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Permalink Reply by Glaze on April 3, 2011 at 6:49am

Matt

 

It's a tough question and I am planning on building something similar.  I measured a Taylor 414 acoustic guitar body I had and I also measured my electric guitar body's.  For me it has to be comfortable to play and sound good.  I'm leaning towards building a body around 10" on up to 12" wide by 15" long by 3" thick. I have not decided on exact dimensions yet, but something around these dimensions.  

 

Most cigar box builds do not have a big acoustic sound anywhere close to a Taylor or Martin acoustic.  I do like the tone many builders get out of the small CBG's amplified though.  The best sounding cigar box style guitar I have heard used a larger box made out of solid pine (it was not a cigar box).           

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Permalink Reply by Mark Myers on April 3, 2011 at 1:46pm

I just started a 6 sting build and found a DON TOMAS box that is 10 1/2 x 6 and another DON TOMAS that is 10 1/2 x 8 and put them up against each other and cut out the center section of the now "big box".   It is now a 10 1/2 x 14. They even have the same yellow paper covering.  Don Tomas also has black boxes that come in these sizes

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Permalink Reply by Matt Stluka on April 4, 2011 at 1:29pm

Thanks for the advice! I have found a cigar shop around here that will sell me boxes! Of course I will make a few of my own. I imagine that it will take a few trys till things start to work out.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on April 4, 2011 at 6:55pm

I actually cover ideal box dimensions in the book I wrote (available in the free plans section of this site).  For a six string guitar with 25.5" scale, you want between 11" and 12" minimum.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Stluka on April 4, 2011 at 8:06pm

Thanks Josh. I checked out your book and I think it will be a great place to start. Wish me luck!

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on April 5, 2011 at 5:28am

With as many people as we have around here willing to jump in and lend a hand, you almost don't need luck. Just send us updates and lots of pictures as we all love to see what you come up with.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Stluka on April 6, 2011 at 12:52pm

Will do!

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