I just thought I'd start by thanking the many contributors on CBN. I have lost many hours reading the posts and information on this website :-)
A bit about myself, I am new to cigar box guitars. In fact I'm very new to guitars all together!
I made a jealousy purchase after christmas when my girlfriend got a nice shiny new acoustic for a present. I've always kind of wanted to learn to play but never got round to it. I went out and bought a cheap toyshop 3/4 classical guitar to learn on. I play terrible there's no denying but I just couldn't get on with the narrow fret board and kept buzzing the strings. On inspection the little guitar is just poor quality and I figured I could probably build something better myself.
That took me on a ton of research. Stumbled across CBN and decided I wanted to make my guitar mostly from materials I have kicking around.
Now I didn't have a cigar box (Booo! I know). That would on meant a mail order purchase and kind of defeating the purpose of what I was trying to make. Now after playing around with various tuning mechanisms I decided to use the tuning pegs of the classical and bought the strings.
My guitar has ended up being a headless 2x4 electric guitar. I wanted something that I could easily throw in a rucksack and not have to worry about whilst travelling by motorbike. I also wanted something I can put headphones in (Had to be electric)
The timber is what I had left over from when I made my mezzanine floor last year. The fret board is made from a piece of marine ply I had from my business sign that had recently blown down (I even tried making the neck out of this but as expected bowed easily). Fret wire are bright steel nails with bolts for the bridge and the nut. It has a fat neck with no truss rod but I can move around the strings easy enough without spoiling everything with my clumsy fingers.
I'm under no illusion on the quality of the intonation but for now I have a six string guitar I can learn with and practice. With my headphones in :-)
I have also made the pickup flat humbucker style after reading about them. I used the steel from an old business card holder although kind of ordered the wire online, oh and the magnets :-)
However I started winding the pickups before I decided on the theme of this build. I have played about with various didley bows in the past couple of months. This pickup is my 3rd and best attempt so far and sounds pretty good.
I'm just trying to workout why my DIY amp isn't working so I'm using an old computer speaker for now.
So far I'm playing clean but I'm interested in any effects schematics that people might know to progress this build a bit more.
All I need to do now is learn to play.
This will likely be my first build of many and I'm already thinking what I can do next.
Thanks for all the great information CBN.
Tags:
What a great first effort and foundation for learning about building! Way to go!
As far as design suggestions, the first and sixth strings have a very large angle over a short distance at the tuner area. I would suggest trying to get a straighter pull and adding a little length there in another design variation.
Other than that observation, I say round off the neck a little more and play it! OR raise the action a little and you have a lap steel. Either way, make some noise, have some fun, plan another.
Thanks for your advice. Those points will be in the next revision, the low E string is not far off pinging off the top of the peg but it just tunes up.
I wasn't sure how far to take the neck using soft wood and no truss rod but when I get chance I might get the file out and finish it off a bit more.
I do actually have the rest of the timber so may make a slightly longer body when the strings go too far
Personally, I love it. If you put some washers under the pickup screws and add some springs you might be able to have the pickup adjustable.
Great idea. I might use that on my next build. Already looking to refine this one a bit and marked out the rest of the timber. I'd probably look at a new pickup with a wider base metal so I don't risk damaging the coils. At the minute I hand wind them, guestimate each side and they take about 3 hours :-)
Nice first time build. Welcome aboard.
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