#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

My first 2 Diddley Bows

In the last 2 weeks, I've completed building my first 2 Diddley Bows. I knew I wanted to use these Punch boxes for bows, but the light bulb of inspiration turned on while cruising the aisles at Home Depot with my daughter looking for something else.

I saw the oak balusters and immediately had a vision for painting them black and then removing most all of the paint to give a weathered and vintage look.

I need to add some brass corners to close up the box. I must have cut the neck pockets just a touch out of square.

I shaped the headstock to have the function of a scarf joint. I like it.

I replaced the copper trim ring with a brass strainer to unify the look.

This bow is a real player. Lots of nice volume and great tone.

I had a second box the same size and decided to try multiple colors used on the box for the same effect.

I used a different baluster from Lowes and I didn't realize the square end bits were farther apart so I had to change it up a bit to avoid drastically lengthening the scale. So this one got a slotted headstock and the nut sits on the smoother part of the neck. I wanted to try 2 strings this time.

The slotted headstock was surprisingly easy to make with hand tools and a drill and turned out fan-freakin'-tastic.

The neck turned out to be a real work of art and I got some great help from my 5 year old daughter on Saturday. She loved helping me sand off all the paint. The pic doesn't show it well, but everything is super-smooth and glossy. I worked up to 600 grit then finished with super fine steel wool. Brass screws mark fret positions 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 15 and 20(ish).

This bow is a looker more than a player right now since the sound is pretty thin. I either need to rework the bridge or use some different strings. If I can't get it to sound as pretty as it looks, I'll just hang it on the wall and still feel really, really happy about the work.

Thanks for looking.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ryan Rose on May 23, 2011 at 4:58am

Nice. They both look great.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on May 24, 2011 at 3:10am

Nice job ED, throw a piezo in the second one and play it thru your amp then it wont sound so thin.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on May 25, 2011 at 1:28am

Thanks Michael. I think I'll try some heavier gauge strings and look at the bridge. On my other bow, I screwed the bridge to the soundboard. This one is just floating.

I like to make them all loud acoustically so I can just go out to the back porch and play without hauling out the amp. I usually have a guitar near the kitchen so I can play while cooking too. With two young daughters I don't get a lot of dedicated practice time. Just gotta grab a few minutes here and there.

MichaelS Country Boy Guitars said:

Nice job ED, throw a piezo in the second one and play it thru your amp then it wont sound so thin.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by neil lindsay on May 25, 2011 at 2:12am

Very nice set of bows, i agree with Michael a piezo or a pickup will make them sound like you got the devil at your front door :))

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on May 25, 2011 at 2:57am

Thanks Neil. I bought some magnets the other day and I have a couple spools of transformer wire from when I was thinking about hand-winding motors for my R/C Jeep. I just happened to spray the necks against some thin plywood so there's a plan for a surface mount pickup.