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Hey look! We incorporated our popular Percolator 2W cigar box guitar tube amplifier into a handy combo. It features a Jensen C8R speaker and the same solid wood cabinet as our other products. We sell it as a kit or pre-built and ready-to-play.

The Combo ships May 1 but is ON SALE through April 30. 

Combo Kit: $299

Combo Ready-to-Play: $429

The most confident build I've done. I went real slow and careful; considered all my previous mistakes and avoided them. I went fretless because it's the most enjoyable to play for me. It feels like skinny dipping to me. Three strings tuned to Open low G, with "WHAT A GUY" carved into the board. It has a three string Ted Crocker pickup I bought in 2011. It's made from a deep Jaime Garcia box, because my nickname is Jamie. Maple neck, no staining or sealing but I think I'll do that in my next build. I no longer feel like a beginner with this build.

I just found cigar box nation. I sure would like to get one of their kits and make a simple one with a pickup on it.

This is an awesome site and so much information. Have you heard of 'Sea Sick Steve'? He is great, check him out!

I want to share this resonator played song I wrote.

I hope you enjoy my song, slide playing style as much as I enjoyed making the video.

Best wishes from Rick Washbrook

Rick Washbrook ' Whisky Drinkin' Woman ' Original ' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ZeXvGQQsc

Hi,

I just found cigar box nation. I sure would like to get one of their kits and make a simple one with a pickup on it. Have you heard of 'Sea Sick Steve'? He is great, check him out!

I want to share this resonator played song I wrote.

I hope you enjoy my song, slide playing resonator style as much as I enjoyed making the video.

Best wishes from Rick Washbrook

Rick Washbrook ' Whisky Drinkin' Woman ' Original ' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ZeXvGQQsc

Trying to get 12 bar blues progression right and when I bar across say the 5th Fret I cant get the strings to ring out properly any dark secrets to this

my first time on something like this. I have been playing the guitar for as long as I can remember,  about two years ago I got my first cigar box and now i am experimenting making them, anyway great to be here

A guitar player's quest for the perfect guitar tone is one of many paths or directions. Players and builders will try endless combinations of "tone woods", neck and fretboard materials, body shapes, sizes, construction. We obsess over which pickups to use; where to place them; piezo or magnetic pickup; one, two, three, more?

Forums, chat rooms, and discussion threads overflow with anecdotal opinions based on personal experience, or, in many cases, what is heard through the grapevine. The big corporate guitar companies rely on high priced marketing, sponsorship of professional musicians, and reputation. These giants of the industry shape our individual and perhaps, our collective ideal of what a guitar should look and sound like.

One refreshing ingredient in the forever-evolving offerings seen here in the Nation are instruments and parts that use materials and ideas that stray far from what mainstream guitars have become. 

I am inspired.

So, enough of that. 

This post is really meant to announce a new offering from Farmer Ted's Guitars. Through extensive research, laboratory tests, and many late nights of wrestling with the idea, I am ready.

Crap Tone Pickups...yes, that's right. Crap Tone.

I've dug down deep into my farm's hottest pile of decomposing matter to create a steaming heaping pile of tone the world has ever heard.

Why not try a pile in your next build? I guarantee...it will sound like crap!

Farmer Ted's Crap Tone Pickups are available in three or four string configurations, in either a single giant steaming heap, or for a humbucking experience, try the Double Deuce.

Get 'em while they're fresh!

http://www.mineirocigarbox.wordpress.com

Second time is the charm.  :)

Last night was my second open mic at the iconic Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs.  It was largely the same crowd of seasoned and extremely talented blues musicians as last month and I was tremendously better prepared for the scene.  And I didn't let the intimidation factor get to me like last time. You know, the guys who can play more notes than I can hear, the sideways glances that say, "he brought guitar again,"  and the pictures of Bob Dylan on the stage over my shoulder.  This month, I took the stage as a student who had practiced with focused intent for the prior month and put on a show instead of thinking I could just show up and play a couple songs I fool around with in the basement.  What a difference.

My first song was Hungry Blues on my Sawzall box dobro.  The lyrics were given to me by Ron "Oily" Sprague and I did a speaking version of the song.  I set the crowd up for a few laughs before starting.  I got a few laughs where I wanted them and good round of applause afterward.  It is a great, funny song.  I was prepared with my lyrics sheet in case I choked, but didn't need it.

My second song, I pulled out my garbage guitar and played "Baby Please Don't Go" with a bourbon bottle.  The whole thing.  It sounds intentionally pretty bad, as if I'm a sad, miserable drunk lamenting the loss of his woman.  I've changed the end of the song to suit.  It is a little funny-sad.  

I had enough self-depreciating comments and humorous quips mix in that I felt like I had the crowd on an upnote, especially those who saw my first performance last month, which was an unqualified mess.  They are set up.

I wanted to tear them down.  I did my version of "Goin' Down Slow" which is a perfect song about my experience before, during and after having cancer at 29 years old.  I spent all day in a local public school working with different teachers including an awesome group of students with autism and an 11th Grade English class.  The English students were reading from "Death of a Salesman" and I picked up a new line to add to the song since it fit perfect.

You know, when you break a deposit bottle, you can't get your nickel back.

I had my eyes closed the whole time and I wish I could have seen the crowd.  I almost cried when I got the round of applause and cheers at the end.  I felt like I did what I wanted to do.

If you are interested, pics of the Sawzall box dobro, garbage guitar and videos of all three songs are here on my page, although none are from last night - only previous versions.  I'm going to have to get someone to do video for me in the future.

Other highlights from last night:

I thought I'd be the only one on stage with heavy metal, but a local musician brought his tuba and a former opera singer to do two great songs.  The vocals were incredible and the tuba was perfectly matched.  I loved it.  This woman can sing.  Incredible.  Absolutely incredible.  It felt really great when she saw me after my set and offered her honest compliments.

I also met fellow (new) CBN member Ronald Whitford last night and he brought his CB Ukulele.  I was pretty amped up after my set so I wasn't giving him the attention I wanted for his three songs, but what I heard was excellent.  It felt great to have a fellow CBN member there last night.

Price of admission was $5.  Value for your money right there.

I've been meaning to have a proper attempt at this for a while - all of my previous builds have used a straight neck and to be honest there's nothing at all wrong with that. A 3 or 4 string guitar doesn't really need a taper in order to be playable. I do however think a tapered neck looks more elegant, and it does feel nicer to play. I believe this would normally be done with power tools such as band saws and disc sanders. I try to do everything with hand tools. Here's how I did it:

(My usual disclaimer applies: I am by no means saying that this is the only way to do this, nor is this entirely my thoughts or my research. I consider everything I do a collaborative effort with everyone else in this community)

Another important consideration with  job is the order in which these steps are taken - there are some steps which need to be taken whilst both the fretboard and the neck are still square and true - I can't imagine trying to mark or cut the fret slots after the taper! I suppose one could use a bevel gauge but I don't have one.

So, to begin with, I measured out the fret locations in exactly the same manner as I always do. I also marked the centre line down the fretboard and marked the locations of the marker dots.

I made a couple of calculations at this point about string spacing. The neck blank was 42mm wide, so with a 12mm string spacing at the bridge there would be 3mm clearance from the string to the edge of the fretboard at either side (12+12+12+3+3=42mm). I decided to go with an 8mm spacing at the nut, as this is what I have on my 5 string banjo and it seems to work well. Therefore my total fretboard width at the nut would need to be 8+8+8+3+3=30mm I made a solid pencil line connecting the 2 points all the way down either side of the fretboard.

I decided to cut the fretboard to shape before gluing it to the neck, so that's what I did next:

To do this I clamped the piece to my bench and used a Surform, then a block plane, then a file, then 80 grit sandpaper to get right up to the pencil line. I kept sighting down the line and lying the piece on a flat surface to check for consistency.

Once I was happy with this I glued the fretboard to the neck and left it clamped overnight. Once the glue had set it was time to start shaping the neck blank to fit the fretboard. I had a couple of ideas on how to approach this, but in the end I used my #2 and #4 Continental hand stitched rasps. They remove material quickly and accurately. If you try this with a crappy cheap rasp it may end in tears.

I clamped the piece to my bench and carefully removed the wood from the neck to match the pencil line on the fretboard. Once I was happy with it I switched over to a flat file, then to sandpaper to smooth out the surface. At this stage I clamped the neck so it was sticking out from the bench so I could easily sight down it.

The process of shaping the neck by hand took over an hour, so it certainly adds time onto a build. The following day it was time to shape the back of the neck. I am a lot more well versed at this so it was a little quicker. It was slightly trickier than shaping a straight neck, however.

As usual I used a spokeshave, rasps, files to do the rough shaping, then moved onto a long strip of 60 grit paper across grain (shoe shining style). Of course after this make sure to sand over everything with the grain so as not to introduce unsightly scratches. It all turned out pretty well:

The next step was to move on to installing the frets, which was pretty much the same process as with a straight neck, only you will need to cut the fret wire at different lengths to fit the width of the neck.

I think it turned out pretty well!

Thanks for reading! If you fancy a bit of a challenge, by all means give it a go.

Richey

Classic blues song interpretation on 3 stringed Cigar box by Dutch band Cigarbox Henri & Friends:

https://youtu.be/_nvKZMI_QR8

Going to start making very beautifull 15 inch concert ukes...question for anybody out there...what strings should i use...nylon?? or do i use something else??? aswell tail pieces..what do people use for Ukes thats simple:) anybody who would like to respond that would be great..

.I might just make them through box necks ..so the strings a directly in the wood

Melodeeman:) Cheers

Guitar making must be in my blood.
I am told that I started at the age of 4, when I dismantled (broke!) a plastic guitar toy, and then managed to fix it, but I don't remember much about that.
My first foray into guitar building was around 1958 (yep,I'm that old!)when skiffle was the rage. After several aborted efforts, I managed to make an acoustic guitar from a tea chest, and some lengths of discarded wood mouldings.
Using a shopbought guitar from a friend, I traced out the shape of the body, measured the fret distances and managed to get something that actually looked like a guitar. It sounded OK as well!!!
All the hardware came from a fantastic shop, the like of which you don't find now. If any of you knew Manchester in the late 1950s, then the place to buy anything electrical or musical was Mazel Radio.

To be continued when I can get a decent keyboard!! all this tapping on a tablet is giving me finger cramps.

Hi guys,

Just a quick view of the process to make a plectrums of wood:

First we cut little wood blanks and add masking tape to the sides and apply super glue to hold them together.

Its the trick in this video.

Them glue the printed shape on top and sand it to shape with a sanding block. In this case the shape is Jazz III.

Now with the same masking tape trick I glue them into a planned piece of wood and off it goes to the thickness sander

Them add some personality to the tip (I used a file) and apply finish.

I will add a clear coat of polyurethane in this case, but sometimes I just use super glue to finish it.

Cheers

Hi has anyone actually used plywood successfully used plywood as a soundboard?

So this is my latest build, a telecaster based guitar.

Body and neck is AGBA

Fretboard is Bloodwood

Pickup covers are Olivewood

Body stripe and headstock back veneer is Pau Ferro

Knobs are Pau Ferro with olive woo tops

and the backcover has a piece of IPE(holding the strings)

Pickups are Tonerider

Here are some photos of this build:

First steps are to remove excess wood and get the basic shape.

I did this using a handsaw, a chisel and a hammer :)

Fine tuning the shape with sandpaper. In this fase of the build I use a belt sander belt instead of regular sand paper. They just last longer on this rough work.

The carving was done with the use of an angle grinder.

Cavities were drilled with the drill press and the material removed with a chisel.

THe neck was rough shaped with the angle grinder, and refined with the belt sander

My amazing thickness sander :)

Radius on the fretboard.

Making the neck more accessible using a rasp and the angle grinder.

And then I just have the almost final photo:

Cheers

Things just aren't the same anymore. Little by little I'm noticing the changes.  My junk drawer has new meaning, and going to the hardware store is no longer just a errand, but a quest for inspiration.

What do you say to the overly helpful hardware store clerk who has noticed you hanging around his store looking at every hinge, bolt, threaded rod, drawer pull, drain cover and grommet on display. He's noticed that you have been there for quite awhile, apparently without purpose, a far off look on your face as if in a trance, intent on examining everything in the place. He's come to the conclusion that something is not right with you. How do you respond to him when he finally says "May I help you"?

 "Yes, I'd like to see your tailpieces, and where do you keep your soundhole covers" just seems a little too crazy.

There are other signs too. My wife asked me to bring home a bottle of wine for dinner the other day. How did I decide on what to buy? Did I bring home her favorite? Did I base the choice on color or vintage? No, I chose the wine based on whether the empty bottle would make a good slide or not. I was thinking more about the slide than the wine. Now that's getting crazy!

To those of you who have already been there- please give me any advice on how to adjust to this new life.  This is the way it will be from now on isn't it? I'm willing to accept that, but I need your help.

It seems pretty much standard for conventional guitars to have fret position dots at fret numbers 3,5,7,9,12,15,17,19,21. Five string bluegrass banjos are marked almost the same, but a banjo differs in that its fingerboard usually marks the 10^th and 22^nd fret instead of the 9^th and 21^st. The advantage of marking a fingerboard like a banjo instead of a guitar is that the pentatonic blues scale will fall right in line with all the dots on the root note string. Every dot will represent a pentatonic note, not the case on a conventional guitar.

With a cigar box tuned to GDG, you have two outer root note strings and a middle string tuned to a 5^th. This means that the whole neck will be marked for the pentatonic blues scale if you use banjo markings instead of conventional guitar markings. Remember that the open notes are pentatonic, and you will know right where all the good soloing notes are at a glance. The only exception will be on the middle string at the 7^th and 19^th frets. But, not to worry, these are still strong soloing notes since they will be the 5 note of the 5 chord(the power chord side of the triad). Plus, it's easy enough to force these notes pentatonic by giving them a good  half step bend.

Anyway, that is why I marked my first build like a banjo. What do you think?

Hi,

I am working with a customer that wants a lute (8 string) washtub instrument.  I am looking for a builder that can build the neck.  Any ideas would be great.  I would like to see pic. of their work.

Thanks,

Maury Dickson