Cigar Box Guitars
I’ve been building some cigar box guitars for a while as an extension of my friend Dale’s work in Pensacola. The other day, I finished the third instrument…ya I took a bit of a break in the middle there. You can see them all in a Flickr set.
The basic design is a modification of what you might see in Make Magazine. Dale’s rendition has a neck through body configuration. More so, the necks, which he hand makes, are oak with a maple fingerboard. Underneath the maple fingerboard is an aluminum truss rod for stability. While Dale was making these brilliant necks, he had difficulty getting the instrument set and playable, which means a solid light feel on the strings and tuning stability.
Knowing that I have fixed, tuned up, and reset various string instruments in my life, Dale sent me a large box of stuff (necks, wire, wood, boxes, and more) one Christmas with the instructions: get it working and let me know what you did. I made two basic designs. One with the strings pitched back on the neck and the other with the strings behind the soundboard (I hand cut that f-hole btw). I’m not sure which one worked best. For the guitars, pitched back worked best, but for the bass, I believe the strings through the soundboard would have helped cut down on the flexing which happened on the non-trussed portion of the neck. The bass strings are normal guitar strings, but are thicker and create more tension. It is also important to shim each gap which ensures less flex in the overall body.
I tried to have a little fun with the sound holes in each instrument; two of the instruments can also be plugged into an amplifier for more crunch. Here’s a little video clip of me playing a little something something.
I really love the sound and look and feel of what we ended up with. With some industrial magnets, I’m going to hook two of them together to make a double neck guitar for extra rock power. I’m also happy not to have a dusty wood shop in my living room…for now.
