I'm building a ukulele for a friend out of a Johnny Walker box.  It originally held 10 mini bottle of liquor but it's basically a cigar box.

So I see two ways to go about the build:

1) Get the Gitty kit and use all those parts

-OR-

2) Build a neck through style myself.

The first option would be easier but there's one catch: I want to make the box open and have a little compartment for a mini bottle and two glasses.  That being the case, there's not much of an edge to fasten the neck to.  I could easily have enough bracing if I do a neck through style of my own design.

So, any ideas how I could attach the neck from the kit with enough bracing and still have the box hinge open?

Thanks in advance for your input

Scotty

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I would do a stick through, though all my builds are more stick to the end  rather than all the way through 

I have done a few back opening lunch box based builds but I haven't seen the box you are working on.  Pics might be useful.  

Yes, I do 'stick to the end' rather than all the way through too.

https://www.whiskybank.com.au/product/johnnie-walker-black-label-12...

It's a box just like this one.  I'm probably going to move the hinges and hasp to the sides just for better orientation of the whole thing.

Like I said, basically a cigar box.  Thin wood sides, opens in the middle, etc.

Hi, Here's one I prepared earlier. Not a uke but I'd use the same idea.

Taff

Yeah, I'm leaning towards something like this.  I like that you have stylized the sound hole.  I might try something like that instead of just a circle.

You don't need to have a stick through on a cigar box uke, just attach it to the front.  The string tension is low enough to avoid any damage.

I'd like to do it that way, but as you can see, the lip on the box top is only about 1/2" wide and some very soft wood, cedar or something similar.  A neck through is easy enough, but iif I just attach the neck flush to the box top I'm guessing I need some bracing.  If I didn't need to open the lid, I'm guessing using the whole box side would be strong enough, but Ir eally want the lid to open.

Ohhh, I gotcha.  An alternate option would be to make the back of the cigar box, the sound board.  Then the uke would open from the back.

Hi,

You will find that the guitar will sound better if the neck does not have any contact with the top. But I suppose if you are putting bottles onside, acoustic sound is not a priority in this build.

Taff

Here is a uke that opens. The top is about 5/8" height. I made it a few years ago, it is solid, no issues.  Glued a block the full width, moved the cedar side pieces to the top to stiffen the top, notched out the bottom. The neck is screwed to the block. 

That’s really slick.  I’ll have to take some measurements and see if I can do something like that. 

You can see here that the box is just the same size as my soprano Uke body. The inside depth on the lid is just 1/2”. I think maybe with a full width piece to brace I might be able to screw right to the lid without doing a through neck.

Based on your pictures, I would guess you could do something like I did, my box top is about the same height inside.

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