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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 10, 2011 at 5:52pm

This three string CBG sounds awesome also:

 

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 10, 2011 at 5:59pm

I like tone of these two CBG's in the video's.  One is a four string and the other is a three stringer.  What does everyone think is cooler,  a four or a three stringer???  Just trying to decide what to build first.  I will be playing mine through an amp with some distortion on it.   I modded an Epiphone Valve Jr with the Marshall mod and that amp sounds perfect for this type of tone these two guy's get with a CBG.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 10, 2011 at 6:08pm

If you can already play you should be able to handle 4 strings, and take one off if you want to go native.

                                                                            Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 10, 2011 at 6:33pm

Ron

 

I have been playing six string guitars for 30 years.  Never played a CBG ever, but I do want one to play slide on.  Love the tone some of these guy's get with one.  Good idea you have of building a four string and then I can always make it just a three string.  

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on January 11, 2011 at 3:14am

I think 3 is cooler, you asked. I sold one to a proffesional musician and composer and he was going to have me make it 4 string then changed his mind because he "I would try to play it to much like a regular guitar". So I guess the only way to really know for yourself is to build a 3 and a 4 stringer. Then you may want to add a 2 and a 1 string just to complete the set. Now that sounds like fun.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 11, 2011 at 4:26am

Well yes, building one of each is a given, but which one to make first, since you will want to change things as you build the next one.

 The ones in the video are both electric, might be easier to go unpluged first. I guess it depends on your level of building skills.                                                        Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 11, 2011 at 5:32am

Michael S

 

Thanks for the three is cooler vote.  How wide do you make your three string necks and what scale length do you prefer on them?    

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 11, 2011 at 6:37am

Ron

 

I used to paint guitars for a guitar company and I also made six string guitars for myself in that shop over 20 years ago.  I have quite a bit of wood working tools and I'm a very experienced wood worker.  Making a cigar box guitar will be no problem for me.       

 

I have always preferred the electric guitar as a player, so I know I want an electrified cigar box guitar for that dirty overdriven slide tone.  The piezo pickups these guy's use sound really good to me.  The builder of the Harley Box said he used a Schatten piezo from Stu Mac and his guitar sounds great.      

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on January 11, 2011 at 7:21am

Glaze,  I've been making them 1 3/4 inches wide with a 24" scale. A bit wider than most build them. If I made a 4 string I would probably still make it the same width. And I think the video for the 3 string proves the coolness of them, he may be related to ZZ Top, lol.  I also vote for the piezo pickups, if you have regular electric guitars these is no sense trying to make your cbg sound like one of them, let it be its own instrument.  If you want it to sound like an electric guitar put in wound pickups.  With your expirience in guitars I can't wit to see what you come up with. Fun stuff these cbg's.

Glaze said:

Michael S

 

Thanks for the three is cooler vote.  How wide do you make your three string necks and what scale length do you prefer on them?    

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 11, 2011 at 7:29am

Play and build, talent coming out of your ears. 4 sting 1 1/2",   3 string 1 1/4 for me anyways. 

 That Harley box is a real gem as it is a little deeper than the average garden box.

 Through neck with a piezoelectric in the bridge should do the job. 

 I have been making necks from maple and oak and they sound nice to my ear.

 I like about 21 1/2" scale, it seems to fit my boxes well. With a shorter scale a little fatter strings are needed to give the same sound.                LOL       Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 11, 2011 at 7:47am

MichaelS said:

Glaze,  I've been making them 1 3/4 inches wide with a 24" scale. A bit wider than most build them. If I made a 4 string I would probably still make it the same width. And I think the video for the 3 string proves the coolness of them, he may be related to ZZ Top, lol.  I also vote for the piezo pickups, if you have regular electric guitars these is no sense trying to make your cbg sound like one of them, let it be its own instrument.  If you want it to sound like an electric guitar put in wound pickups.  With your expirience in guitars I can't wit to see what you come up with. Fun stuff these cbg's.

Really good tips.  I definitely want to go with a piezo under the bridge.  The whole point of the CBG is to sound nothing like my six string electrics.  Love the old blues tone in these two vids.  Favorite tunings?

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Permalink Reply by Glaze on January 11, 2011 at 8:15am

Mungo Park said:

Play and build, talent coming out of your ears. 4 sting 1 1/2",   3 string 1 1/4 for me anyways. 

 That Harley box is a real gem as it is a little deeper than the average garden box.

 Through neck with a piezoelectric in the bridge should do the job. 

 I have been making necks from maple and oak and they sound nice to my ear.

 I like about 21 1/2" scale, it seems to fit my boxes well. With a shorter scale a little fatter strings are needed to give the same sound.                LOL       Cheers Ron.

 

I think pine is a good tone wood.  I've worked with pine quite a bit building shelves.  Some of the shorter pieces have a nice tap tone, but I have never used pine on a guitar ever.  Some guy's like pine for Telecaster bodies due to Leo Fender did make some pine bodied Telecasters in the early days.  A few years ago I talked to Robert Benedetto on the phone and he told me that he built a pine guitar that sounded great just to prove he could do it.  

Pine is not the strongest wood and it is a sappy soft wood(I prefer to use hard woods as a wood worker just to avoid the sap many soft woods have because it will gum up sandpaper faster than anything).  For the body of a CBG pine actually could sound as good as anything and the Harley box guitar vid proves that.     

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