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Cedar Box Build

A while back, a member posted a build that He did making the box out of Cedar roof shingles. The instrument had a great sound to it and made me want to build one for myself.

The shingles have a taper to them and would require planing and I don't have a planer. Also I would have to buy a bundle at 18 dollars. Cedar planks were available at the grocery store for grilling Fish. They were 2 boards 1/4" x 5" x 12" at 4 to 6 dollars a package.

Settled on a Western Cedar fence plank at Lowe's 5/8ths" x 5&1/2" x 60" for $2.55. This was just enough wood for the box and any braces needed, but would need to be dried more. Cut the pieces and dried them in the oven.

Made a frame for the box and the top and bottom panels. Since 5/8ths" is too thick for an effective acoustic, I layed the box frame on top of the panels and traced the inside barrier. I routed the back inside to 1/4" and glued a 1/4" brace along the seam and routed the top inside to 3/16th" and glued a 1/4" brace along the seam. I'll have to add a cross brace later for the bridge, but it will only contact the center brace and the box sides to maximize top vibration. The top is glued to the frame and the back is attached with 4 screws for now, may glue it later. The box was sanded to have a curved side profile. It has a 1&3/4" sound hole. I plan to attach the neck to the box side with screws and glue.

The neck and fretboard will be made of Red Oak. Going for 4 strings and 25" scale with bridge near center of sound board. I plan on using a Uke style bridge and nut. Plan on putting in 2 piezo, 1 on the low string side and 1 on the high string side wired to a blend pot.

Pics of what I have so far.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 4, 2015 at 11:24am

My wife and I are living on Disability(barely surviving) so funds for projects and equipment are practically non-exsistant. Otherwise my shop would be full of tools/machines from my local Harbor Freight store. Just have a router, circular saw, hand sander, drill and jig saw to work with.

Could work out a jig for my router though. This way worked well, if it doesn't work out I can always use it as a bird house. LOL

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 4, 2015 at 9:15pm

Or they'll pay me to stop playing. LOL

Would love to build and sell, but my health is an issue. It takes me a month or more to build an instrument unless I buy parts an assemble. Then the available money comes into play. Buying built parts ends up costing you more than or close to what you can sell for in most cases.

At least I'm having fun.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 7, 2015 at 11:03am

Started on the Red Oak neck and fretboard today. Cut and glued the scarf joint, cut the heel pieces and cut the neck and fretboard to length.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 8, 2015 at 11:46am

Got the trussrod channel cut and glued the heel block to the neck. Had to re-glue the scarf joint because it came loose while trimming the headstock. Apparently 24 hours aren't enough cure time when it's cold. Brought the neck inside to cure this time, I'll wait 48 hours this time.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 12, 2015 at 10:19pm

Had to redo the heel block, need to shape after it dries. Got the headstock shaped and trussrod installed. need to work on the back of the neck and fretboard next.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 14, 2015 at 9:51am

Neck is done. moving on to the fretboard.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 17, 2015 at 9:37pm

This is taking a while. Seems like everytime I start working on this, I have to stop to deal with something or someone.

I'm half way done cutting fret slots. Then I can trim down the board, install frets and glue to the neck if nothing or nobody else interrupts me that is.

While I was out running errands today, I stopped at the thrift store and got a Perfecto Garcia box that has the dovetail joints and crown top. Even the bottom is solid wood instead of plywood. The box is 11" x 6" x 2" and I only paid 2 dollars for it.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 18, 2015 at 9:06am

I think I'm going to keep this one. Haha Also got another pie server/cutter fro 99 cents to make another extended tail piece. A lot times they have nothing in there and then you don't have enough on you to get everything you want. They had several Home surround subwoofers for 10 to 20 dollars each.

Got the fret slots cut. Onward to trimming the board. Whoohoo.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 20, 2015 at 12:23pm

Today I could've used a Drill-press. Since I don't have one, drilling fret marker holes can get off a bit. I always use a center divet tool and Forstner bits to keep things straight as possible, but almost every hole was off in one direction or the other. Wood grain just works against you sometimes and I'm not starting over. I decided to chisel out some holes for block inlay, but I had to go ahead and glue the fretboard to the neck to keep splitting to a minimum. Red Oak will split if you just look at it wrong, but I use it because it looks good and offers a nice bright and snappy tone.

So after it dries, I'll cut out some block style holes. I'm not buying inlay material. I'll be making my own. No idea what I'll use yet.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 20, 2015 at 9:27pm

Thanks for that link to the harbor freight one. I think that will work. I'll pick one of those up as soon as I can.

Permalink Reply by QGolden on December 21, 2015 at 12:43am

The device in this link is called a "spot drill". You can take a board, use your square and your electric drill to drill a nice straight hole in the board that this spot drill fits in with no wobble. You can even drill your hole a wee bit smaller and use the spot drill to finish the hole.

Put the board on your table saw and cut out around the drilled hole to form a block 2x2 inches with the hole in the center.

Now you own a drill guide and you can use the spot drill to drill your starter holes so your finish hole bit will not wander in the wood grain. You can use the saw or whatever, to slot the bottom side of the block so it is the width of your fretboard, set it on the fretboard, spot your holes an 1/8 deep, and slide the block down to the next fret hole. With a little forethought you can even make your block thick enough so it will be impossible to drill too deep with the spot drill.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41077o7tzHL._SY300_.jpg

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 21, 2015 at 10:04am

My Forstner bits have a pilot barb on the bottom that's supposed to keep the bit from wandering while drilling. I think I should've secured the piece I was drilling first, that would've helped too.

The bit you showed in the pic might work better than the forstner bits. Thanks for that suggestion.