Wine box, anyone?

I must say that would be interesting--I have found with constructing many "soap box" basses and "cigar box" basses, there is no real right or wrong way to make a good sounding bass :) My first one was a soap box with thin birch ply on all sides and a laminated oak neck! I used standard phos. bronze bass acoustic strings (i think 34 inch scale) and large grover style tuners, phenolic nut and bridge--fretless with round wound strings sounded "different." I used piezos from radio shack (two of the $2.00 ones) under the bridge with a pre-amp and it came ALIVE! (One must use a pre-amp with standard 1/4 phono cable and piezos because the high impedence the piezos are--otherwise the amplitude running the piezos straight into an amp is mushy and weak--and probably will wreck some electronics down the road...) I later put in some EMG "J" series presoldiered pickups in it, two volume and one tone control. That made it rock! Later I added GHS Black Nylon "Tape Wound" bass strings (to preserve the fretboard) and that toned it down quite a bit--made it sound more like a 3/4 upright double bass than a cigar box on steroids! The point is, no one knows how to make a bass better than you, with the materials and techniques that you use. You are the expert! As you build more of these things down the road, you get better--I now have a EUB (electric upright bass) that I play professionally in jazz and church settings, and I built it myself from the experience and knowledge I gained from building these nifty little basses! I discovered with talking with many people in researching these fun instruments, looking at pictures is the best way to gain knowledge! That and just doing it! Keep in mind birch, let alone birch plywood, is not a very good sounding wood, like sitka is, so dont expect your soundbox to breath real well with birch ply on the top :) I.e. make sure you hook up some kind of electronic amplification if your not gonna use "acoustic bass strings." Actually, I don't think birch moves at all--one could hit it with a Kenworth and the cigar box bass would probably still be in tune and playable!!! Keep us up to date on your creativitiy and progress with your little bass--once your bit by the bug it becomes an obsession!!! Good luck gluing my friend :)

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Tres Seaver March 5, 2011 at 11:13pm

I just started assembling this beast today. I still don't have the details worked out (headstock, etc.) but I think the overall concept will work. I'm using a recycled closet pole as the "through neck for the thing, with a thin birch top, and an old bed-slat for the fingerboard.
Torrey Scott Wyma October 15, 2010 at 3:46pm

I must say that would be interesting--I have found with constructing many "soap box" basses and "cigar box" basses, there is no real right or wrong way to make a good sounding bass :) My first one was a soap box with thin birch ply on all sides and a laminated oak neck! I used standard phos. bronze bass acoustic strings (i think 34 inch scale) and large grover style tuners, phenolic nut and bridge--fretless with round wound strings sounded "different." I used piezos from radio shack (two of the $2.00 ones) under the bridge with a pre-amp and it came ALIVE! (One must use a pre-amp with standard 1/4 phono cable and piezos because the high impedence the piezos are--otherwise the amplitude running the piezos straight into an amp is mushy and weak--and probably will wreck some electronics down the road...) I later put in some EMG "J" series presoldiered pickups in it, two volume and one tone control. That made it rock! Later I added GHS Black Nylon "Tape Wound" bass strings (to preserve the fretboard) and that toned it down quite a bit--made it sound more like a 3/4 upright double bass than a cigar box on steroids! The point is, no one knows how to make a bass better than you, with the materials and techniques that you use. You are the expert! As you build more of these things down the road, you get better--I now have a EUB (electric upright bass) that I play professionally in jazz and church settings, and I built it myself from the experience and knowledge I gained from building these nifty little basses! I discovered with talking with many people in researching these fun instruments, looking at pictures is the best way to gain knowledge! That and just doing it! Keep in mind birch, let alone birch plywood, is not a very good sounding wood, like sitka is, so dont expect your soundbox to breath real well with birch ply on the top :) I.e. make sure you hook up some kind of electronic amplification if your not gonna use "acoustic bass strings." Actually, I don't think birch moves at all--one could hit it with a Kenworth and the cigar box bass would probably still be in tune and playable!!! Keep us up to date on your creativitiy and progress with your little bass--once your bit by the bug it becomes an obsession!!! Good luck gluing my friend :)
Jim Mitchell September 28, 2010 at 10:02pm

Hey Tres - I know this is not a bass, but I found an old box on ebay and used some spruce for the top. I ended up with a couple of braces and have been really pleased with the sound. The second picture is of a resonator I made from a two bottle wine box. Again, I am really happy with how it sounds. Both builds have bolt on necks. Good luck with your build.
Tom Caneschi aka cbg tom September 28, 2010 at 9:11pm

Not a bass but I used a wine box for a dbl neck build it sounds great very deep but my box had a sliding top that I glued shut...think birch is a good choice, TC
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Outhouse Instruments September 28, 2010 at 8:29pm

I'm watching. I've been wanting to do the wine box thing for a while.

Matt

This reply was deleted.

Cigar Box Basses

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