Here is a diagram that shows how I built my first box which is about 9" long by 7.5" wide and 4" deep. I am still in the process of building a CBG around the box, but I wanted to get a discussion going on how to best build boxes for my next builds, and in so doing share the knowledge gained.

Probably the hardest thing to do was to accurately cut the wood to size (using hand tools) and gluing all the boards together so that every thing was good and square. It's probably best to cut all your pieces just a bit longer than needed so you can carefully file it down to size. Be sure to make each piece the same size otherwise things won't be square when you glue it up. Thus far I only glue 2 or three parts together at a time using white carpenter's glue and a lot of clamps. After 2-3 hours I can add the next couple parts. Repeating this process I can build a box in about a day.

As you can see in the diagram above, instead of using some kind of fancy dove tail joints, I just glued the sides to four corner posts (technically, I used butt joints and reinforced them with corner posts). I made the corner posts by gluing together (laminating) three boards together which were 3/4" wide by 1/4" thick and about 16" long. After gluing, clamping, and drying, I cut them into four 3 & 3/4" lengths, allowing each end to be 1/8" short to allow space to glue in the top and bottom "sound boards". After filing and sanding the corner posts smooth and true, I took the two long side boards and glued 2 corner posts to each end of them, clamping them and letting them dry. After that, I glued one short side board to one of the long side boards where it meets both the corner post and the edge of the long board. I did this for both sets of side boards, forming 2 corners of my box. I clamped them together and let them dry. Then I glued the two halves of the boxes together to form the rectangular box. While gluing the sides together I clamped then up vertically and used a 1/8" thick board under each corner post to serve as a spacer so there would be space left for the sound boards (top and bottom boards). I tried my best to make sure everything was square, but when I was done, it wasn't as square as I'd had hoped. The box would rock a bit when sitting on edge, so I filed down the high corners and this took care of the rocking problem. I also had to do this for the other side of the box to the opposite corners which were also high on their side. Then, when I went to put in the sound boards I found I cut them a bit too short. Rats. Well, I'm out of wood, so they'll have to do. To attach them I glued the corners of the sound boards to the tops of the corner posts, clamped them down and let them dry. I also glued a roughly 3" by 3/4" x 1/8" board to the under side of the top sound board - where I plan to put the bridge (about 60% of the way across the box from where the neck attaches to the box). I have also added a cut-out in the side for where the neck will be fitted to the box. (It's best to do this before you glue on the top sound board, unlike how I did it. Live and learn.) This CBG will have a neck-thru-the-box attachment, but on the bottom side, it won't penetrate the box, but will be secured with 4 wood screws. These 4 wood screws will also hold a small board that will become my tail piece.

Next time, I'm thinking it might be good to have a box form around which you can build your box. This would allow you to clamp the parts together and perhaps glue more parts together at the same time and clamp it all to the same form. But, I'm concerned I'd end up gluing every thing to the form and it would dry to the form. I read some where that covering the form in something like plastic wrap might prevent this. Have you any such experience or advice? I'd be pleased to hear about it.

Any questions? Well feel free to ask.

-Rand.