Hey guys, I am wanting to build a 2-string cigar box bass. I'll find a suitable box in my stash or on my next box hunt likely. My intentions are building it to a 30" scale. Would you recommend a truss rod in the neck or maybe a laminated neck or are either really necessary? I will probably be using Maple for the neck. Leaning towards a rod-type piezo but the box I use may have some influence on that too. Any tips or experience on the type of pickup to use? Thanks for any wisdom you can share on building one of these.

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John,

The piezo disc worked well for me but, each build is different. I have built a couple CBG's (not a bass though) with tins and piezo discs and getting sound is not a problem. If the piezo is mounted to the tin use a good bed of adhesive and then cover it with adhesive to insulate it some, tins can get pretty "twangy". I have also mounted the discs with double-sided tape and then covered them with the same and that works well too. Mounting the disc on the neck, inside the tin, is an option too, you may need to fool around with placement to get the sound you want. When I built my 2 string bass I used the piezo rod in the bridge and that worked very good with a nice bass sound too. Oak is a good choice for the neck since it's very strong.

Thanks for the helpful comments, Bruce, I've never used a piezo or a tin before so advice is very encouraging. Time to get cracking!

I would recommend some type or trussrod for anything with a scale of 25" or greater and more than 3 strings. A bass will have a lot of string pressure even if you only have 2 strings.

Oak or Maple or other similar wood would be best for a bass neck, don't want to use any soft wood for that neck.

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