CBG

I haven't posted pictures of my latest project. I wasn't even sure if I'd write about it. I made a Cigar Box Guitar (CBG). Actually I made the box too, but it is a 3-string guitar with a square box. In my mind it doesn't sound half bad, but I can't carry a tune without a bucket. Is it perfect, heavens no. But it does play and I will probably make another one with a few changes. Note: All pictures in this posting were taken with my phone.

From the pictures you can see that I made the box from 3/8" Myrtle wood with 3/16 ply for the bottom using glued butt joints all the way around. I haven't attached the top yet, so it is currently being held in place by a tight fit and rubber bands. The neck is Myrtle with a rosewood fret board. I used nails for the frets and a cut a small indent at each fret location to help hold the nails in place. I think I used too large a diameter nail. The sound board, or top of the box is a softwood drawer front, re-sawed and thickness sanded to 3/32". I put in a sound hole using a 1.5" bar strainer ($2) fit into the hole. The bolt is 5/16" for the bridge ($.50). The pictures show the nut (top fret) about 3/16" higher than the final one. I put on one string and could barely reach the finger board it was so high.

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Besides the strings ($4), I bought a set of tuners from Guitar Center ($15). All the wood was laying around the house, and except for the piezo pickup ($2)and 1/4" jack ($2) I got from Radio Shaft everything is priced above. Not too expensive, and the strings are far enough apart I can actually hold one down without hitting two others (big fingers).

What would I do different next time? Use frets instead of nails. Fret wire is not expensive, and a fret saw is about $30 bucks, I heard. Make a bridge instead of a bolt, but I may use a bolt as an option. Lower the nut (top fret). The current one was made from aluminum I had laying around. I could use a lighter aluminum, but either way make it closer to the height of the frets.

I haven't plugged the guitar in yet, but I'm kinda excited to hear that too. Once I have verified the piezo pickup works, I'll attach the top and apply a finish.

I tuned the CBG to match the upper 3 strings of a guitar, which may not be the right choice. I'll check a few sites on line and see what is commonly done. There are 16 frets, cut to match a standard scale, with 25" between the nut and the bridge. I tried to video me playing to post but I'm soooo bad I deleted the recording.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.