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Getting ready to start my first CBG build.

Alright....I've been eying up this whole notion of a CBG for a while now. At first I was thinking of buying one from Daddy Mojo or the like, but then I said to myself "You have better than rudimentary woodworking skills and can do decent wiring, build it and enjoy it more." So, tomorrow I'm gonna start turning an EHX Big Muff Pi box into a plank necked slide machine. Any suggestions or ideas would be great. I play a fretless bass, so I'm not going to worry about fret markers, etc. as I'm pretty comfortable with checking my intonation by ear. I'm still trying to decide whether to do this first one acoustic or electric. I'm leaning toward electric, but can't decide whther to keep it DIY with the piezo buzzer, or doing a little routing in the neck plank to throw in an old humbucker I've got sitting around.
By the way, I'm Jason and I'm a first time CBN poster.

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on August 9, 2009 at 2:17pm

I can't wait to see how it comes out! I say electric, for sure.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 9, 2009 at 2:25pm

Do the E for sure. You can also make a dual type if you want using the piezo. Thats completely up to you. Remember [and this has been debated...] there are no rules per se. Do whatcha want. Sounds like you have a pretty good idea about what you want.

Suggestion, peruse the photo album and take a gander at what's been done. might give you some ideas. Does for me.

-Wes

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Permalink Reply by Jason Renn on August 9, 2009 at 2:49pm

Thanks guys....yeah, I've definitely been sifting through the awesome builds in the photo gallery and gleaning some ideas. I can't wait to go to Lowe's after my class tomorrow and get the goodies I still need. I have this sneaking suspicion that this is just going to be the first of many builds. I can pretty much state with no compunctions whatsoever that if this turns out half as cool as I think it's going to, i have at least two buddies that are gonna be bugging me for one.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on August 9, 2009 at 3:09pm

Well welcome to the forum and keep us posted on progress. Fair warning, you are about to step off a cliff! There is no going back once you build one, trust me. I can not play a lick, but I think CBG all the time! It gives you a very high fever!

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Permalink Reply by Roosterman on August 9, 2009 at 9:49pm

Welcome aboard Jason :o)

Personally Id go electric with a soundhole so you have the best of both worlds... but like you say, you're gonna end up building dozens of the damn things so whatever you dont do this time, you can try next time!

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on August 10, 2009 at 7:46am

The first of anything is for practice I always say, use what you got on hand, you can always go big money on materials down the road. I already revamped and upgraded my first boxer. The tricks you pickup off of each build, will all show up in one guitar later on, so for the first one or two, go economy in my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Renn on August 10, 2009 at 9:10am

Yeah, I was using mostly stuff I had laying around, most of the cash spent went into the neck plank, a 1/4" jack, and some cheap-o tuners ($11, but enough for 2 builds). I've started an album to document the build. the first shot is here.http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/42465/2620805410101267628S425x425...

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Permalink Reply by Jason Renn on August 10, 2009 at 11:30am

Can and will do. I'll be uploading some pics of the rough neck and tuner fitting soon.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Renn on August 11, 2009 at 10:01am

Okay, so this has gone smoother than I thought. Ran into a coupla obstacles, but have come up with solutions....long and short, I'm waiting for a neck reinforcement to dry overnight. Here's the box.