Being a big Samantha Fish fan, I decided my first build would be a signature model with her distinctive "Fish Sound hole"
I managed to get a couple of CBs from a cigar shop here in the UK, and ended up picking the larger plain wooden one. The lid is actually quite thick, so not ideal for an acoustic, but I was going to add one of the cheap single coil Pickups that crop up everywhere you look, and play mostly "plugged in".
I found suitable wood for the neck and fretboard, ordered some bit and pieces online and I was off...
I quickly found that building a CBG is really all about building a neck!
I made one school boy error which really annoyed me, but I'm not prepared to point it out, because I've been told no one will notice...
The box itself was a secondary affair, and had it not been for the sound hole, I'd probably have finished that part of the construction in not much time at all.
I kept the neck and fretboard natural and just used oil as a finish.
The box I applied about 10 coats of shellac. I didn't want a super bright finish, just something other than bare wood.
I'm pretty pleased with the result and it sounds good too, although I need a bit of fret work to sort out a very minor buzz on the 2nd fret.
The final touch was to get Samantha (and the band) to sign the box,which I am eternally grateful for.
I now have started build #2, as I don't want to scratch the signature model :-)