Camacho boxes: advice needed

I love these boxes, i think they look great whenever i've seen a CBG made from one.

I have 2 of these boxes and have procrastinated for far too long. I'm now planning on making guitars from them.

Does anyone have any experience working with them? I really don't want to ruin the boxes.

How do they sound acoustically? The boxes are only 4cm deep and pretty thick. I can't see them being much use acoustically. The lid is 9mm-1cm thick. Is this wrong?

I think what i'm trying to work out is whether to just make this fully electric and dispense with sound holes. Maybe make a neck pocket and fill the inside with a great big chunk of wood. Or whether to have the option of using the guitar acoustically - which would take some creative thinking with a back angle on the neck because the box is not very deep. I'm going to be left with very little wood on a nearly through neck to work with, especially if i use a single coil pick up.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Kirk on October 11, 2017 at 2:15am

I've made 3 so far. One suggestion is to apply a little wax and buff before you start work, it will help prevent minor scratches.

Avoiding sound holes is a good idea, the lid hardly resonates at all. I thinned one lid down, just to get a rod piezo to pick up vibrations. If anyone were to attempt using a rod piezo, I'd suggest placing it directly under the bridge, and on top of the sound board (cigar box lid).

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on October 11, 2017 at 4:26am

I've used these boxes quite few times- the finish is very hard and brittle, so you need to use VERY sharp tools. On this one I've used a pickup surround and a jackplate socket, which can help cover any rough edges to your cutting out. The hardtail bridge is mounted to blocks either side of the neckstick, so effectively it's like a semi acoustic with a centrebock, and I haven't bothered with soundholes.

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on October 14, 2017 at 3:18am

Nice work (as always), CBJ!

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