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The core of any great cigar box instrument is the box itself.  I chose a flamboyant Graycliff cigar box featuring a deep blue finish and shiny gold lettering.

I used a Dremel with a router bit to cut out the Gibson-style F-holes.  In the process, I was disappointed to discover that my Graycliff box was not solid wood after all, but a cheap fiberboard composite with wood veneers.  Still, it seemed sturdy enough, so I marched onward.  Notice the F-holes are only partially cut out, so it looks like the lettering and gold stars are floating on top of them.  I used acrylic paint to simulate binding around the F-holes.

THE SCROLL

The traditional Hardanger fiddle scroll is boldly carved in the shape of a dragon.  I tamed mine down just a titch, opting instead to carve my scroll in the shape of my loyal Chihuahua-Beagle mutt.

The neck and scroll were carved from a laminated block of hardware store variety Red Oak, using a coping saw, 1/4" chisel, needle files, and a Dremel with some engraving bits.  The pegbox was carved out with 1/4" and 1/2" chisels.  The pegs were made from scratch.  I cut the rough peg shapes out of 3/4" Oak on a scroll saw, used a mallet and chisel to split each of those into two workable peg blanks, then fashioned a homemade peg shaver using a Pine block, a T-handle reamer, a wood screw and a razor blade.  Several hours of twisting (and several blisters) later, I had shaved down a dozen or so decent pegs.  I contoured the peg heads with files and selected the best candidates out of the bunch.  The peg holes were started with an electric drill and reamed with the same T-handle reamer to match the taper of the pegs.  I quickly learned that there is good reason to use a proper violin peg shaver and reamer; the hardware store reamer tapers much too drastically from one end to the other.  Between a couple of my peg holes, only about 1/8" of wood remains!  That ain't good.

The neck and scroll were sprayed with non-waxy shellac (tinted with Amber and Cherry liquid stains), painted with acrylic paints, and then finished with clear gloss Nitrocellulose lacquer.  The pegs were sprayed with a mix of Cherry, Amber and Dark Green liquid stains diluted in Denatured Alcohol, then the peg heads were finished with clear gloss Nitrocellulose lacquer.