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Permalink Reply by Will R on July 9, 2009 at 6:28am

I just finished my first "proof of concept" guitar. The mistakes are legion, but somehow the thing actually makes guitar-like sound and I was able to tune it (now, about learning to play...). Top-of-my head version of the mistakes/things-to-change list (sorry for any mistakes in terminology):

-I need to get a band saw, a drill press, and some sort of electric sander. Everything is so imprecise and time-consuming otherwise.
-Didn't align my holes quite right for the very cheap 3-on-a-plate tuners. One went in slightly bent and didn't engage the gear properly when first assembled. I fixed this, but the brass gear is pretty chewed up and I need a screwdriver to help tune one of the strings.
-My technique with the dremel needs some work. the crecent-shaped sound hole came out okay, but s pretty rough on close inspection.
-Didn't angle the tuners or headstock. Means this CBG is completely relying on the threads of the bolt I used as a nut to keep the strings aligned. I imagine this will reduce string life dramatically.
-Just slapped the EAD strings on the guitar, even though I had full access to the resources to tell me which strings would make tuning/learning to play easier.
-A soldering iron doesn't make for a very precise wood-burning pen for marking frets (although when the tip breaks off, the base of the iron now makes a well-sized circle for the marks where one might normally inlay some circles on the fret-board).
-Even for a slide guitar, 1/4" to 3/8" is a ridiculously high action.

John Wilson said:

I'm still working on my first CBG, I've already made several mistakes, worst one is that I scooped too much out of the neck where the lid is supposed to fit; now I have to glue a few wood scraps down where the bridge is going to sit.

Vast majority of my mistakes are related to watching a toddler while trying to woodwoork. (Hand tools only! No toddlers around power tools I'm not that stupid.) My wife sometimes lets me get away with clamping a vice on to the coffee table so the child can play in the living room while I measure and work with the wood file. But I can only take so many requests for juice in stride before I start forgetting whether that measurement I just took was 3/8ths or 3/16ths.

If I wait until toddler free time to do anything I'd never get anything done.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Becker on July 9, 2009 at 10:26am

I got some brass door pulls to make a recessed jack plate. I didn't want to bend the pull by putting in the vise while drilling the hole in it. So, I held the pull tightly between my thumb and forefinger. I'm typing this with a large band-aid on my aforementioned thumb and forefinger. The drill bit snagged on the hole it was drilling and the entire pull started to spin in my fingers. The edge is just like a little serrated saw blade. Needless to say, it hurt like the dickens (and still does).

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Permalink Reply by marcianx on January 20, 2010 at 12:23pm

Oh, THIS is definitely the forum or me! LOL

About half way thru my 2nd build.

In my first build I destroyed the head stock while trying to slot it when I turned my router 180 deg. but didn't change the feed direction. Which required me to use a lap joint (which I did instead of starting over again).

By not pressing hard enough while drilling the inlay holes, my hand-held drill drifted mm of course and left me with more than a little crooked line of fret markers.

I broke two strings trying to tune them -- I've never tuned a guitar before.. in fact, before this build I hadn't held a guitar for longer than 15mins (total) in my life.

I still have some issues with correct tuning that I haven't worked out yet.

On my 2nd build (which I'm about 1/2 through) I created my first scarf joint using just the hand saws I have available and it came out very nice... so nice in fact that while I was patting myself on the back I forget to turn the piece over when I cut out the recess for the lid and cut out a 1/8 x 6" recess on the wrong side!!

LOL Damn, can't win for losin'!

More to come.... I'm sure of it!

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Permalink Reply by Julian Perry on January 20, 2010 at 9:53pm

I twisted the heads off 3 of the screws that came with the tuning pegs on my first build before I realised they must be made of cheese! I now bin them immediately and use the fattest self-tappers that will go through the holes. No problems since. No matter how carefully I measure the box lids, I nearly always cut the recess in the necks too long, allowing for the box wall thickness where I shouldn't. Man that annoys the hell out of me!!

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Permalink Reply by Peter Taylor on January 20, 2010 at 9:58pm

OMG, its great to see I am not the only one, I have only made 4 CBG's so far but have screwed up at least 3 necks in the process, Should of listened to my old man when he said " measure twice, cut once " My wood working skills are crap but with all the mistakes and the information learnt online with this site I can say at least I am improving each time.
Thanks to CIGAR BOX NATION....and all its members

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on January 21, 2010 at 2:40am

One trick I've learned that helped me speed up build sessions, was to buy a small Magnetic screwdriver to install the small tuner screws. I just touch the driver in a pile of small screws and at least one comes up on the driver,arrange it on the bit and drill er' in.
It makes quick work of a tuner install session. Especially when your installing 6 or 7 DB's at the same time.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Parmer on January 22, 2010 at 7:33am

I routed the wrong side of the neck on the last guitar I built, (or building). So I just routed both sides and made a skinnier fret board. It might work.

Attachments:

• guitars 014.jpg, 2.3 MB
• guitars 011.jpg, 3 MB

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on January 22, 2010 at 8:57am

I put together a baritone uke scale length 3 string. Put flames on the neck had everything measured and painted, even put some pin-up pictures on the inside of the box one can see through the f-holes. Then attached the neck and realized I did not cut down the neck to make the fingerboard flush with the body. I can only play down to the 5th fret before the strings touch the body.

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on January 22, 2010 at 9:02am

I can attest to the poplar neck issue. After 2 years of my first build I tried putting heavy strings on. It not only bent the neck it split my body at the top plate.

Gary Krepak- Sole Food Diddley Works said:

One day last summer, I found a "Cuband Rounds" box that was very large. It was asking to be an electric CBG. I had built only three before this, and decided to make it a four string instead of the one or two string variety I had made before.
I had a super-simple sound guy gig at a friend's bar that night for his acoustic gig. So... I figured I might as well bring the box and the clamps and build it RIGHT IN THE BAR.
I did.
ONE PROBLEM.
1x2 Poplar does NOT like having four strings tuned to pitch on it! The headstock bowed within 30 minutes of tuning her up. However, I proved that I could run sound and build a CBG at the same time!

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Permalink Reply by O-DAD on January 22, 2010 at 10:36am

I MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF ALL-i jokingly told my wife that i would rather build cbg's than make love

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on January 22, 2010 at 1:14pm

What were you thinking???!!! LOL!!!

O-DAD said:

I MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF ALL-i jokingly told my wife that i would rather build cbg's than make love

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Permalink Reply by ken farmer on January 22, 2010 at 2:45pm

Just finished my first build. I intended from the beginning for this to just be a throwaway, but it's been a blast to play. My wife was stunned when she came into the room and realized that sound was coming from the comical looking project instead of one of the guitars. I should have tried to make every possible mistake, because I almost did. A few highlights:
5. little drill press turned out to be a POS and it almost injured me
4. lag bolts make bad nuts & saddles - with loud metallic sounds and broke a string after two hours. Will be replacing with bone.
3. tuners were poorly placed, so I ended up adding a guide screw
2. almost everything was cut first on the wrong side. mostly because of kid distractions.
1. vastly underestimated the time it would take to get storage stuff out of my tool shed. Spent 10x as much time fixing up the workspace as it took to build the tool. Ah well, it was a good cause.

Also - I found a 1/16th inch drill bit was good for piloting most tuner screws. Rubbing a little soap on screws before putting them in also helps them glide in easily.

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