I just received this old Tampa Nugget Cigar Box, it's pretty neat and has a little history in our family if you could believe it.  I'd love to turn it into a guitar, but my problem is that it's pretty thin, almost like cardboard.  I'm still relatively new to building them and would love some tips or ideas on how to strengthen the box, if at all.

Thanks, Isaac

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  • I think he means that he’ll run a bead of caulk around the seams of the box?

  • I do not disagree with Kigar concerning stress, but when I build beautiful old boxes like that I do like to reinforce them. Typically I utilize old cigar-box-liners [or whatever they're called] trimmed to fit on the sides, corner posts, and often old Popsicle sticks in a loose herringbone  pattern for the bottom.  

    Post pix when you're done, that is a lovely box.

    • Can do, can't wait to get started on this one, I've been hangin on to the box for a while.  Thanks a bunch.

  • I have made a couple with boxes like that. If you do a stick through build, the only stress is on the bridge against the top. I made one without any reinforcement, no issues to date. The other way is a stick on top of the box, again the only load is from the bridge. If you want to add supports you can mimic acoustic guitar bracing, I tried it with wood coffee stir sticks as well. If you build it where you can open it later, you could string it up and if the top pressed in you could then brace it.

    • Thank you for the suggestion, I think I may be overreacting.  Ill Most likely brace the corners with some small wood block and caulk up the inside once I insert the neck, thanks a bunch.

      • Let us know how it turns out. And please explain the caulk up step, what is it for?

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