I'm new here and hope this hasn't been discussed into the ground. I did a quick search but came up with nothing. I'm looking to use an Epiphone Jr. 6 string electric neck on my first cigar box guitar. I may be getting to involved for my first attempt but I usually dive head first into projects. I'm asking for any advice on the best way to attach the neck to the CB. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to beef it up for string tension but would love some input on the best method.
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I'm in the middle of building a bolt on neck construction. Here's a tip for a problem I overlooked because I was concentrating on scale lengths and other stuff. My neck joined my body halfway through where my neck join plate sits. Remember you need access to it and consider it in the build. Trully a Homer Simpson moment when the side of my box ran right over where my plate would go. It had an easy solution but it trully was a Doh! moment.
This is Shane's short clip about beefing up a through-neck for a mag-pup cut out. you can do the same thing to give yourself a good solid attachment point for a bolt on neck.
Thanks for all the info. This all give me a pretty good idea on what I have to do. I was also wondering about the angle of the neck so thanks Darryl for asking the question that I didn't. I found a similar CBG in a pawnshop that I'm basically copying so I had a pretty good idea, but needed ideas on how to strengthen the box. Thanks again. I'll post pics when she's finished.
Darryl and Tom are right, in that you'll need a suitable piece of wood installed inside the box to secure the neck and to support the bridge. Not only does this help to mount the neck, but it will give a bit of needed weight in the body so the guitar is not "neck heavy", but balanced.
It is important to use a large cigar box that is at least 11-12 inches long, so your bridge is not sitting at the tail edge of the box, or worse, run out of room for the bridge. It is also a good idea to set the neck into the body up to the 16th fret. This will insure that the neck has enough room to bolt properly, and leave plenty of playable frets.
If you set the depth of your neck pocket so that the fretboard part of the neck is above the surface of the box, a back angle should not be needed.
i'm curiouos on the epiphone neck thing as well...I have a pawn shop epiphone les paul neck that I want to use, but haven't worked out the neck/body angle thing bridge height etc
Clint Vincent > Darryl TuttleMarch 1, 2016 at 11:17pm
These are pics of one I found in the pawn shop that I'm tying to replicate.
The nice thing about a bolt on neck is that you can shim the neck after the fact to get the back angle where you want it. There are some very inexpensive "adjustable" neck kits that make it pretty easy to change the neck angle. Takes some stress out of your design phase.
Darryl offers some sound advice. Basically, make the cigar box a "hard body" guitar. That would provide the rigidity you need to hole the neck under string tension.
You may also be able to use the technique employed in many hollow-bodied electrics. It's called a "through neck", but basically it's a block of hard wood (like hard maple) that bolts to the neck and extends all the way through the cigar box and provides an anchor point for the strings. The cigar box is attached to the neck and through board, but is not really under any string tension. A 1 x 3" piece of hard maple cut to fit inside the box would provide the needed "through neck". The Epiphone neck would bolt to the maple as it does to the Epiphone body. String anchor holes could be drilled through the maple and top of the cigar box.
This arrangement should provide all the rigidity you need.
A normal box will struggle with the tension un aided,you will need to find some method to bridge from the butt end of the neck to your string anchor point,as it's not likely to be an accoustic guitar,putting timber inside the box,should not be a problem.A simple method would be just a suitable width/height hard wood strut running the length of the box on the bottom,tapered horizontally at the neck end to receive your screw on neck at the angle required,then adding another piece of hardwood 'stacked' to sit under your tail piece to have a solid fixing for the strings,the area in between could be left clear of the box lid to keep some accoustic ability
Replies
I'm in the middle of building a bolt on neck construction. Here's a tip for a problem I overlooked because I was concentrating on scale lengths and other stuff. My neck joined my body halfway through where my neck join plate sits. Remember you need access to it and consider it in the build. Trully a Homer Simpson moment when the side of my box ran right over where my plate would go. It had an easy solution but it trully was a Doh! moment.
This is Shane's short clip about beefing up a through-neck for a mag-pup cut out. you can do the same thing to give yourself a good solid attachment point for a bolt on neck.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/how-to-mount-guitar-pickups-in-...
It is important to use a large cigar box that is at least 11-12 inches long, so your bridge is not sitting at the tail edge of the box, or worse, run out of room for the bridge. It is also a good idea to set the neck into the body up to the 16th fret. This will insure that the neck has enough room to bolt properly, and leave plenty of playable frets.
If you set the depth of your neck pocket so that the fretboard part of the neck is above the surface of the box, a back angle should not be needed.
i'm curiouos on the epiphone neck thing as well...I have a pawn shop epiphone les paul neck that I want to use, but haven't worked out the neck/body angle thing bridge height etc
image.jpeg
The nice thing about a bolt on neck is that you can shim the neck after the fact to get the back angle where you want it. There are some very inexpensive "adjustable" neck kits that make it pretty easy to change the neck angle. Takes some stress out of your design phase.
Darryl offers some sound advice. Basically, make the cigar box a "hard body" guitar. That would provide the rigidity you need to hole the neck under string tension.
You may also be able to use the technique employed in many hollow-bodied electrics. It's called a "through neck", but basically it's a block of hard wood (like hard maple) that bolts to the neck and extends all the way through the cigar box and provides an anchor point for the strings. The cigar box is attached to the neck and through board, but is not really under any string tension. A 1 x 3" piece of hard maple cut to fit inside the box would provide the needed "through neck". The Epiphone neck would bolt to the maple as it does to the Epiphone body. String anchor holes could be drilled through the maple and top of the cigar box.
This arrangement should provide all the rigidity you need.
Good luck.
A normal box will struggle with the tension un aided,you will need to find some method to bridge from the butt end of the neck to your string anchor point,as it's not likely to be an accoustic guitar,putting timber inside the box,should not be a problem.A simple method would be just a suitable width/height hard wood strut running the length of the box on the bottom,tapered horizontally at the neck end to receive your screw on neck at the angle required,then adding another piece of hardwood 'stacked' to sit under your tail piece to have a solid fixing for the strings,the area in between could be left clear of the box lid to keep some accoustic ability