Cigar Box Boredom Build.

[karpathion]

I had to sit with my Paw-n'-Law, for the day on Saturday, and boredom eats me alive over there. Most of the time I'll cut grass, spar some roosters, or fix stuff around the house, but I was on a mission Saturday.

The night before, I had started looking around for a project that could be done in a day, and stumbled on to Cigar Box guitars somehow. Then, as you start reading, you get into the history of them, and they have a very colorful history. You'll also learn that instruments like this where made out of necessity, and with whatever parts and scrap you could make work. 

I had initially gathered up a bunch of guitar part, and planned on making it really modern and nice, but I'm a sucker for history.  The only guitar stuff I ended up using was the tuners, and the D, B, and high E string from a set of 10's.

Found a stick of 1"x 2" red oak in Ken's shed that was just over 36" long. He has a ton of cigar boxes, and everything else was done with whatever I could find in the shed, and actual hand tools. Well, except the head cut. I used an old ass 1970's scroll saw for that. Would have been faster with a hand saw.

The bridge and nut are SS bolts with the heads cut off, the tail piece is a small cabinet hinge, the pieces for the string tension on both ends came from the mounts for an overhead fan or light.

I still have to move the bridge up for scale length to be right, then make the fret markers, but it plays and sounds great for a little slide axe. Sounds just like the old recorded slide tones from way back. So much so, I think I'm going to use it on my next recording project.
Fun little toy to have no money in, and only takes a couple of hours to build. Perfect for a boring Saturday project. 

[BriGuy1968]

Awesome... and the alligator head guitar stand is the perfect finishing touch!

[karpathion]

The first was so much fun and worked better than I ever thought it would, a second, more refined version was a necessity. The first one was just a prototype, I guess.

I found 2 more 8' sticks of some hardwood in Ken's shed. I can't tell what it is, but it sounded better than anything else when I started banging on several pieces of wood. Has a more pleasant tone, I guess. Then, I used a small piece of that wood to beat on a few cigar boxes. The smaller, what appears to be some species of cedar, box just sounded the best to me. And Why argue with my ears? They know what I like, and I can't think of a better way to select materials.

The neck is cut to shape, and the box has been cut as well. Still have to cut a brace for the inside, a couple of wings for the bridge to screw to just past the body, but this going pretty well. It's superior to the other in every way so far. The Bigsby style bridge is probably a stretch, but this one will be electrified, so the pickup should make up for a little dampening from the bridge.

The plan is to cut my own bone nut. I have some Deer antler that may work. Still not sure if I want to fret it or not, as I don't think I'll be able to get the action low enough with this bridge, but it's still an option. I've also considered pulling the fretboard from on of the junk necks I have laying around, and pullin the truss rod from it. It would require that I cut an shape a fretboard, but I'm fine with that.

It's a start.

[karpathion]

Damn... Have to find a new box. I started gluing and clamping the block on the underside of the top, for the TOM bridge to mount to. I guess I had too much weight from my long clamp on one side, and it pulled it off my bench down to the concrete. Broke it in half. The gut punch is, I already have the top glued to the neck cutout. Now I have to get it off, find another box, and redo half the work I've already done.

Ain't that a bitch? If the neck wasn't so damn perfect I'd just start over. I don't even think I can find that same box again. They discontinued those $200 a box cigars just a couple of months ago.

I hate setbacks, especially when it's my fault.

[GoldenVulture]

[Securb]

That is too cool a cigar box with a Bigsby.

[GoldenVulture]

This from todays paper.
- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-05/ph...le/8677764 -

[karpathion]

Luckily, Ken did have another box like that one. I just stole the top off of it. I added bracing to the inside of the top, and more inside the box itself. I don't want another break like the last, and these boxes aren't very strong to start with. I'll get some pics up when I get a little more time.

[karpathion]

That is too cool a cigar box with a Bigsby.

I'm hoping it works like I think it will. Somehow, I have get that arm to stay put while playing. And it will be used for is slight dives, swells, and trem effects while playing slide. It should add just the right amount of extra control while playing.

Here is a question that I can look up myself, but I'm in a hurry this morning. What is the preferred scale length on a slide guitar? I'm set up so far to go 24.75" But with the Bigsby clone, I can't help but question if 25.5" may be a little suited for it. I'll look it up myself this evening, but I figure we have enough collective knowledge in here to know this one. Oinkus, maybe? This one seems like it would be up your alley.