Hello everyone, I'm new to this hobby/industry and have a few questions. I used to play guitar until I had ulnar nerve transposition surgery on my left elbow, they moved my funny bone nerve because my left ring and pinky finger were constantly numb. I thought I could put my expertise woodworking skills to good use by making my own boxes, necks and fret-boards. What's the best size box and does the type of wood make a difference? I have an abundant supply of hard maple which will be used for the necks. I appreciate any tips, pointers and help from the members. I put a lot of pride and time into my work and probably ask to many questions....LOL
You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!
Replies
The boxes with the paper on them usually have a top that is made of a dull sounding paper/fiber/cardboard material that works great with bright sounding Piezo's. The other boxes can be mostly plywood or good hardwoods or a combination of the two and can offer mellow to bright tone.
It's been my experience from making guitars and cbg's over the years that the hardest hardwoods(Alder, Ash, Oak) usually offer a bright tone and the less hard hardwoods(Poplar,Pine,Cedar,Fir) tend to have a mellow tone. Some guitar manufacturers will use a combination of woods to get a happy medium(Gibson Les Paul has Mahogany with a Maple cap) or some will use a mellow tone wood for the body and a bright tone wood for the neck. Depends on what result you want.
Its a great idea to use hard wood for the neck and neck/body joint to the bridge for stability against string stress. Some of the other less hard woods will work depending on scale length, amount of strings, string gauge. Material thickness comes into play as well. Then there is the density variable, one piece of Poplar will differ from another piece of Poplar in strength and tone.
Then there's the trussrod or no trussrod issue. Some say they are needed, some say they are not needed. That can depend on the amount of strings, scale length and the strength of the wood. Their is always an exception to every rule. I've seen a 6 string Telecaster with a pine neck and no trussrod without issue. I made a 4 string CBG with a pine neck that had to have a trussrod to keep it straight.
Box size: I wouldn't use anything smaller than 7" x 9" x 1 1/2" because I need room to fit everything. A box bigger than 12" x 12" by 4" could be uncomfortable to play(depending on the player). The deeper the box - the louder the acoustic volume. The thinner the top and bottom - the better the acoustics. Thin = more vibration and deeper boxes will create a larger sound chamber.
Some believe that the body/neck material doesn't matter and that all that matters are the pickups and amp, but every part of a instrument matters. Plug your guitar/cbg in to your amp, mute the strings and knock on the body/neck and you will here the vibrations through the amp. So pickups not only pickup string vibrations, but all vibrations through the body, neck, nut, bridge and tuners.
The more research you do - the better. Google can be your good friend. Hope all this helps.
shalom! welcome to the family. I don't think you can go wrong with any shape or size.
The more weird the more folks like it. If you have any of those staves for sale let me know.
Like to find some nice maple. I make primitive bows as well as CBG's Have fun!!!
Yeah. Jump in. Grab some stuff from anywhere. Draw lots of things on paper. Start sawing and chopping etc and see what pops out the other side. I did. It was a lot of fun.
for a good size it will be 27 cm by 20 cm by 4.2 cm or 4.5 like "padron"
cedar boxes, otherwise ordinary cigar boxes are against plated nicely if one has very good decorating ideas inspired much , proof, look on "ebay" and "CB gitty" and all advice blog, how to make a cigar box guitar, you will be surprised of the number of all different models
for the handle, 3,83cm wide and you're lucky, maple is really good ,you can make the handle , the fingerboard séparately
, or both in one, directly the frets on the handle once made the shape , finish of your choice, oil, varnish, painted
, the choice of box is more to the acoustics, we can put bushings for have some sound, in electric she is just the decoration , can also put the vents for a bit some sound but your choice of microphones and according to their position enchant the ear of one and not the other you understand
good luck
As Wayfinder said, it's pretty difficult to make a CBG that doesn't sound great. I've tried and not succeeded at making one that sounds awful, and I'm usually awesome at making things terribly!
I'm no expert but I've heard people talk about cedar being a good wood for the boxes. You could try that or you could use what you've got. Think more about resonating thicknesses for the lids than you think about the type of wood for boxes. You'd have to ask someone else what the optimum thickness is for a good resonating box lid (for acoustic sound). I'm clueless, as per usual.
Echoing Wayfinder again, simply have fun and make something unique. I'd be willing to bet you that you won't just make one anyway ;)
Oh, and welcome to Cigar Box Nation! Have fun :)