Hey! Another addict here! I'm still trying to figure out what it was that I saw and where that got me wanting to build a cbg, but whatever it was, I'm glad it bit me. About a month and a half ago I got the bug somehow or another and decided I was gonna build me one of these cigar box guitars. They looked pretty cool and I love to tinker with different stuff so I figured why not! I already play 6 string (kinda sorta, not all that great) so I didn't think it would be too hard to figure out how to play a 3 string. Then I really started thinking about it and decided to make 2. One for me and one for my 7 yo son. Then I decided to make his first so I could work out the kinks and make mine without messing up on it. Lol, I know, kinda jacked up huh? Oh well.
So anyway, I got my supplies around and got the cbg's made and was really enjoying them. Well, about 3 weeks later I was working on another project and cut 3 of the 4 fingers on my left hand badly with a table saw. I lost a half inch off my pinky, and I got the tips of my pointer and middle fingers so good that I ain't gonna be playing a 6 string again for quite a while. I'm an electrician by trade so I've been out of work for the last 3 weeks and might be looking at another 2 or 3 till i can go back to work. The funniest thing about this is that before the accident I was using a slide on my ring finger to play. My ring finger is the only one that didn't get hit by the blade of the table saw. Yea, I know figure that one out. All I know is that if I hadn't seen what I had seen that got me wanting to build a cgb, I would be going so stair crazy right now it's wouldn't even be funny. I'm so used to doing something all the time. Either working, or doing some kind of project. If I hadn't built these cgb's I would be sitting on the couch drooling in front of the tv cause I would have lost it.
For the last 2 weeks I've been playing my cbg almost nonstop all day every day. It's the only thing keeping me sane. Then yesterday I decided I was going to turn my 3 string into a 4 string since my son completely lost interest in his cgb so now I have a 3 string and a 4. Lovin them!! A lot of my build info was found on this site so I figured the least I could do was sign up, come on and thank everyone for such a great place that's full of good info so Thanks!
Replies
Man i hate to hear u lost fingers ,, I thought i was bad ,, U know that a sharp chisel will cut u also right ?? uh huh it will !
A really good looking box u built ,, bet it does sound good ,, really like the way the holes deminish as u go back cool touch
b cautious ,,welcome to the nation ,, we have a blast
Since it was 3 three string turned 4 I had to relocate the machine heads. I plugged the holes with 3/8ths oak dowel and redrilled the headstock for 4. The sound board is made from the bottom of a dresser drawer. It's about 3/16ths of an inch thick and needed some support. I put one down each side but far enough out that neither one was under the bridge. The one on the treble side I trimmed down a little bit to help the high notes ring a little better. I left a small space between the neck and the sound board. The only places it touches is at the top and bottom of the box. To hold the strings down to the nut I sliced a small piece of left over board from the neck, notched it for the strings and screwed it to the headstock. The bridge is 3/8ths oak dowel and the nut is 1/4 inch threaded rod. Right now it's tuned GDgd with the 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 1st strings and it sounds great! And it's loud as a mad mother yellin at her kid in wal mart! Compared to my 3 string it's a lions roar to a kittens meow. I think it's a combination of the thinner sound board and bigger box. I have a bigger box and am planning on rebuilding the 3 string with it. I'll probably do that sometime this week. I hope anyway.
Edited to add: I also decided to reinforce the neck through the box with the 4 string just to prevent any possible problems. It surprised me how much weight it added to the bottom, but oh well.
Pictures, pictures, ok, hang on. Gotta find them and remember how to post them.
Ok, here we go....