The DieCast ally box is a standard case in electronics usually used for housing projects and 1-offs. You can get one from UK suppliers such as Maplin or even better CPC. see here. Also CPC is a great place to look for piezo elements, check them out.
I was musing over building my first CBG at work thinking where could I get a cigar box or similar from when my mate pointed to a Diecast box on my desk.... the rest is history.
The design differs from a traditional CBG as there is no need to run the neck all the way through because the lid of the box is strong enough to hold the strings and take the tension. However, to be on the safe side I extended the neck to about half way incase there was a some flexing. The floating bridge is a piece of metal kitchen tile edging with the flat piece that normally goes under the tile trimmed off. The nut is an "L" shaped piece of brass and a short length of doorknob "shaft" is used to lower the strings at the head. This version has a standard 6 pole guitar pickup - I just wanted to get something up and running ASAP, so no frills at this stage! - even down to the softwood neck which appears to be doing OK. To be honest, it makes quite a good twang without any amplification! I'll post the next build soon which has both piezo and electric pickups. One of the huge advantages of the Diecast box is its electrical screening properties. No humming or buzzing from this bad boy!
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The DieCast ally box is a standard case in electronics usually used for housing projects and 1-offs. You can get one from UK suppliers such as Maplin or even better CPC. see here. Also CPC is a great place to look for piezo elements, check them out.
I was musing over building my first CBG at work thinking where could I get a cigar box or similar from when my mate pointed to a Diecast box on my desk.... the rest is history.
The design differs from a traditional CBG as there is no need to run the neck all the way through because the lid of the box is strong enough to hold the strings and take the tension. However, to be on the safe side I extended the neck to about half way incase there was a some flexing. The floating bridge is a piece of metal kitchen tile edging with the flat piece that normally goes under the tile trimmed off. The nut is an "L" shaped piece of brass and a short length of doorknob "shaft" is used to lower the strings at the head. This version has a standard 6 pole guitar pickup - I just wanted to get something up and running ASAP, so no frills at this stage! - even down to the softwood neck which appears to be doing OK. To be honest, it makes quite a good twang without any amplification! I'll post the next build soon which has both piezo and electric pickups. One of the huge advantages of the Diecast box is its electrical screening properties. No humming or buzzing from this bad boy!