The theme for this my first build is a Classical one - based on the look of classical instruments i tried to give it an Antique effect, like an instrument that had been found in a dusty workshop in Vienna and restored to its former glory (though a little rough round the edges (-;  )  .... forgive my euphoria but so far it turned out better than i expected - ten years of pulling apart and setting up all sorts of guitars and drums seems to have borne fruit, but over the course of the build I have  learned hundreds of new ideas and techniques, and how to cover up a few mistakes!

But now to the sound....acoustically light and mellow, sweet and "woody", resonates perfectly. Connected up to my Vox heaphone amp the piezo bridge sounds nice and sharp, the humbucker adds a lot of body to the sound but seems rather muffled on its own, not sure why but together they sound very natural and sweet, though the supplied tone adjustment doesn't seem to affect the sound...

After many adjustments and tunings i tuned the guitar to GDGB, or BGDG in left handed fashion and setting the most comfortable action height she gives a very mellow mid tone and great sustain, the body slips around a bit on your lap but will find a way of anchoring it in the right playing position, also once i learn a few tricks and get my video editing program up and running all will be revealed.  Many thanks to all the advice and help i received from the many great articles and advice on Cigar Box Nation, wouldn't have made it through otherwise! Now all i've got to do is learn how to play it and look forward to my next project...(-;

I bought the 10" x 5.5" x 1.75" Don Pepin box from a supplier in the US, the neck was made and supplied by Big Daddy Dukes from Back Porch Mojo, the rosewood fretboard and telecaster hardware was purchased  from Janika's Music Shop, humbucker supplied by SYC Guitar Parts in Cornwall and the piezo bridge supplied by Dave Owens. I took up the fiddly job of fretting to a 25.5" string scale myself, another first! The strings are from a D'Addario set of guitar strings i had knocking around, as was the bone nut.

The humbucker was difficult to get back in its slot after i'd glued the neck to the body....should have cut a slightly deeper slot in the neck but after a little judicial scraping and mounting tab bending got it in without too much disturbance...whew! ...or should i say duuuhhh....!

Wiring it all up was pretty time consuming, especially trying to puzzle out all the connections with a faulty 3 way switch!   Hours wasted, though now fixed!

I used the wrong type of tuners on the headstock  as i was determined to have these old fashioned classical guitar ones,  had to cut away some of the wood to get them to fit, there are no rules building CBG's they keep saying, and i reckon i got away with it (-; Still a bit of varnishing to do on the neck after i've finished messing about with the settings.

I decided to place the fret markers on the side of the neck instead of the face, they are Mother-of-pearl and shine out like little beacons of light from every angle, even in low light!

More photos going up on my CBN page!

Decided to include a warts-and-all shot of the innards - a little more tidying up to do but no rattles, hums or buzzes!

I left the out-of-sight areas free of varnish to give the wood some breathing space.

Part of the box edge split due to opening after varnishing but no worries doesn't notice, something to watch out for in the future..