Building a Cigar Box Guitar 101

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Comment by Ginwheel Johnny on May 1, 2012 at 11:38am

Hey Righteous,
I don't know how anyone else does it, but I've a tool called a spoke shave, it's made by stanley tool. If your in the US or Canada, you can get them at places like Homedepot.
It works like a plane, except it's pulled toward you.
Hope that helps!

John

Comment by Righteous Knockside on May 1, 2012 at 11:02am

Hi Guys,

Been watching you for a while & listening in, man you guys are inspirational ! 

Made a mean Diddley Bow (I'll vid you l8r). Built up my workshop from scratch, gotta bench, various tools.Now I'm about to go for my first build.

I've gathered plans from everywhere I can find on your site, but... to help me organise myself, would anyone please give me hints on the most obvious question? The only thing I don't feel I've got covered... How do I make a nice, comfortable smooth curved neck from a piece of  square wood?

What tools do I need? Doing the right 'Prep' ? Pitfalls to avoid ... etc?

As much help as you can give me I'd really appreciate, just point me in the right direction if you're busy. I've actually downloaded so many plans it's already becoming a 'shock & awe' project.

Man this is humbling, real 'rights of passage' stuff' ;-[

Comment by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on May 1, 2012 at 9:54am

Here is how I make my piezo bridges, 2 wired parralel mounted between 2 thin pieces of wood with a brass or steel saddle on top. The dual piezo sounds bets to me, and cuts out feedback. Mounting in the bridge cuts down on some of the box noise. I'm sure Ben would agree, use 2 piezos per CBG : )  Still cheaper than the shack. 

One thing I will add, make sure wherever you mount them that the flat side sits securly on a flat surface so it get maximum vibration to work. I hastily put a test together the other day and it was miserabley quiet, turned out I made a sloppy hole to glue the piezo in with not enough contact for the flat piezo surface. OK, enough rambling hope this helps some.

Comment by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on May 1, 2012 at 9:48am

Mike, nice bridge. 

Comment by Jim burt on May 1, 2012 at 6:53am

Thank Again Guys!..

Comment by MiketheNailer on April 30, 2012 at 9:48am

I have set my two Piezos in the bridge, filled the holes with a plug, to give me a wrap around Piezo bridge. The wires go to a strapjack.

Comment by Glenn Reither on April 30, 2012 at 9:27am

People have different methods. My gats sound OK and I do it this way:

Unfortunately, you're going to have to put it all together and string it up before you know where the second one goes. If using 35mm piezo discs, supa-glue one to the underside of the lid just forward of the middle of the bridge. String up the gat, plug it in, have a listen. If you need more bass, put the second one on the bass string side of the first one. If you need more treble, on the hi string side. Cut 35mm circles of 2-ply with a hole saw. Run a thick bead of hot glue around each disc and sit the ply circles on top, then run a bead around the ply circles and a glob to fill the hole in the middle of each. Now your discs are fully sealed off which will stop them feeding back at loud volumes, but are still free to vibrate. You'll wire the two discs in parallel, meaning both red wires go to + and both black wires go to earth. If one disc sounds good, consider not adding the second one, although you can always just disconnect it if it turns out the second one is screwing things up. But using two, especially if you aren't running them to a preamp, is better than one because it halves your impedance.

Comment by Jim burt on April 30, 2012 at 8:58am

Glenn You say use 2 piezos...Where do you like to put them on the CBG?...I still learning about wiring...:)

Comment by Jim burt on April 29, 2012 at 11:55pm

Thank Guys!...

Comment by C. B. Gitty (Ben) on April 29, 2012 at 8:56pm

Jim, if you are buying components at Radio Shack you are spending 2 to 5 times as much as you need to. Also, using the piezos in the plastic housing almost always yields disappointing results - bad feedback, etc. I have an article I wrote specifically on piezos and ways to make the best use of them, you can find it here: http://www.cbgitty.com/?p=98. Also, check out my store at http://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/ for good deals on piezos, jacks and all sorts of other CBG components.  

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