You had me at "Cigar Box"

Hi all... totally new! New post... new CBG builder. I was one of those intrigued by Cigar Box guitars from that CNN video of the surgeon who builds CBGs. Not long after I saw the video I rushed out to a local tobacco shop, picked up several cigar boxes, ran to Menards for "parts", ordered some stuff off of cbgitty and dove right in. I've been kind of browsing the boards on here for the past week now getting a lot of really good ideas of what and what not to do. A lot of things I've read on here have really helped me avoid some pitfalls and have also helped make my first CBG a success. For my first one, I chose the "crappiest" looking box and, as I told a friend of mine at work, I just did a really quick "fast and half-assed" job on it just to see what can come of it and I must say, "WOW!" I mean I really didn't take that much care in putting this one together, but when I first hit the strings on the thing, I couldn't believe my ears. My wife actually came into the room and said "Was that the guitar you're working on?! I thought you had it plugged into the amp!" So I must say, I LOVE this thing. Of course, there are some things that I've learned and some things that I would do different. While cutting in for the frets I discovered that my scrollsaw isn't exactly square for some reason, so I will most likely have to buy a fretting saw and use a metal square to do it by hand. I learned I should probably lay out where I want my machine head tuners BEFORE shaping the headstock and I learned that with these guitars, looks aren't everything. So thank you to the whole CBG community for this great site and all of the wonderful insights that I've read on here to make my first CBG a success!

A little info about this one. The neck is finished oak from Menards, the Bridge is a piece of 1/4 x 1/2 trim with a nail, the nut is a long wood screw, the string trees above the nut are picture hanger screws and I got the fret wire from cbgitty. Inside the box, I cut into the neck so that there is about a 1/4" space between the neck and the lid of the box. As such, I drilled holes in the middle of the neck to support 2 of the 6 sound holes. I am really happy with it. My next one, I am going to take a little more care with and I'm going to make electric. Thanks again! -cor-

Yeah, I kind of have no choice.... when I picked out the cigar boxes, I made sure that every single box was completely different from the next. I actually have my work cut out for me now. I brought my first build with me to a fall party today and everyone LOVED it!. Some of the kids were playing with it and I must say, one of the girls who played on it for like an hour who has never even played any instrument before sounded like a natural! I am going to be building a couple for her and her mom. In the meantime, I've already started working on #2. It's going to be an electric one (piezos) that I am going to put together a little bit more carefully than the first one. I've already dug up a bunch of different parts from my toolboxes that would look awesome on it. I'm actually trying to figure out how I am going to use this really fancy polished brass door hinge that I have as a tail piece ;)

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Corey Mercer October 30, 2011 at 12:43am

I've actually built 3 more since the first one. The second, my favorite of the 4 so far, has the door hinge tail piece, although I haven't had any problems with tuning. It is screwed into the end of the cigar box. Of course, before I did that, I made sure to reinforce the tail end of the cigar box on the inside so that the screws don't rip out of the side of the cigar box.. Here are a couple of pics.
Hayden A Butler October 28, 2011 at 1:04pm

If you use a hinge for a tail piece be sure to glue it in place with clear super-glue type stuff so that the strings dont move it as you tune. I found out the hard way and until I glued it in place it would take 2 mins+ to tune with an electric tuner or even longer by ear.
Corey Mercer October 17, 2011 at 12:54am

Yeah, I kind of have no choice.... when I picked out the cigar boxes, I made sure that every single box was completely different from the next. I actually have my work cut out for me now. I brought my first build with me to a fall party today and everyone LOVED it!. Some of the kids were playing with it and I must say, one of the girls who played on it for like an hour who has never even played any instrument before sounded like a natural! I am going to be building a couple for her and her mom. In the meantime, I've already started working on #2. It's going to be an electric one (piezos) that I am going to put together a little bit more carefully than the first one. I've already dug up a bunch of different parts from my toolboxes that would look awesome on it. I'm actually trying to figure out how I am going to use this really fancy polished brass door hinge that I have as a tail piece ;)
Hayden A Butler October 16, 2011 at 11:23am

I have found that the jump from the first to the second is big, the second to the 3rd is bigger and then by the forth you know pretty well everything you need to - but make sure that each one of these instruments is different to any other, which is what makes them a thing of beauty.
Mark Bliss October 14, 2011 at 12:53pm

welcome Cory,

First try looks good, and glad to hear you are having fun!
Corey Mercer October 14, 2011 at 12:01pm

Oh, I guess I forgot... I'm Corey, I'm from the Chicago area. I've been playing guitar off and on for about 15 years; not well mind you ;)

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