These two instruments represent the application of principles I've learned building a few CBGs to the creation of some CBG-like instruments. But they aren't guitars, and they aren't made from cigar boxes. 

The first is a hand-drum banjo made with plans I found at Banjo Hangout: 

The second is a license plate banjo with bent red oak sides, a white oak…

I thought I'd document my method for cutting fret slots. Disclaimer: This is how I do it. BE SAFE. Follow your tools' directions. I'm not responsible for your accidents or bad decisions. In fact, DON'T DO THIS. 

Are we good now?

SoI started with a shopmade miter box and a Harbor Freight pull saw, as shown above. I actually like that other saw better as the back…

Last night at the Destination Blues Listening Room, a monthly event sponsored by The Exchange in Bloomsburg, PA, Clarence Spady banged out a tune on the license plate guitar I built and donated for a raffle. It was dramatically untuned after being fooled with for a couple of months, but he found music in it. It was a blast seeing an instrument I built in the hands of such a talented musician! I hope the winner of the raffle enjoys the instrument too. It was autographed by the members of…

These photos show the neck of my uke project after attachment using pocket holes. The double holes on the top will be covered by the fretboard; the bottom one, filled with a maple plug, will be visible. The neck is rock solid, screwed through the box into a maple block. But it's not reversible ... We're past the point of no return here. 

The fretboard is glued on and curing tonight; all that remains is the saddle, and then the adjustments. …

I used a core box router bit and the table saw to shape this neck to match the tricky Ashton cigar box. I can elaborate if there is interest. I'm very pleased with the joint. 

Now that the neck has been shaped, I'll be attaching it with pocket screws through a maple glue block two through the top (to be hidden by the fretboard) and one from the bottom, to be…

Today I finished my first cigar box bass: four string, fretless, short scale 30". The neck is a sandwich of hard maple and walnut, and the fretboard is walnut. I used a tiny knot on the fretboard as the octave marker. Neck is finished with spray lacquer; fretboard is finished with oil & beeswax. 

The Mark Twain cigar box would have benefitted from a piezo pickup because it was pretty cool, but I sprayed it with several coats of lacquer and tried to keep Twain's face intact at…

A couple of years ago a friend asked me to make a special CBG for her husband, who organizes a popular annual blues festival in our region. The box was a special one, a treasured artifact signed by all of the performers at the show the year before. 

There are more signatures on the top, and the lid is curved, so I opted to make the bottom of the box the top of the…