Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ben on October 28, 2009 at 5:53am

I'm a fan of the way the Castro Bros. boxes sound. They are pretty deep (Compared to a Padron or something like that) and have a nice, full tone. The logo on those boxes is a sticker that I peel off. You're then left with a plain black box. That could be either a good thing or a bad thing I suppose.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on October 28, 2009 at 7:21am

If you want to play acoustically or with a piezo pickup, you want a box as large as you can get and you want the lid to float free (don't do a through neck that is glued to the lid). You also want the bridge placed in the center of the lid, or as close as you can get it.

This is much less of a concern when dealing with magnetic pups.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on October 28, 2009 at 10:04am

It's not an exact science, IMHO. I have a very nice Cohiba box I used for my mandola, and it sounds great. Those Cohiba jobs are like furniture; solid cedar, carefully put together, mortised joints...

However, the second guitar I built, made out of a pressboard box and a through-the-body design....Had great acoustic tone. Go figure.
I think in general Josh is quite right, a bigger box is going to move more air. Thinner material for the top is going to vibrate more.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on October 28, 2009 at 10:27am

Yeah, good point, I neglected to mention that. I giant box with 2 inch walls will sound horrible. You need a good sized cavity with stiff, thin walls.

Mark Werner said:

It's not an exact science, IMHO. I have a very nice Cohiba box I used for my mandola, and it sounds great. Those Cohiba jobs are like furniture; solid cedar, carefully put together, mortised joints...

However, the second guitar I built, made out of a pressboard box and a through-the-body design....Had great acoustic tone. Go figure.
I think in general Josh is quite right, a bigger box is going to move more air. Thinner material for the top is going to vibrate more.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nathan King on October 28, 2009 at 11:57am

Well, "best CBG sound" is a very relative term. I think part of the appeal of CBGs, at least for me, is that the tone isn't as "pure" or "clean" as a regular acoustic guitar. It's beautiful in its shittiness, ya know?

In general though, I would agree with what Josh and Mark have said.

I also think that using strings proportionate to the box helps, too. I did a really small, almost square paper-covered box with a 20" scale, using the top three strings from a regular set of guitar strings, tuned up to G, and I think it has a great CBG sound. If I used thicker strings with a longer scale length, I'm not sure it would have sounded as good.

Then again, it might have!

...man.... I bet that wasn't much help, eh? :-)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Old Lowe on October 28, 2009 at 12:20pm

For acoustics I like the all wood boxes with finger jointed sides.
Padrons would be my favorite.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on October 28, 2009 at 1:14pm

Amen bruddah!

Nathan King said:

Well, "best CBG sound" is a very relative term. I think part of the appeal of CBGs, at least for me, is that the tone isn't as "pure" or "clean" as a regular acoustic guitar. It's beautiful in its shittiness, ya know?
...man.... I bet that wasn't much help, eh? :-)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Travis "SlackJack" Woodall on October 28, 2009 at 3:33pm

Thanks for all of the great comments!! Perfect shitiness is actually exactly what I want...something dirty but pure at the same time. I have two boxes to work with. One is a small, square box which I think will be perfect for a 3-string, almost strumstick type instrument. The walls are laminated but they are thin and extremely sturdy. I have no intention of running the neck through the box. Going to attach it and leave the box hollow. I will be cutting F holes and using a Piezo pickup. the second box is a thin mahogany but will require some reinforcement I think. That one will require running the neck through the box I believe.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on October 28, 2009 at 4:34pm

Cigar boxes do not sound great. They sound like crap. Total crap. They're the last resort in the world of musical instruments. Yet we love them. Why? We want something primal. Something deeper than the Delta blues. We want an instrument that will kick our ass when we try to play it.

...Yeah, I'm drunk, but I thought I'd add a dose of perspective. Make a CBG today. Make it from whatever ya go. Then learn to play the damn thing as-is. I guarantee the music you get will be more liberating than any textbook blues song out there.

Shane Speal

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kevin (Voodoo Rat) Hoelting on June 11, 2013 at 4:11pm

I knock around at some open blues jams from time to time and here's my favorite part. Guys come in with a $1200 Strat, $500 in pedals, and an amp I can only imagine what they paid for. For what? To get the tone I get from a guitar I made in the garage, and a crappy old 100w Marshall hybrid I have been needing to change the preamp tubes in for a year.

Gawd I love these things!!!!!!

 

Oh, yeah....Finck's 1893 boxes. Company out of San Antonio....

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Travis "SlackJack" Woodall on October 28, 2009 at 4:43pm

I'm with you!! I want one of these things so badly. I have removed the bottom two strings from my cheap ass Jay Turser and tuned the rest of the strings to D-G-D-G just to play around with the tuning. I am loving what I hear so far. Shit, I sound like a real musician, even with a craftsman socket as a slide!!!!

Shane Speal said:

Cigar boxes do not sound great. They sound like crap. Total crap. They're the last resort in the world of musical instruments. Yet we love them. Why? We want something primal. Something deeper than the Delta blues. We want an instrument that will kick our ass when we try to play it.

...Yeah, I'm drunk, but I thought I'd add a dose of perspective. Make a CBG today. Make it from whatever ya go. Then learn to play the damn thing as-is. I guarantee the music you get will be more liberating than any textbook blues song out there.

Shane Speal

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dan Tomkinson on October 30, 2009 at 12:00am

so you use the lid side as your bridge side ? I always use the back of the box as the top and the lid side as the bottom as long as you releave the neck from the sound board so it isnt stiff, does this make any sense ?

Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:

If you want to play acoustically or with a piezo pickup, you want a box as large as you can get and you want the lid to float free (don't do a through neck that is glued to the lid). You also want the bridge placed in the center of the lid, or as close as you can get it.

This is much less of a concern when dealing with magnetic pups.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page