Submission Thread for 2011 Cigar Box Guitar Builders Challenge

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Henry Strat-o-varius Lowman on December 29, 2011 at 12:13pm

For this contest, I am submitting my "sympatico" guitar, which is a 3 stringer with 3 additional sympathetic strings. This instrument was inspired by the Hardanger fiddle as well as the work of luthier Fred Carlson. It features a dual piezo pick up in parallel soldered to a 1 mega ohm volume pot. The volume knob was recycled from a sparkling wine cork. The sympathetics, as you can see, run underneath the fingerboard and through the bridge, underneath the melody strings. Getting them to buzz has been the hardest thing, and, like all my other builds, I find myself constantly tweaking the instrument to achieve its maximum potential. This instrument is LOUD!

Permalink Reply by Henry Strat-o-varius Lowman on December 29, 2011 at 12:15pm

Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on December 29, 2011 at 12:40pm

that is sweeeet !!!  bunty  ..  good job !!!!

Permalink Reply by Tom Bingham on December 29, 2011 at 12:54pm

plenty of places to put the cigar right!

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on December 29, 2011 at 1:36pm

Daft question alert....

When is the deadline for submissions? Iv just finished one that I thought wouldnt be done for another week - can I put it in?

Cheers

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 29, 2011 at 1:42pm

Roosterman said:

Daft question alert....

When is the deadline for submissions? Iv just finished one that I thought wouldnt be done for another week - can I put it in?

Cheers  yep rooster dude you got till serdey night

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on December 29, 2011 at 1:51pm

Midnight on the 31st Sir.

Roosterman said:

Daft question alert....

When is the deadline for submissions? Iv just finished one that I thought wouldnt be done for another week - can I put it in?

Cheers

Permalink Reply by Trevor Bohay on December 30, 2011 at 1:38am

I've gotta fire in one more photo since I'm under 5 photos just to prove that I am not a complete chump and I know that guitar strings should be parallel!  $5 and 20 minutes of digging in the guitar shop's parts bin coughed up the Tele string retainer.  Oh and the neck is Maple, can't believe I said it was pine!

Trevor Bohay said:

Permalink Reply by Trevor Bohay on December 30, 2011 at 1:51am

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on December 30, 2011 at 6:26am

Some great stuff entered and Iv already picked my winner, but I'll add this into the mix just for fun.

Purposefully rustic, the box is a square 'Kristoff' from good friend Hal Spalter (cheers Hal). It has a through neck design of Meranti with a Rosewood fingerboard, and is fretless - the frets are marked using veneers stripped off old piano keys.

The main feature I guess is the overlapping fretboard as shown in the second pic. I used my 'standard' 45mm wide 3 string neck, but left the 'board proud on the top edge to allow space for the bass string. Why? I have always wondered why the back of guitar necks are not scalloped to give somewhere to locate ones thumb, so that those of us who are 'talent challenged' are less tempted to hang the thumb over the top of the fretboard (c'mon.... we all do it!). Leaving the top edge sqaure gives better purchase, and the overlap stops the thumb going over it. It works a treat. It also allows the guitar strings and bass string to diverge, which gives more playing space up the neck for runs.

You'll notice it also has seperate bass and guitar jacks, each with its own circuitry - a pup, tone and volume pot for each. Man it sounds big hooked up to a bass amp and a guitar amp together.

Other stuff: Guitar strings are tuned D A D, bass string is an A. 660mm scale, sealed tuners (3 guitar, 1 bass), bone nut, brass tailpiece and whammy bar bridge.

Oh, and its left handed.... hence no demo!!

Permalink Reply by Habanera Hal on December 30, 2011 at 7:29am

Cheers Ben, and thanks for the kudos!  Great looking build, my friend, and a neat solution to the "thumb problem" for us ham-handed players!  I was wondering when we'd see some of those boxes, the Kristoff really struck me when I found it, you did it justice.  Happy New Year!
Roosterman said:

Some great stuff entered and Iv already picked my winner, but I'll add this into the mix just for fun.

Purposefully rustic, the box is a square 'Kristoff' from good friend Hal Spalter (cheers Hal). It has a through neck design of Meranti with a Rosewood fingerboard, and is fretless - the frets are marked using veneers stripped off old piano keys.

The main feature I guess is the overlapping fretboard as shown in the second pic. I used my 'standard' 45mm wide 3 string neck, but left the 'board proud on the top edge to allow space for the bass string. Why? I have always wondered why the back of guitar necks are not scalloped to give somewhere to locate ones thumb, so that those of us who are 'talent challenged' are less tempted to hang the thumb over the top of the fretboard (c'mon.... we all do it!). Leaving the top edge sqaure gives better purchase, and the overlap stops the thumb going over it. It works a treat. It also allows the guitar strings and bass string to diverge, which gives more playing space up the neck for runs.

You'll notice it also has seperate bass and guitar jacks, each with its own circuitry - a pup, tone and volume pot for each. Man it sounds big hooked up to a bass amp and a guitar amp together.

Other stuff: Guitar strings are tuned D A D, bass string is an A. 660mm scale, sealed tuners (3 guitar, 1 bass), bone nut, brass tailpiece and whammy bar bridge.

Oh, and its left handed.... hence no demo!!

Permalink Reply by mike anderson Blues Box Guitars on December 30, 2011 at 3:54pm

Attachments:

• big mac entry 001.JPG, 810 KB
• big mac entry 002.JPG, 613 KB
• big mac entry 005.JPG, 752 KB

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• …
• 12
• Next ›
• Page