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Tres Cubano Build

I decided I was going to build one of these after seeing a video on youtube(www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qFxXhg6zwA) of a electric one, but you can also build an acoustic one too.
What is a Tres Cubano you may ask?
It's a short scale(23" to 24") 6 string guitar that has the strings paired into 3 groups of 2. They use small gauge strings and pair the D string with high E, then 2 B strings and then a G string with high E and tune it gG-cC-dD(lower case is octave higher)like half of a 12 string guitar.
They are often used in Salsa music.
I got a couple short scale Strat type guitars for kids, but they were trashed. So I decided it would be better to build one out of a Cuban Cigar Box since my cousin gave me 4 Cohiba boxes.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Fred Johnson on October 22, 2021 at 7:33am

Until I saw this I didn't know I'd built a Tres Cubano back in 2011 this was inspired by lute tuning, just thought it was a good idea at the time. Thank you !

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on October 23, 2021 at 4:11pm

That's really nice Mchael.

I've been paused on this build, I need a 12 degree radius block to use on my arbor press to get these frets completely seated and of course that block is nowhere to be found at the moment.
I have been working on 3 other guitars I have going at this time as well so there's that.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 5, 2021 at 4:59pm

I finally got the neck finished and ready to attach to the box.
Now I get to shop for a tail piece or make one, then attach this neck.
I did the black and natural in a check pattern to match the black and white check pattern on the box.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 15, 2021 at 5:24pm

Got the final clear coat on and put the nut on. I noticed that the neck now has a slight twist that's putting the high side up about a 1/16". I don't think it's going to be a problem as long as it doesn't go any further. Putting a tail piece on tonight and tuners. Then the electrical, jack, pots, preamp and corner pieces.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 24, 2021 at 3:13pm

Got my aluminum shielding in place and once again there's no 60 cycle hum from the single coil pickups.

Got the Gitty piezo bridge and preamp installed, all is working well. Made a stop tail piece out of a Stratocaster tremolo spring claw that was in my parts bin and provided a string ground.

Next is cutting small string guide grooves in the brass bridge to keep the stings planted and tune it up.

Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 9, 2021 at 5:00pm

I managed to finish this build and it turned out very nice.

I have the pickups and preamp wired to the same jack and turning the preamp on with the pickups, give the low output Lipsticks a boost. I like the lipstick pickups, but they definitely need a powerful amp or a preamp to boost their signal. Modern Lipstick pickups have more output for volume, but these vintage low output have better tone and need to be close to the strings for good volume.

Final pic....