Updated: May 15, 2015

If you have ever built your 'guitar' with a home made sound box, let us know about it! Post your photos, especially any interesting construction techniques you used.

Due to my mistake of using the word "Resonator" in the name of this group, there now appears to be two groups of contributors:

1.) People wanting to discuss basic sound box construction (my intended audience):
2.) People wanting to discus building resonator cigar box guitars using metal resonators like what Old Lowe is famous for making and selling:

About This Discussion Forum

For those folks interested in building Resonator CBGs and Resonator Parts, please enter your posts under the Discussion Forum under either the "Resonator parts" discussion, or the "Placing the Resonator" discussion. Also be sure to check out my "Useful Links" which includes links to some interesting Reso-CBG related topics and photos (see below).

Most of the rest of this Discussion Forum is dedicated to people interested in discussing the various methods and styles of box building, including woodworking techniques, joinery, decorating and the like. Maybe we can have a different discussion forum for each style of box (rectangular, circular, octagonal, etc.) We'll see how the group evolves.

Useful Links:

1. Basic Woodworking
   • Sawdust Making 101
   • Do It 101 - Woodworking
2. Basic Box Building
   • Project #13 "Boxtrot - Anything I Can Do (you can do)" by Mag Ruffman, the ToolGirl. In this article she shows how to make small wooden boxes complete with box joints using just a small fine toothed saw, a chisel and a few other simple hand tools to cut the box joint "fingers" and "holes". This is a very interesting article.
     
   • Tom Hintz & TheNewWoodworker.com - Building Basic Boxes (using power tools). He has many other articles on woodworking, too.
   • Gluing the Box Frame: Here's a diagram showing how to use two lengths of angle iron, several clamps and a web clamp to glue-up a box so that it will be nice and square. Read more about it in the Comment Wall, below.
   • Harbour Freight also sells a nice web clamp ideal for box building. They describe it as a 1" x 15 ft. Ratcheting Band Clamp, Item # 66220, and it sells for only $5.99. Here's a photo: What's nice about this web clamp is that it includes 4 corner pieces which means you don't need the two pieces of angle iron used in the box jig above.
   • Tony Hyman's Cigar History Museum - Types of Cigar Boxes has a lot of interesting photos of old cigar boxes that makes for some interesting viewing & reading, especially if you decide you want to decorate you home- made wooden box like an old cigar box.
3. Advanced Box Building
   • Testing a box for bridge placement - a link to an interesting Cigar Box Nation discussion in the Super Advanced Cigar Box Building group that was started by a question posed by John Maw. The best solution was the idea of building a diddly bow in which to test your boxes for sound quality and optimal bridge placement. [Fixed link, 9/19/2011]
   • Here's a challenging box design ideal for a real cool Cigar Box Guitar:
     
   • Sound boxes don't have to be square or rectangular.They can have any number of sides. But remember that the corner joints must be cut at an angle appropriate to the number of sides the box will have. Here is a summary of that data:

     Num. of Sides = Corner Angles
     3 sided = 60 degrees
     4 sided = 45 degrees
     5 sided = 36 degrees
     6 sided = 30 degrees
     7 sided = 25.71 degrees (26 is okay)
     8 sided = 22.5 degrees
     9 sided = 20 degrees
     10 sided = 18 degrees
     11 sided = 16.36 degrees (16 is okay)
     12 sided = 15 degrees
     15 sided = 12 degrees
     16 sided = 11.25 degrees (11 is okay)

     
     Much above 16 sides and you may as well go with a circle. What ever number of sides you decide upon, the angle size can always be calculated by dividing 180 by the number of sides you want to have.
   • Block Rim Construction is a series of YouTube videos produced by Richard Brown (aka "bordertownbrown") detailing how to build round bodies as for banjos and similar instruments. Many of the techniques he shows are also applicable to the regular polygonal sound boxes described above. There are 7 or 8 videos and all the video files are named "block rim video partX.mp4" where "X" is the part number between 1 and 8. Use the search feature on the YouTube website to search for the additional videos of the series.
   • How to bend wood to form rounded sound boxes? Check out these two web pages set up by Jim Varnum: "Travel Guitar"and "Appalachian Mountain Fiddle". Both articles describe in fair detail the process of bending wood by soaking them in near boiling water for 30 to 45 minutes.
   • Also, on the Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer (FOTMD) website, there's a discussion entitled "American Cittern (Strummer) Building Discussions " which details how one builder (Bobby Ratliff) builds his round bodied stick dulcimers. It includes photos of the form he uses and mentions that he uses a propane torch to heat and bend his red oak sides; rather than soaking them in steam or water).
   • Another good source of information about bending wood is the Veritas® Steam-Bending Instruction Booklet, which is a free download - just click on their link "View as PDF" near the bottom of the page.
   • The folks at buildyourguitar.com have a very extensive list of links for folks interested in building guitars. I'm sure there are a lot of techniques explained in these links that are applicable to building box guitars.
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4. Resonator Cigar Box Guitars
   • "Resonators 101", a video by 'Bigdaddysmojo' that introduces the basic mechanics of building a resonator cigar box guitar.
   • CBN Reso Group #1: How Loud Can We Make It?
   • CBN Reso Group #2: How Good Can It Sound Unplugged?
   • CBN Reso Group #3: Super Advanced Cigar Box Guitar Building
   • Photos of Reso-CBGs (CBN photos tagged 'reso'. Tag your photos with 'reso' to appear here.)
   • More Photos on Reso-CBGs (CBN photos tagged 'resonator'. Tag your photos with 'resonator' to appear here.)
   • Video on spinning your own resonator cones at home by Roosterman.
5. Interesting Threads on Reso-CBGs
   • How to build a sound box for a resonator cone
   • Best Reso Tone?
   • How to Install a Piezo Pickup on a Reso CBG?
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6. Resonator Cone Makers/Sellers
   • Mike Lowe (Old Lowe) High quality 6" brass, copper or aluminum cones for CBGs ($25/ea). He also is now making matching cover plates ($30/ea). Also check out his tail pieces and sound hole covers. I especially like those with the lone star motif.
   • New: C.B. Gitty now sells 5.5 inch spun aluminum cones for like $18/each, a very reasonable price. It's called the "Lightning" cone. Gitty also offers a larger 7 inch "Thunder" cone for like $26/each. Both types of cones are made by Charles Atchison.
   • Republic Guitars has a nice 5.75" resonator cone ($25) and cover plate ($25) which they sell in a 4-piece kit that additionally includes a biscuit and a bridge ($55). Republic also handle the large 10.25" cones and cover plates should you be interested in converting a full sized guitar. They also have a few tail piece offering.
   • National Reso Phonic Guitars has resonator cones for Ukes and CBGs priced around $60, including the biscuit/bridge. They also have large reonators cones (9.5" and 10.5") for full-size guitar conversion projects.
   • Delta Resonator Cones (UK) Cones for Ukes and CBGs (£40.00). They also have a large resonator cone thats 10.5" for full-sized guitars.
   • Pete Moles (Molanator Guitars / Tasmania) Aluminum 'Molo Cones' for full sized guitars
   • Klangbox (Austrian) 4.7" brass cones... are no longer available.
   • Ben Moor's (Roosterman) Homespun Candy Cones for CBGs (£6 or £15 for 3). Measure 5.25" in diameter.
   • Ziggie's Music (on E-Bay) sells a complete set of hardware for home-made resonator guitars: 7" spun aluminum cone, stainless steel cover plate, tail piece and soundhole cover all for ($75). Three patterns are available: Slot Pattern, 50's Pattern and Star Pattern.

   • Note 1: Plus Shipping Charges
     Note 2: Klangbox also makes an interesting low profile magnetic pickup called the "Flatpup 3 Humbucker", which has been well received by some CBN builders.

7. Guitar Builder's Glossaries
   • Frank Ford's "Fretted Instrument Terminology - An Illustrated Glossary"
   • Tiki King's "Luthierie Dictionary"
   • Ultimate Guitar Building's "Glossary of Luthier Terms". Also check out their Table of Contents as well - lot's of interesting info there.
   • "Guitar Dictionary"
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