Gas can resonator

I had wanted to build a gas can resonator guitar after hearing about Samantha Fish (check out https://youtu.be/Xpm5pWzmzjk and https://youtu.be/b0W_UfLxdeQ), plus she killed it at the 2016 Portland Bluefest. This one is only a 4 string and my playing is nowhere near hers but anyways the gas can was found in antique store in Kalama, WA. The neck came from a recycled hardware store in Astoria and it’s previous life it was a railing on a boat, one of the pictures shows the back of the neck entering the can where the original glossy railing shellac can still be seen. A friend of mine, Mike, help with a bandsaw cut on the neck and also gave me the pickup, a leftover from one of his upgrades. I made the fret board and bridge from a piece of black walnut that I got from a hardwood supplier last spring at the Handmade Instrument Show. The volume and tone knobs were found on a recent antique store tour, Independence or McMinnville, OR I think. The strap was a piece of horse tack, also an antique store find. CB Gitty supplied the volume and tone pots, tone cap, input jack, fret wire and tuners. This is my first time using zero fret wire instead of bone for the nut and bridge on advice from another local PDX CBG builder, Del Puckett, and it worked out great. I also added a large spring on the neck inside the can which adds a whole lot of sustain, another idea stolen from Del.

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Comments

Hard luck chuck January 7, 2018 at 12:57am

Thanks - this is a 1 gallon also and I was really surprised how much volume it put out. The spring inside adds a great sound.

I just picked up another 1 gallon gas can that had been outdoors , most of the red paint has faded to yellow and the top and bottom have an awesome rusty patina while still being solid. I’m pumped about doing another one but there’s 3-4 other CBGs on the list in front of it.
Paul Craig January 6, 2018 at 3:29am

Looks good and I bet it sounds good.

I made one out of a 1 gallon gas can someone threw away, it has a wonderful sound to it.
Darryl Tuttle January 6, 2018 at 1:02am

Awesome build

Thanks for all the details on build..very interesting

This reply was deleted.