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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on August 6, 2009 at 2:11am

One other thing I just thought of hours later.If your sanding the paper off, DONT ASSUME that the box is square and that the sides are perfectly flat.I've noticed a lot of boxes that cave in in the middle of the sides ,top AND bottom that you cant see by eye until you start sanding. If your not watching closely, you'll sand the outer edges too deep and not hit the middle at all. I say this after doing it $#&^*%#$^* many times,,,,,,,,,,

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sprague (Knotlenny) on August 6, 2009 at 2:51pm

gotta say, in the past I never really understood the desire to strip paper off. I always liked the decoration of it. . . . however: I've changed my mind drastically after applying the belt sander method to a few. I think the paper has deadened the tone MUCH more than I ever expected. PLUS the added advantage of thinning the tops can really contribute to the resonance.

In my experience - thinned tops with no paper covering = nice "banjo-ey" tone - but with more sustain than a "real" banjo

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Permalink Reply by Dave Alexander on August 9, 2009 at 2:02am

The cigar shops I visit sell me paper covered boxes for 2 dollars and wood boxes for 6. If you can get a pretty wood box with nice graphics...for a good price.... I'd suggest buying a real wood box.

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on August 10, 2009 at 2:47am

Thanks for all the suggestions. I really started this to see how easy it could be done. I am fairly new to cigar boxes, and yes buying a wood box is best. I just do not have lots of free time and the place I go to rarely has cheap (under $6) wood boxes, if at all.
So I used the alcohol approach and i am posting some pics' on the result

Attachments:

• DSCN4126.JPG, 113 KB
• DSCN4127.JPG, 114 KB
• DSCN4128.JPG, 115 KB

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Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on August 10, 2009 at 4:13am

Not bad at all. How long did it take and how hard was it? Like like some light sanding should put you there.

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on August 10, 2009 at 5:15am

easy as hell I soaked a paper towel in some rubbing alch. and let it sit on the box for maybe 5-10 min. the paper came right off with a little scraping of a knife. I am hoping the light sanding does the trick seems like it will.

Paul Doug said:

Not bad at all. How long did it take and how hard was it? Like like some light sanding should put you there.

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