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Permalink Reply by joel allen cvitanich on January 24, 2010 at 6:47pm

never mind about scale length figured it out

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 24, 2010 at 6:55pm

Scale length is the length of the part of the string which is actually vibrating when you play it. It's measured from the "nut" (where the strings pass over at the top of the neck) to the "bridge" on the body of the guitar. On ordinary guitars it's typically around 24 3/4" - 25 1/2" (these are the scale lengths that Gibson and Fender use), but there are many variations around that region. Tenor banjos can be 23 -24", lap steels 22 1/2", baritone guitars around 27" and bass from 30 -34 "

Check this article for some useful info -
http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol21/?pg=78&pm=2&u1=friend


As three strings are all you need to play a chord (root, 3rd and 5th notes) many cigar box guitars are made with just 3 strings, so you can play solo and chord stuff easily, especially if you tune it to an open chord and use a slide. 4 strings allows you do add some variation, or double up a note as a drone (like a dulcimer), or tune it like a tenor banjo or mandolin.

Making a neck can be a simple as using a stick of wood or even a broom handle, with minimal shaping and cutting, just enough to let you put some machineheads (tuning pegs) on it and fit it into the box. There are plenty of ideas on here..have look at some of the photos for a few ways of doing it. Making a 3 string is simple, and as it puts lets tension on the neck, the choice and size if timber is less critical..hardwood is better than softwood generally and I usually salvage scraps from furniture..oak, beech, maple etc, but I have used decent pieces of hemlock with hardwood fretboards to good effect.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan King on January 24, 2010 at 9:53pm

Two simple steps to make a neck:

1) Take a piece of wood.

2) Cut/shave/chisel/hack/whittle/carve/sand off any parts that don't look like a neck.

The wood depends on what you have available to ya. Lowe's/Home Depot usually sell some hardwoods in the popular 1x2 dimensions, as well as some softwoods. I like maple, if I can find it, but oak I've found more often and find it just as suitable. Some folks (like myself a few times) have used pine to good effect as well. If you want to make larger necks, you may have to improvise...

And the way you remove excess neck material also depends on what you have available to ya. There's a whole bunch of tools that'll do the job... but if you're interested, check out this video: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HWT8MxkjAs&feature=channel" It might be overkill for CBGs, but it is really quite informative (as are all the vids in that series).

Finally, speaking from my own experience, 3 and 4 strings are common because they lend themselves really well into the readily available 1x2's dimensions. More strings means you'll need a wider neck, and less means you'll have to thin it.

Plus (and this is the important part here), they are really fun to play!

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Permalink Reply by Jerryrig240 on January 25, 2010 at 1:35am

First off----Scale lenth....a good rule of thumb, get a guitar string, and size up from that. Nothing to long, but nothing to short. I tend to hold my rough build up to my belly as I am working on it too see how it feels. But the length of a guitar string is a good place to start.

Making a neck is pretty easey,......here is the jerryrig quick and dirty way. Got to home depot, buy a decent length of oak....I would say, a good, 4 feet long....99cents a foot, you have a bit of room for error, plus you need room for tuning pegs and what not. The oak is a 1 1/2 inches wide...standard 3 string width...if you want a four string, you will have to find wider I would say rip it down on a table saw. I beleive 36 inches is the secret number for cbg lenth, but I could be wrong on that, I just tend to make my necks either fall right in the middle of my box, or past it for string room. Right next to where you find this oak at home depot, you will find a shelf unit that has a ton of different size peices of wood. There is a bin that holds thin peices of 1 1/2 inch wide oak, perfect for cbg fret boards Buy it...only around 3 bucks. So far, you have spent 9 bucks just because of me, but trust me, you do it like this, and you are golden. Get your box, cut in center for neck. Now, make sure your neck is flush with the lid of the box, when I mean flush, as if there is no height difference between your neck and your box. Just a nice flat surface....now, add your fret board right above where your neck goes into your box, right on top....and glue it. This gives you the perfect clearence....if you look at real guitars, they are all made like this, the fret baords over lap the body, and the strings hit the fret board...so now, you don't have a ton of distance between your strings and fret board. Now, if you want a bunch of clearence? Then leave off your oak fret board, completley up to you, remember, there is no rules to all of this. Now, you can rasp the back of your neck or plane or sand down the edges so they are not so sharp when you are playing.

Now, find someting for your nut and bridge, eye bolt tuners are really cheap and I have just built my licenes plate box guitar with eye bolt tuners and they are working pretty well......side not, they don't work well with really thin string, so watch out using the low thin e string in a set of strings,....this last time I started with the 3 string and used it and two other strings I had extra laying around. If you are not brave enough for eye bolt tuners yet, no big deal, just get real tuners....

3 string? 4 string? It's up to you.....I prefer 3 string, I relaly don't know what most do with that extra string. 3 string is more of a tradition thing though.....I know this is a lot to take in, I hope this all helps.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on January 25, 2010 at 2:02am

If you are interested...build a 3 string with a standard guitar scale length, then string and tune GDg, and you can utilize my lessons.

This video might be helpful:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/a-cigar-box-guitar-builders

Here you can find my instructional CD 4 for 3 string CBG:

http://shop.ebay.com/njmikeb/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&a...

Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on January 25, 2010 at 3:22am

If you want to see more than 3 or 4 string builds, check out the steam punk guitar on the home page today, and check out the photos on my page (most of mine are 8 string, and I built a 12 string!)...remember, like you said, no rules...just have fun!!! CHEERS!

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Permalink Reply by Tim on January 25, 2010 at 4:11am

get your self a copy of melvyn hiscocks book "make your own electic guitar" it will answer a lot of questions.

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Permalink Reply by THENUGE on January 25, 2010 at 11:33am

the plans in the free resources section at the top of the page are a good place to start...if you build a fretless for your first guitar you wont need to worry about the scale length

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