Taking cues from my cbgs and other guitars, I finished this one this past weekend. 3 strings, oak neck and fretboard, Gitty tuners, floating bridge and a scratch-built pickup. Sounds better than I'd hoped. Guess I'll build another...

Special thanks to my friend Nathan J. Roberts for taking it for its first run.

A friend of mine recently bought a dogbowl resonator cbg on Etsy. To be honest, it didn't have much "resonator" to it, but was built well and played in tune. A friend of his saw it and wanted a resonator cbg of his own. Long story short, I got the commission.

I know lots of you have made dogbowl, paint can lid, etc resonators, but for the life of me, I couldn't…

I was a vendor at my first guitar show this past weekend. The show had a minor handmade music theme and was headlined by Justin Johnson, who had a booth, did a clinic and presented the final concert of the day. The show directors contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in donating one of my guitars as a giveaway item to be signed - and potentially played - by Justin. Since I live only 70 miles from the venue, I jumped at it. Arranged for the donation, reserved a booth and started flinging…

I’ve seen several questions on scarf joints recently. Since a quick search didn’t reveal a recent tutorial, thought I’d contribute.

Disclaimer: I’m not a woodworking or scarf joint expert, guru or genius. Just building instruments in my garage, like many of you. I also know that there is more than one way to skin a cat, so this isn’t presented as the ultimate…

Ok, I cheated and used timelapse, but thought it might be fun to watch.

Enjoy!…

Hey builders! I need some random thoughts for the design of an unconventional stringed instrument.



I have this friend - to say that he's one-of-a-kind doesn't do it justice. Imagine a burly, tatooed biker dude with a nose ring... who loves kittens and guns and Bible study. And has plenty of other issues :-) Yeah, that's him.



Anyway, last night, he asked if I would help him design/build a unique instrument for his own enjoyment. He'd like 3 strings, round/rounded fretboard…

Hey Everyone!

In my never-ending (and silly) quest to build everything myself from found items, here's a quick tutorial on making your own nuts and bridges from plastic dominos.

I read somewhere that really old dominos were sometimes made from bone, so I hit all the local flea markets and thrift stores, but no joy. So, during one of my daily visits to the World's Largest Retailer, I bought a $5 tin of standard plastic dominos.…

Ok, it's not exactly a tea chest bass, but it'a similar. Part CBG, part Cajon, part... crap from my garage. 

Since I don't come across legitimate tea chests much (ever), I decided to take some leftovers from cajon building and make something a little more portable. Figured it would round out the bottom end of the collection too!

Box is nothing special. Roughly 8x12x18, 1/2" ply. Bottom is 1/4" ply. Top is 1/8" luan. Works great on my CBGs and cajons, so decided to give it a…

I've been toying with building a Civil War Era style banjo. After a dozen CBGs and other stuff, I think it's time.

I have the pot and neck wood in hand, but decided it might be smart to build this virtually first, just to make sure it all fits together. Plus, I can take measurements off the drawing and minimize screw-ups (which are more common that I'd like to admit.)

Anyway, here are my Sketchup drawings. Obviously, the neck will get tapered and thinned. Also have to engineer…

Finished the first of a new CBG I'm calling "The Quarter". Handmade 1/4" ply box (instead of my usual 1/2"). Got it strung and stable just in time for our local artwalk last night. Took it out and let people bang on it a bit.

Some of you have followed my demonstration of braced vs. un-braced tops. If so, you've heard the 1/2" box. This new one is unbelieveably light (poplar neck), a bit brighter and not quite as loud. The way the body resonates feels really good.

I built this…

Spent a good chunk of the day building.

2 of my standard CBGs and a new one I'm calling "The Quarter". Body built of 1/4" ply instead of 1/2". It's lighter and seems a bit fragile by comparison. Glued a back on tonight, pretty sure that should firm it up.

Corners braced with some scrap quarter-round and added some split screen molding along the edges for stability and glue surface. Pretty excited to see this one finished.

2 oak necks scarfed, 3 bridges roughed in and 1…

I'll never forget my first build. I was just amazed that I could actually build something that made music. There was a grin on my face for days.

Friday, I sold my latest build. It's a much more stable instrument than the first one and more musical too. Plus, it went to a really good home. Short story...

Some friends of ours run a bicycle shop in town. Perry and Debbie are musicians too (winds, brass, guitar) and pretty good ones. When Debbie heard that I was building CBGs, she…

Hey Everyone! First post.

I started building a little over 6 months ago and have learned so much since - a lot by just "doing" but also from all the builders here. Thanks!

My first cbg was literally made from scraps in my garage. And since I didn't have a cigar box lying around, just built my box from 1/2" ply. After scavenging several cigar boxes, I noticed that the nicer ones used box joints, so now, mine do too.

I've settled on a basic design (8x11x3 box - 1/4" ply…