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"Backdraft" - First Cigar Box Guitar Build Eva

Howdy all,

So this is going to be a thread for my first attempt at building a CBG, though it isn't actually a cigar box. It is a craft box I got from Michaels. It is roughly 8.25 x 8 x 1.75" Really wanted a more rectangle box, but where I live, I would have had to order. Heck Michaels is about an hour and twenty minutes away as it is...

Anyway, I couldn't get out today to get the neck and hardware (a bit under the weather), so figured I'd bang on the box.I started by distressing the box. I scratched and poked small 'worm holes' in it with a beater board I made from scratch and driving nails through it. I then gouged it up with a chisel a bit and scuffed it with a wire brush.

When it was suitably distressed, I put on a thin water coat of black craft paint. This is what I got:

Should have left well enough alone... But I am building this as a gift for my brother who will be retiring from the Fire Department soon, hence the name of the git - "Backdraft". Anyway, I wanted it to look like red barn wood as the base. So, I darkened in the gouges with straight black paint and went to work applying red.

Just not happy with it... after painting I hit it again with some sand paper. In reality I wanted to see how bad it would be to sand off all the red paint. Oh well, live and learn. The plan was to put another coat of a lighter red on and sand to make it look like it had been painted over a few times over the years... yeah, not sure I want to make it even worse.

I did skip painting the back because I was about out of the red/black that I had mixed up for the base coat. Here's a pic of the back...

Well, hopefully I will feel well enough to go get the neck stock and hardware tomorrow. This was going to be a neck on top build, but think I want to go neck through now so I can transfer a silhouette of a firefighter and his station number on the front... might cover some of the crappy red paint up which couldn't hurt.

Also, keeping with the theme, the idea is to also drill, then burn out the sound holes. Hope the paint don't catch! LOL! Wish me luck for that stage, I will say, even with what little I have done, I AM HOOKED ON CBGs!

Best,

The Bane

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Bane on September 4, 2016 at 11:46am

LOL, to be honest, that made no sense to me; fourths, fifths, etc. I know next to nothing about music theory or anything - having never taken a class or played anything before.

But something hit a 'note' for me. If I am tuning to notes, then am I going too far the wrong way!?

What I mean is, If G is on either side of the scale; G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G - Was I trying to tune PAST the A's normal A tone to a higher G than I should have!? Should I tune the A to A and then back it off to a G? Making that string 'floppy'?

Hope that makes sense.

The Bane

Permalink Reply by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on September 4, 2016 at 12:05pm

What you're explaining shouldn't be happening I don't think Bane. The notes in order are A B C D E F and G with flats or sharps between most. Your A string that you're having problems with tuning to a G is puzzling because to get a G note from an open A string it would be slackened below full tension not going above tension. I've had this before and it needed the individual string saddle adjusting on a hardtail bridge. Are you using a hardtail bridge, individual bridge or are you anchoring your strings through the through neck tailpiece? Not sure why it's happening but if you're getting full tension on your D and G strings, in other words tuning them to D and G respectively, I don't know what else could be going wrong. I'm no expert and new to building CBGs too but hopefully someone else has an answer.

Permalink Reply by The Bane on September 4, 2016 at 12:58pm

Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear ~ I am COMPLETELY new to guitars and music, so don't think I am trying to pick your reply apart because I am appreciative of all comments. So see if this makes sense and please correct me where I am wrong as it may be my issue...

As I understand it, yes, notes are A B C D E F G, but they are infinite, well maybe not infinite... there are octaves above and below so they repeat:

(Lower/Basser) A B C D E F G A B C D E F G (Higher/Treble-ish).

So notice the A string, which is at the top of the neck but considered my low note (music is so confusing) It suppose to sound like a Low A but I want it to sound like a Low G. By over tightening it (as I suspect is my issue) based on my tuner app I am tightening it thru B C D E F and finally G (snapping long before that). But if I tuned it to A and backed off of it (loosen it) I would get to the Lower G, no?

The Bane

Permalink Reply by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on September 4, 2016 at 1:32pm

I think Darryl has suggested a good method of tuning below. If you're trying to tune an A string UP to a G then you're mote or less bound to snap it unfortunately. The difference in tension from where it was manufactured to be (A) all the way UP to G is much greater than one step down from A to G. As Darryl suggest, get the string to where it's not flapping and is almost tight enough then go to A from there.

Think of your A string as being designed to give a lower A when tuned to G than your natural G string is. One of the things that will affect the note you'll get is string thickness, mass. It's why strings are different thicknesses I think? You're right as you said too. Don't try and get your two G strings the same. The top string or the one closest to your chin, in your instance, is a lower, deeper, bassier G than your closer to the ground G.

Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on September 4, 2016 at 12:34pm

OK. Take most 3 string CBGs.
The bass string and the top string is the same note but 1 octave higher. Doh ray me fa so la tee doh.
If we look at normal guitar strings and choose three that are next to each other (1 2 3, 2 3 4, etc) then these are designed to only reach doh ray me fa so la tee
So we skip a string to reach doh. Or we stretch the string to reach doh. Or we loosen the bass string to tee (tee doh ray me fa so la tee)

So we have the same note between the top and the bass strings but 1 octave apart. Doh ray me etc. are the white notes on a piano but we also have the black keys. There's 12 notes on the piano before it repeats itself so our middle string is one of these notes. In most cases it is the 7th note up (a fifth) but it can also be the 5th note up (a fourth).

How we get that octave with the middle string is a ballance between different factors, we can stretch or string higher than normal or we can drop the bass string down and have a different tuning or we can shorten our scale length so we don't have to stretch the string so much or we can skip a string so our high string is loose.

Permalink Reply by The Bane on September 4, 2016 at 12:59pm

Fomhorach ~ I think I am following, at least a little. But I am not using consecutive strings. I am using... what?.. every third string.

A B C D E F G

D and G are tuned to what they are supposed to be. A, as I have read, is then tuned to the Low (octave lower?) G. Basically, I think I am over tightening trying to get to the same octave G as the normal G string. Does that make sense, and is this my issue?

Thanks as well,

The Bane

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on September 4, 2016 at 1:10pm

a reasonably simple check method with the heavier strings is to wind it up, until it stops being floppy, and produces a sound semi clearly,from there you are in the strings range, and your next "g",should be the one you're chasing

Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on September 4, 2016 at 1:41pm

There are many ways to string these things..

I think I see what your doing.

OK take a pack of strings. Call the thinnest your 1st - thickest your 6th.

Use 3rd, 4th & 5th

Get a hold of a tuner, I use a phone app (there are a few free ones) or the internet has web sites that will suffice.

Tune the 3rd & 4th, G & D. Tune the 5th to A like a normal guitar (use the app or Internet to do this) then wind the 5th back down until you hit G.

See how that works out for you

Permalink Reply by The Bane on September 4, 2016 at 2:15pm

Thanks everyone who responded to my tuning issue.

Confident I can get this sucker strumming now. Just have to get some strings.

Best,