Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on April 9, 2011 at 2:14pm

 I say if you ask for an empty box either they should sell it to you for >$5, no higher than 8 for a good big solid wood box, or give it to you. If they give you hassle go elsewhere. Unless you only have 1 around, then online one can find good stuff too. And if you keep going back they might get the point that selling boxes is a good idea.

 The plans here are the place to start. There are also many groups where answers can be found as they come up.

 Personally I started with straight acoustic, felt right for me but... The embodiment around here is to have fun. So that is a good place to start, maybe look around and see if there is a guitar look that speaks to you.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on April 9, 2011 at 2:50pm

JD, I sent you a message.

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Permalink Reply by David English on April 9, 2011 at 2:52pm

Thanks Colin,

There's another tobacco shop in town. I'm gonna check with them tomorrow. I'll keep looking and reading on the site.

JD

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on April 9, 2011 at 3:02pm

Also take a look at the two beginner videos I posted on my page here, it may help you out.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Cook on April 9, 2011 at 3:21pm

Hi, I have everything finished but the electrical stuff done on my first build. I looked over the plans to give me an idea of how to build it and went from there. I did put a 1/4 inch thick piece of brass in the butt end for the strings to seat in and a fret on top so they wouldn't chew the wood up over time. I bought my cigar box from Cigar box deals listed on this site and paid three bucks pluss shipping. Some guy on eBay is trying to sell the same box for eight plus five for shipping. I will try to post some pictures of what I have done so far. As for the frets I just measured them from my elactric and put the the same way as the neck was the same length. The neck length and the coresponding fret placement have to do with playing the correct cord on the CBG or watever instrument you are playing. There are instructions out there but I cant tell you where at this time but can probably find them. Just adding a volume control is easy as you just add a 250 ohm potentiometer into the circuit.

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• CBG 006.JPG, 91 KB
• CBG 017.JPG, 175 KB
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Permalink Reply by Richard G Caudill on February 23, 2014 at 3:30pm

Sure did turn out well !!!  Really like ur idea of the fret wire at the bottom end .   I use huck rivets ,, but really like the fret wire  thingy

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Permalink Reply by Charles Cook on April 9, 2011 at 3:45pm

I found this schematic on wiring. Thought it might help you out some.

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• TwoPickupWirogram.gif, 18 KB

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on April 9, 2011 at 4:09pm

No prob. A funny little side story: I have fam in MN. once while visiting I thought to look at a local cigar shop. A cute little gal gave me a box, they had never thought of what to do with them (and it was not a good box really). So several months later while back there for a visit I went to same shop. Not only had they started selling boxes, but the one I got for free was f'n $6!

Also, there are many helpful people here with experience, have fun man.
 
J. David English III said:

Thanks Colin,

There's another tobacco shop in town. I'm gonna check with them tomorrow. I'll keep looking and reading on the site.

JD

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Permalink Reply by David English on April 9, 2011 at 4:38pm

Hey guys,
Thanks for the info. Keep it coming. I've been combing the site tonight making notes.
JD

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on April 10, 2011 at 12:49am

David, the plans here are great. The important thing is to NOT overthink it.

Find the biggest box you can, but pay no more than 5 bucks.

Use a regular paper covered wooden box. Easier to work with and get a good sound out of as a 1st build than the heavier thicker boxes (IMO).

Fretless will be easier and quicker. Just mark frets with a pencil or such and play. Even easier with a slide.

 

If you are interested, I'm going to be in "little" Washington this coming weekend at the music festival. I'll have a booth on the waterfront selling CBG's. Come have a look and ask questions. Look under events for more info.

 

 

Matt

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on April 10, 2011 at 1:14am

Hi JD.

Here's my response to your 5 questions...

 

Q1) Where do a get a box? Online? Store?

A1) Out West in the East Bay part of the SF Bay Area, I can get good wooden boxes for from 3 to 5 dollars a piece. If you have time and transportation, you can get some really nice boxes by hunting for them at local and regional cigar stores. However, if your time is limited, you have transportation problems, or there simply are no stores in your area, then I can see buying them off the Internet as a good alternative. You may want to search or ask around on Cigar Box Nation (CBN) for what boxes CGB builders prefer. Cohiba seems to be a favorite. I have one, but have been saving it for a special build. I've built with Brick House, Tabac Especial and Oliva boxes all with pretty good results. The Oliva boxes are smaller, so it makes good sense to build smaller instruments like ukuleles with them.

Since I live 9 months of the year in China, where cigar boxes are essentially non-existant, I also build my own boxes. There's a CBN discussion group I manage called "Home Made Resonator Boxes 101". Maybe after you have made a bunch of CBGs you can try building your own boxes. I find the challenge quite rewarding - you can make you own nice sounding boxes and you are not limited to the size and shape of cigar boxes.

 

 

Q2) What size box should I get?

 A2) Most people will tell you the bigger the better. Wood is best. I prefer boxes that don't have paper over the top or bottom on both the inside and out side of the box as paper will dampen the sound. The thinner the top (or bottom) the better the sound board it will make. Some builders even remove the top and replace it with good tone wood (or at least 2mm veneer) to make for an louder, better sounding instrument. These tend to be more advanced builders. The other thing that I prefer is a box where the box lid includes maybe a half inch or more of the side walls as you can build the neck into the top of the box and still be able to easily open and close the box. On boxes that just have a hinged board for the top, it's difficult to build the CBG so the top can open. Maybe someone else has figured out how to do it.

 

Q3) I was going to follow the free plans on this site for my first build, is this a good place to start or are there better instructions somewhere else?

A3) The free instructions on CBN are a good place to start. There are many things to learn, so you'll likely end up building at least several different CBGs to explore different concepts and to decide for yourself which is the best way to build them. You need to decide on things like type of scale (chromatic vs diatonic, or pentatonic, or bluescimer), the scale length you prefer (I prefer shorter diatonic scales, usually 20 inches), the style of head stock and type of tuners you'll be using, etc. So, since there are so many variables, you will likely have to build a bunch of guitars to explore all the possibilities.

 

Q4) Everything in the plans seems pretty straight forward except for the fret board layout.

What is the deal with neck length and fret spacing and fretted vs. fretless?

A4) If you are already can play a 6 string guitar, then you will likely want to build a chromatic scaled instrument. The chromatic scale is also called "12TET scale" where 12TET stands for "12 tone equal temperament" and which is the standard for most Western made stringed instruments including 6 string guitars, banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles. However, there are other options. Perhaps the simplest of which is a un-fretted fingerboard, which is usually played with a slider. This technique of playing lends itself quite well to playing (Mississippi) Delta Blues and many folks at CBN are into this genre of music. To make a fretless guitar easier to learn, they often mark the neck where the frets should be. Another option which is a favorite among beginner gitar players is the diatonic scale, which (with one exception) excludes all the accidental notes (sharps and flats), so that you only have seven notes per octave to deal with - all natural notes. Think "Key of C Major" on a piano... you only have to deal with the white keys - a lot easier! The diatonic scale comes to us from the Mountain (or Appalachian) Dulcimer and is also found in a class of necked instruments called "stick dulcimers" (among other names) which was popularized by the McNally Strumstick. Lots of people, including myself, build a lot of these diatonic "cigar box stick dulcimers", and we enjoy playing them.

Other people like to explore music going in strange directions using the CBG as the basis of the instrument they want to build. For instance, some may wish to explore the sounds of the Blues scale, or one of the Pentatonic scales, or perhaps a 17TET scale (used with a number of middle eastern instruments). Building a CBG with a unique scale allows them to do this without spending a lot of money on the instrument.

The length of the neck is related to something called the Scale Length. This is the key measurement in calculating fret placement. The scale length is the distance between the nut and the bridge and is sometimes called the VSL (Vibrating String Length). This number is fed into a Fret Calculator program, which will then spit out maybe a couple of dozen numbers which represent how far the next fret should be located from the nut (or sometimes it is calculated from the bridge).

 

Q5) Lastly, when it comes to sound, is acoustic or acoustic electric more desirable?

And are there good instructions out there on adding a pick-up and volume knob?

A5) It's a matter of personal taste. I prefer acoustic. Many people like electric. The topic of electrifying a CBG opens a whole new can of worms, which for the first time builder, I'd recommend to skip. Maybe on your third,
fourth or fifth build you can add a piezo electric pickup, or a magnetic "pup" (short for pickup). You need at least 3 builds before you get most of what it takes to build a good acoustic CBG down. So, my recommendation is to
focus on the basics of building a good acoustic CBG first. CBN has a lot of information on both piezo-electric and magnetic pups, so be sure to read up on the subject before trying to build it into your CBG.

You will most likely need a preamp (buffer) circuit between your instrument and your power amplifier as there is an impedance mismatch between piezo-electric (and perhaps magnetic - I don't know) pups and power amps. Piezo-electric requires an amp with a high impedance input, and most power amps assume a low impedance input. So, a pre-amp provides a buffer circuit that matches the impedance (it has a high input impedance and a low output impedance to match the piezo pup to the power amp). So, typically, you'll buy one of these as a separate box, or perhaps build you own if you are handy with electronics. If building you own, you will likely want to buy one of the printed circuit boards available for making pre-amps with common FETs or OpAmps. You can find discussions on all this on CBN (where I learned it!).

 

Good luck with your builds. Take your time and enjoy the learning process.

 

-Rand.

 

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on April 10, 2011 at 1:55am

David,

   The prior answers are good.  Weird about the tobacco shop, except many of those folks have never heard of a cbg.   Get a box, make a plan and go for it.  I reccomend fretless for your first build and adding a piezo and jack.  Keep it simple. 

   Good wishes,

John

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