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Cigar box ukulele question

I'm building a ukulele for a friend out of a Johnny Walker box. It originally held 10 mini bottle of liquor but it's basically a cigar box.

So I see two ways to go about the build:

1) Get the Gitty kit and use all those parts

-OR-

2) Build a neck through style myself.

The first option would be easier but there's one catch: I want to make the box open and have a little compartment for a mini bottle and two glasses. That being the case, there's not much of an edge to fasten the neck to. I could easily have enough bracing if I do a neck through style of my own design.

So, any ideas how I could attach the neck from the kit with enough bracing and still have the box hinge open?

Thanks in advance for your input

Scotty

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Permalink Reply by Titch the Clown on July 26, 2018 at 9:45am

I would do a stick through, though all my builds are more stick to the end rather than all the way through

I have done a few back opening lunch box based builds but I haven't seen the box you are working on. Pics might be useful.

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Permalink Reply by Ducati Scotty on July 26, 2018 at 12:15pm

Yes, I do 'stick to the end' rather than all the way through too.

https://www.whiskybank.com.au/product/johnnie-walker-black-label-12...

It's a box just like this one. I'm probably going to move the hinges and hasp to the sides just for better orientation of the whole thing.

Like I said, basically a cigar box. Thin wood sides, opens in the middle, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on July 26, 2018 at 8:04pm

Hi, Here's one I prepared earlier. Not a uke but I'd use the same idea.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Ducati Scotty on July 27, 2018 at 6:44am

Yeah, I'm leaning towards something like this. I like that you have stylized the sound hole. I might try something like that instead of just a circle.

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Permalink Reply by Kirk on July 27, 2018 at 3:04am

You don't need to have a stick through on a cigar box uke, just attach it to the front. The string tension is low enough to avoid any damage.

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Permalink Reply by Ducati Scotty on July 27, 2018 at 6:41am

I'd like to do it that way, but as you can see, the lip on the box top is only about 1/2" wide and some very soft wood, cedar or something similar. A neck through is easy enough, but iif I just attach the neck flush to the box top I'm guessing I need some bracing. If I didn't need to open the lid, I'm guessing using the whole box side would be strong enough, but Ir eally want the lid to open.

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Permalink Reply by Kirk on July 27, 2018 at 8:12am

Ohhh, I gotcha. An alternate option would be to make the back of the cigar box, the sound board. Then the uke would open from the back.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on July 27, 2018 at 10:33pm

Hi,

You will find that the guitar will sound better if the neck does not have any contact with the top. But I suppose if you are putting bottles onside, acoustic sound is not a priority in this build.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on July 28, 2018 at 3:33am

Here is a uke that opens. The top is about 5/8" height. I made it a few years ago, it is solid, no issues. Glued a block the full width, moved the cedar side pieces to the top to stiffen the top, notched out the bottom. The neck is screwed to the block.

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Permalink Reply by Ducati Scotty on July 28, 2018 at 11:00am

That’s really slick. I’ll have to take some measurements and see if I can do something like that.

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Permalink Reply by Ducati Scotty on July 28, 2018 at 11:16am

You can see here that the box is just the same size as my soprano Uke body. The inside depth on the lid is just 1/2”. I think maybe with a full width piece to brace I might be able to screw right to the lid without doing a through neck.