.18USD per bag of junk.  I had to go to a shop to find guitar strings (what happened to Walmart anyways?).  At Lowe's in the spacer drawer for 1.50USD I found a 3/4" x 1 1/2" steel spacer which seems to work fine for a slide.

heh

Sorry if I was being too obvious here :-p

I'm wondering how a build like this would work as a ukulele?  How would the acoustics be?

If the Ukulele is the same sized box, it will probably be a little louder than the guitar due to a shorter neck, assuming the nylgut strings resonate as well-or you could use the light gauge metal banjo strings I use for extra volume (personal preference).

A ukulele works very well with an attached neck though-some 1/4" oak shims glued to the interior sides is more reinforcement than you need for a screw-on or peg-through neck, leaving open space in between and plenty of vibration in the soundboard-it's not an Uncle Crow build at that point though...

I've had really good luck with the 1-1/2"x1/4" stock lately-three ot those equal the thickness of the necks in the Uncle Crow build, so i've tried using only two of the former, glued together, and of Oak rather than Poplar for extra strength-I get pretty much just as strong a neck with only 2/3 the material and a litte more interior space. The thinner material does require a little more care drilling the string anchors, in which case I either:

A) Drill the same angle after gluing one small strip across the last 1/2" of the neck for reinforcement or
B) Drill the holes horizontally through the neck, soundboard and reinforcing block just like a Classical guitar-given the light strings I use i've noticed no stress on the soundboard at all.

If you want even more neck reinforcement with the lighter neck you could(after you've screwed down the neck) build and glue a neck block to the back(but not the box) then use a leftover bit of the oak shim to run a screw through shim and top of box into the block...and it still dissasembles if you want to switch boxes...

Sick video! Super simple. The essence of CBG!

Thanks!

Maybe I'm missing it somewhere.  What gauge string are you using on your builds, Crow?  Medium?  Light?  I'm currently making plans for attending my first CBG "mini-show" and I'm thinking about cranking out a few of these to sell.  I'm sure the other builders that will be there will have their $200+ builds and I want to have something that might appeal to those who aren't quite convinced they wanna spend that much right the bat.  Especially if it's for a child.  :)

Hey bud! Thanks for dropping by! I try to stick with medium or heavy gauge if possible because light strings dont work well for laying slide.
:)

Sweet! I just got a bunch of 3 string sets from Gitty.  Guess I'm gonna make me a few this weekend. ;)

awesome! be sure to take pictures and post the links here, videos are even better!!! can't wait to see them :)

*Playing

Super cool git. Keep inspiring. Cool pants, too.

Here's what I built in about 9 hours for about $30

Macanudo Build Photolog

omfg i want it!!!

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