Marmelade's Page

Merci d'avoir accepté... ravi de te compter parmi mes amis...bienvenue Marmelade, tes photos sont sympas...à bientôt...°<[:-) [---]==={...

Salut Marmelade, va voir sur ma page, j'ai posté des photos de mon banjo 3 cordes. Il est fini, plus que quelques petits réglages. A +

Hi Marmalade,

There are numerous "plans" for building cigar box guitars on Cigar Box Nation. In fact, there's a "Free Plans" option on the selection bar at the top of the page, which is what I used when I got started about 3 years ago. There are also many more discussions and articles written by CBN members on specific issues. These can be found by using various key words in the search box that is located in the upper right corner of each page on Cigar Box Nation. Unfortunately, most of the plans assume you are building either a fretless CBG or a chromatically fretted CBG.

You seem to want to build a diatonically fretted cigar box guitar. So, the main difference will be how you fret the fretboard. But, before fretting your fretboard you will need to decide on a scale length (the distance between the nut and the bridge) and the number of diatonic frets you want. I usually build instruments with a 50cm (20") scale length and 16 frets (including frets 6.5 and 13.5). The last 2 or 3 frets you may decide you don't want as they are very close together and a bit harder to play (especially on short scaled CBGs). Anyways, you will need to know the desired scale length and number of frets when you go to use a fret calculator. The one I use is the Stew-Mac fret position calculator, but when using it, be sure to specify "Dulcimer" as the desired instrument (there will be a drop down list box labeled "Instrument"). The "Dulcimer" uses a diatonic scale, so the only frets shown will be those needed to make a diatonic fretboard. You will need to learn how to create a headstock, how to shape the neck, how to mount the neck to the box, and how to attach tuners, string and tune up the instrument. There's plenty of articles on these topics. Some that I've written are in my discussion group Home Made Resonator Boxes 101, v.2.0 but, be aware that I build my own sound boxes because I can't find cigar boxes in China where I live most the time. I also use mainly hand-tools. I have no big woodshop like most the builder have. I got started building on the front porch and now it has taken over the spare bedroom which used to be my office. But anyways, there's just a ton of information out there to read through. Take a few weeks to look around CBN, look at photos and build videos (also on Youtube.com) and when you see a set a plans you think you can do,g o ahead and give it a try. I generally use the computer to draw up my "plans" before I build because it's easier to correct drawings that fix a mistake in your build. It get's you to focus on problem areas and resolve them brefore they become real problems. Hopefully, you will find my advice useful. Email me or if you have other build questions.

Sincerely,

-Rand.