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CBG guitar 012

Hi guys, I just finished this box guitar. I have years of craft woodworking experience, a fairly complete small shop, and lots of odd pieces of wood I keep for special projects. Except for the poplar neck, all wood came from my stash. The soundboard is 1/8" mystery crate wood I edge glued two pieces to get the 8x12 size I wanted. I liked the circular saw blade and planing marks, didn't try to sand them out. The sides are 1/2" pine from old drawer parts. The back is 1/4" luan plywood. I laminated the neck top with 1/16" walnut veneer topped by a 1/*" mystery wood fret board, to add stability to the poplar neck and to add string relief. The nut is a piece of black micarta, very hard. I put a 1/8" scrap of brass rod beside the nut to act as a "zero fret". That worked fine, gives me the right string clearance at that end. The bridge is a piece of deer leg bone (cannon bone) that's hollow inside. That works fine but needs more adjustment, I'm going to put a piece of brass rod across the top. Tuners, fret wire, strings and basic piezo/jack harness all came from C.B. Gitty. I took a tip from some guy on you tube who makes piezos. He insulates them in a bottle cap with hot glue. Given the rustic nature of the soundboard, I decided this git was going to look like a poor-boy made by beavers. The fret board markers are not inlays, they are painted on with white acrylic paint. The new moon logo was outlined with a carving tool and then painted in. I'm happy with it. I think it sounds great. I showed it to a musician friend and he's commissioned me to make one for him. I'm retired, this might be a profitable hobby. I'm posting pictures, I hope they show up. Thanks for reading, Don Craig, Saranac, NY.

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Albums: My first CBG
Location: Saranac, NY

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Comment by Tom Lauten on March 11, 2018 at 5:00am: I love the “simplicity” of the build and finish...would LOVE to have a play on this.

Comment by Don Craig on July 18, 2017 at 8:10am: Thanks Gary. I call that sound hole a "drunken diamond" :). I see they're addictive. I started cutting out parts for my friend's today, will keep pretty much the same look. I also have a yardsale box set aside that I want to do something with, maybe a fiddle, just for grins. Never played one.

Comment by Gary W aka Rev. Bluejeans on July 18, 2017 at 5:58am: Don - this is a stellar build! Love that non-traditional sound hole as well! Well done - - you'll likely find that building these (and hopefully playing them as well) is very addictive!

Comment by Uncle John on July 18, 2017 at 5:00am: Yup, the tools, experience and skills are big. My friend the Maddog is like that and has built a reputation and sells about all he cares to build and for a decent price. There are others that do the same. Maddog's photos might be good for you to look at. He makes some money, but he does it for fun. And he generally likes to build what he wants - not to be constrained by a custom build.

The Anonymous Pick has a great gig going with his custom looks on standard builds. With fantastic pickups. And again some others too. But there are also good looking builds on ebay for $50.00.

The most basic CBGs are pretty easy to build, And quite a few folks are like me. I would rather play a C minus guitar I built than a A guitar someone else did. (With an occasional exception).

Play em for fun. Top of the page under resources - hover there and click on 'how to play' if you need a bit teaching. Again, good wishes.

Comment by Don Craig on July 18, 2017 at 4:35am: Thanks for the kind comments guys. Uncle John, I hear you. Many years ago, I tried my hand in the furniture repair and refinishing business. You can probably imagine how that went. On the plus side, I learned a lot of tricks and acquired the tools I still have.

Comment by Uncle John on July 17, 2017 at 12:43pm: I like that a lot, Don. Top to bottom. Let me give you and opinion or two. There are some builders with skills and tools to make some money building CBG and related guitars. Most builders make considerably below minimum wage for their builds. Take a look on ebay at the low prices on the ones that actually sell. Build for the fun of it not with profit in mind. Good wishes to you.