Posted by Marsup Ecco on September 8, 2009 at 12:40am
hi guys, I am currently in the "cigar box fever", but I have one last question before building one: how does it look under the lid?
I have seen that tutorial where you have one complete neck going through, on the complete surface under the lid, the other one shows a neck that has gives the lid space to vibrate; and I've seen pictures where the neck is not going through the whole cigar box at all
so what do you guys prefer?
I've seen some really great sounding cbgs on youtube and try to build one with a similar tone.
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Hi, Thank you for the kind words (not sure if you liked to be called Tiny, Tinyguitars, Mr Tinyguitars or Mr T)- I'd be happy to post some but my nephew is getting married tomorrow so I shall do it later in the week so I have time to undo the hinges to show the insides to show how the neck was fitted. Being a newbie could someone kindly tell me how to embed the pictures into the posting rather than attaching at the end? Also is it okay to post the pictures here or do I have to put them onto the picture part of the website?
tinyguitars said:
David, this is really an incredible looking guitar! Please post more pics please? Great work man! :)
The easiest design to get right is "neck thru". You have alignment issues settled and there is very little stress on the box. If you use a true hard wood (like oak or maple) you can do a double relief to raise the neck to the box to create a neck-on-fretboard and still relief for free the box top to vibrate without fear of structural weakness in the neck. I tend to only do a single relief to free the top to vibrate and add a seperate fretboard to the neck to get the fretboard above the box level and add strength to the neck to prevent bowing...
BTW, you can have the advantages of neckthru design without a tailpiece sticking out by "blinding-off" the neck inside the box at the tail and using some other string termination design...
The second: an extra 1/8" recess that allows the lid to vibrate
Hard to see here but there are two recesses. Of course, I reinforce it since the neck has less structural integrity. You can also glue to the bottom of the box. I've seen and done that before too.
Thanks for your thoughts, guys...
I think about building a three string, but without letting the neck stick out at the end of the box; I want the strings to go through the lid and be fixed underneath (many seem to do it that way and I like that look... string-through-body)
now the question is: how can I do it?
I see two ways:
- the neck is attached to the complete lid without sticking out at the end of the box;
- the neck is attached to some kind of construction and does not cover the complete length of the box
as I want to electrify the cbg, isn't it better to use the second way? because if I'd like to have a magnetic pickup, the first solution wouldn't work as there wouldn't be enough space to fit in the pickup, I guess... while having a piezo would work with both ways, right?
I'm pretty confused about this, it seems to be basic understanding of a cbg but still I don't really get it...
Advantages of a thru neck (for me anyway) - its fairly easy to do with regard to lining everything up, it takes the stress off the box, and helps with the sustain. I always 'notch out' a little under the lid, just like the other chaps said, as it helps the lid vibarte = more acoustic volume. Its not the only way or the right way though... you'll figure out what works best for you as you go along.
Hi,
If you are going to have a neck going through the whole of the CBG and sticking out the other end to make the tailpiece for the strings I do not think it would make a difference structurally and if left open could always me fixed down later.
As I am limited in my woodwork skills and tools available (I only have a small rotary hand tool - a dremel copy plus a few hand tools and an old drill) for my first few efforts I have always recycled electric guitar necks (also I tend to get impatient waiting for the end result and this speeds thing up). Another reason is that I can play a six string (badly!) so have tended to stick to this method. Back to your question - for the type of CBG I make, the neck fixes at only one end and the bridge towards the other end. Even though I use the lightest strings possible (8 gauge erlectric) I have found the lid starts to get lifted at the ends by the string tension. Rather than fit loads of strengthening batons along the lid (as it would reduce the volume the lid generates) I simply fit hinges to both ends as this (with the removal of a few screws) means I can easily access the guitar insides if I wish. If you are thinking of this type let me know and I'll add a description of what I do to make the neck pocket with a few pictures of the insides of the CBG - added below are a few hinge shots. I used a wooden 35mm photoslide box for this rather than a proper cigar box - this setup wouldn't work on a box smaller than about 12" long as the scale length of the guitar neck would mean the bridge is off the end of the box.
Replies
tinyguitars said:
BTW, you can have the advantages of neckthru design without a tailpiece sticking out by "blinding-off" the neck inside the box at the tail and using some other string termination design...
hope this helps,
the best,
Wichita Sam
Hard to see here but there are two recesses. Of course, I reinforce it since the neck has less structural integrity. You can also glue to the bottom of the box. I've seen and done that before too.I think about building a three string, but without letting the neck stick out at the end of the box; I want the strings to go through the lid and be fixed underneath (many seem to do it that way and I like that look... string-through-body)
now the question is: how can I do it?
I see two ways:
- the neck is attached to the complete lid without sticking out at the end of the box;
- the neck is attached to some kind of construction and does not cover the complete length of the box
as I want to electrify the cbg, isn't it better to use the second way? because if I'd like to have a magnetic pickup, the first solution wouldn't work as there wouldn't be enough space to fit in the pickup, I guess... while having a piezo would work with both ways, right?
I'm pretty confused about this, it seems to be basic understanding of a cbg but still I don't really get it...
Advantages of a thru neck (for me anyway) - its fairly easy to do with regard to lining everything up, it takes the stress off the box, and helps with the sustain. I always 'notch out' a little under the lid, just like the other chaps said, as it helps the lid vibarte = more acoustic volume. Its not the only way or the right way though... you'll figure out what works best for you as you go along.
If you are going to have a neck going through the whole of the CBG and sticking out the other end to make the tailpiece for the strings I do not think it would make a difference structurally and if left open could always me fixed down later.
As I am limited in my woodwork skills and tools available (I only have a small rotary hand tool - a dremel copy plus a few hand tools and an old drill) for my first few efforts I have always recycled electric guitar necks (also I tend to get impatient waiting for the end result and this speeds thing up). Another reason is that I can play a six string (badly!) so have tended to stick to this method. Back to your question - for the type of CBG I make, the neck fixes at only one end and the bridge towards the other end. Even though I use the lightest strings possible (8 gauge erlectric) I have found the lid starts to get lifted at the ends by the string tension. Rather than fit loads of strengthening batons along the lid (as it would reduce the volume the lid generates) I simply fit hinges to both ends as this (with the removal of a few screws) means I can easily access the guitar insides if I wish. If you are thinking of this type let me know and I'll add a description of what I do to make the neck pocket with a few pictures of the insides of the CBG - added below are a few hinge shots. I used a wooden 35mm photoslide box for this rather than a proper cigar box - this setup wouldn't work on a box smaller than about 12" long as the scale length of the guitar neck would mean the bridge is off the end of the box.
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I am the guy that wrote one of the "Free Plans" above, so you would expect me to say "keep the lid free to vibrate".