What got me hooked on cigarbox guitars was a video I stumbled on, if you haven't seen it check it out. Justin Johnson -Rooster Blues ! Also two others, Samantha Fish Band and Morelamd and Arbuckle, good jams !!!
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So I set myself up a Facebook account to ramble on about the builds I am making as I can do this while I travel or half watch the TV.
Well I've (finally) almost finished my first Tinjo so I thought I would let you see some pictures. Though it is louder than I thought it would be, it isn't really loud enough for a live band situation. While I might be OK with a microphone I will likely be adding a piezo and volume control (assuming the piezo reproduces the acoustic sound of the tinjo.
I found that tinjos have challenges that wood boxes don't have. One being the flimsyness of the tin compared to wood. I ended up using a glue that Loctite sells called Stik'n Seal Extreme Conditions.
Also I used corrian for the nut. That stuff is both softer and more brittle than I thought it would be. Time will tell as to whether I'll continue using it.
The bridge is floating made of sapele as is the back side of the neck. The fret board is poplar. I expect the fret markers to stand out more once I oil the fret board. They were made from 1/4 inch dowel.
The tailpiece and tuners are from C.B.Gitty.
Oh, you might have noticed the brass knurled nuts I used on the back of the neck and where the tailpiece is mounted. They make great guitar strap mounts. Just about a dollar each (American) from Lowe's.
When I get the fret board oiled and the piezo situation decided I'll update this post.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/albums/christmas-time-tinjo
Blessings on y'all,
Gary
Hi all, well this latest CBG is a resonator using a stainless steel ashtray as the resonator. Sadly, but understandably, the acoustic sound is zilch. With such an heavy object on the face it's what I expected, and I suppose I used it for a bit of a talking point really.
Plug it in and its sounds good with a piezo on the cone and the mag pick up when blended. The body is pine fence material [which sounds great in my acoustic CBG's] the neck is oak and the fingerboard is a Queensland hardwood.
I would say that the ashtray being 18/8 stainless is way too dense to transmit string vibration in an acoustic form, whereas the dog bowl reso is punched out of far less of a quality steel but resonates better. And of course the "made for the job" resonator sounds the business.
Enjoy Taff
ONE DAY I WAS HAPPILY RETIRED MAKING CIGAR BOX INSTRUMENTS (SEE SOME OF MY STUFF ON MY PAGE HERE) AND THE NEXT I WAS HELPING MY WIFE IN HER NEW PRACTICE
EXCEPT FOR TOOLS AND LABOR YOU CAN START BUILDING TOMORROW - GUITARS, UKES, MANDOLINS, AMPS, PICKUPS
50 HAND SELECTED BOXES FOR INSTRUMENTS AND AMPS JUST FOR STARTERS, 6 ROUGHED OUT 3 STRING NECKS, 3 GLUED-UP 6 STRING NECKS, 1 GLUED UP COCOBOLO NECK FOR UKE OR MANDOLIN AND MANY, MANY MORE ITEMS
THESE ARE NOT DREGS, BUT STUFF I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF 3 YEARS AGO WHEN I STOPPED BUILDING
PICS AND DETAILED LIST AVAILABLE - PM ME AT rich@mygallagherlaw.com
$700 plus shipping
A question for all y'all buskers out there? How tacky is it to have a cheat sheet with chords/lyrics when you are busking. I am still building my set list but I could play a bunch more songs if I had cheat sheets until I memorize them.
What are your thoughts on this?
My first attempt at a CBG build was to a very basic(read easy) project that ultimately took on a life of it's own and far exceeded my non existent woodworking skills.
Several mistakes were made along the way which I ultimately learned from. 1'st mistake, making the neck out of 2" 1/2 round oak, which seemed like a good idea at the time. This created challenges along the way in attaching it to the lid which required some creative cutting bracing and glueing ultimately making it much heavier. It has a maple fret board which a local guitar tech helped me with, showed me how to use his jig and fret saw. I made the Piezo pickup with the Youtube tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSlqaM5Dbeo
The disc came from a discarded smoke detector.
2'nd mistake: Don't start another project before completing the first. About half way through the guitar build I came a cross a box that gave me the idea for a really cool amp. Found a Marshall mini stack on Craigslist and reboxed it to complement the guitar.
Overall I'm happy with my first attempt and have become pretty good with a file,a drill and a coping saw and am making plans to build a 2 string Cigar Box Bass with my son. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Brent
How in the world? I came across this on ebay and thought it must be a misprint. Violin, case, bow, rosin and free shipping from Belgium. How is this possible. I checked and it's not a misprint so I ordered one since I needed a case and this is less than what the case would have cost me heck it's less than a set of strings! It's supposedly on it's way so I'll report back about what I'm sure will be a quality instrument whenever it arrives.
Back for Part II
While my project was drying, I quickly sourced & ordered a pair of Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary boxes, the ones with the big pewter plate inlay in the lid.
I removed the plate inlay, and cut me some "RP" scroll head medallions.
After "Juicing" my neck with my "Swamp water" (vinegar & steel wool mix) and a few coats of Amber Shellac, I mounted the tuners & the scroll head medallions.
I then reinforced the inside box corners, and installed a pair of 2-1/2 inch resonator sound holes, one on each side.
The neck mount is a 5 bolt pattern with galvanized steel plate.
Next, is the "Peg Leg" tail post. I'm dovetailing that into a mounting bracket so it can be removed for transporting.
And to keep the theme going, I used the smaller pewter button emblem as an inlay.
This brings the Project Blog up to date. Part III coming soon...
"Once upon a time..."
I was recently vending at a Folk Festival when a customer came up and asked me if I was up for a challenge. He explained that he was a double bass / washtub bass player with a folk group that was playing on stage at the event. He told me that he had approached the other Cigar Box Guitar vendor ( there were two of us at the event ) with this project, and the guy turned him away, so he asked if I thought I was up for the challenge.
The Project? He has this beautiful, huge Rocky Patel commemorative box, and he asked if I could build him a Cigar Box upright bass? Well, I looked the box over and told him that it wasn't big enough to make a proper bass, but I though it would make a nice Cello. He liked the concept, and after a few more questions about budget and time frame I determined that this was indeed a project I wanted to take on.
I went right to work designing the instrument, and cataloging all the parts I needed to order. Thus the build began in earnest.
First, I needed to carve a neck. I opted for a full sized 4/4 cello neck dimensions, with enough length to center the bridge on the box. I made my neck blank, and ordered an ebony cello fingerboard online. When the fingerboard arrived, I tapered & shaved the neck to match the fingerboard.
I ensured that I had a substantially stout heel.
...and I test fit to the box.
Once everything looked good, I glued & clamped the fingerboard and started in on the peg box & scroll head.
On to "Part II"
Thanx Moritz, I checked out the video, really nice. My problem is that I have a 231/2" scale and my fret board is set up for a 251/2" scale On a 231/2" scale the fret spacing would be spaced differently, correct? But I'm sure it would play fine with a slide since I'm not fretting.
Just finishing my second build.I had some Walnut laying around for about 40 years or so, {HA}. It really turned out great, looking that is. I wanted the fretboard to overlap the box 2in., and I didn't compensate for a 251/2in scale. the scale length is now 231/2in. I'm guessing it will still be ok for slide. fortunately I made the neck removable,{bolt on}.I'm going to build a new neck next week.
I was looking for a more resonate wood for my next project. Found this company Luthiers Mercantile International. They describe the wood as low grade soundboards, that you can use for practicing inlays or joining. For what we do the stuff is really nice, and 20$ for 5 bookmatched sets it was worth a try. http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-wood/tops-tonewood/practice-top...
Here is an update to the Vibro-Uke design progression. I started with the basic Echo-Uke design and added additional tines made from an old bandsaw blade and light weight springs. I also added a soundport to the upper bout and a piezo disk pickup. I now have the piezo wedged between the support and soundboard.
I will upload two videos, both are acoustic recordings played into a condensor mic. The first one compares how the different designs affected the sound and the second video is a short instrumental played on the Vibro-Uke. The test video uses no effects and the instrumental video has slight post compression & EQ to replace some of what was lost in the Wav. to Mp3 conversion.
After seeing Shane's post about the Echo-Uke I decided to try my hand at building a version of the device. My Uke build is a 2006 StewMac kit recently given to me after sitting on a shelf for 10 years. These first photos are from today's venture into "Vibro" design.
I shaped and thinned an old band saw blade into tines of different lengths and thicknesses to respond to the soundboard frequencies and screwed/glued them onto a mahogany base. The spring is from an old crib that was headed for the landfill. Next I will glue the base to the underside of the top just underneath the bridge before I close it all up.
- RELATED ARTICLE: THE MYSTERIOUS UKULELE ECHO DEVICE FROM THE 1920'S
Zenstrument #5.
Honduran Box. Inside was dark pink colored wood,mahogany maybe?
Neck is Walnut/RedMaple. Rosewood Nut and Bridge. GDG Gitty strings. 24" scale.
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 one out of some janky 1/4" ply (real cheap stuff) but LOVE the look. Gnarly swirls in the wood, oversanded corners, even a little leftover glue on the tail. Think I'll leave it. I kinda like it...
Definitely building more of this one.
I have built one previous CBG to the one I just built. The previous one was so bad I actually burned it.
Wanting to learn the right way, I purchased a kit from C.B. Gitty. I read the instructions and got started. I built the neck out of a 1x2 of poplar from Home Depot. Got it cut and sanded. Directions were good. Unfortunately the lid came off my cigar box. When it came time for assembly I glued the lid down on the edge and then put glue on the neck inside the box and glued the lid down.
When I got the guitar all strung up, the low G string sounded good with a nice, full (allbeit untuned) sound, the D and the high G strings sounded muted and dull.
I think gluing the lid down was where I goofed.
Am I right or am I wrong?
Looks like I need to get another 1x2, a cigar box, and another kit and try again.
Right now the guitar is a one string diddley bow that I am getting really good at playing Johnny Cash songs on with a battery for a slide.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi, here are some photos of one of three "Anzac" guitars I'm building. These biscuit tins were brought out [with the famous Anzac Biscuit] to commemorate the men and women who fought for Australia in the Gallipoli Campaign in1915.
The body is a mixture of tin and timber. A pickup is needed as the acoustic sound is a bit wanting, so these are electric guitars. The fingerboard is salvaged from some old neck and resized, 303 bullet shells are used as a tailpiece and peghead decoration and a commemorative one dollar coin is inlaid in the peghead too. Thanks for looking. Cheers Taff
