No1. Royal Jamaica. My first attempt at Cigar Box Fiddle making. I have been a Civil War Re-enactor for almost 30 years and I have always loved making music. My love for both of these subjects lead me to join a band called the 97th regimental string band and later to create, with my friends, another band called 7 Pounds of Bacon.
Through study of the period to improve my impression, I found that the CW soldiers would take a cigar box and make a fiddle or other instrument to play for entertainment. So, my interest was peaked.
One day I saw the aforementioned cigar box and says to myself, self, today's the day to start on a cigar box fiddle. And thus, a hobby was born. At least to me.
The Royal Jamaican CBF has a home made oak neck, bridge and tailpiece and a cow horn nut. A pretty crude job. I mounted the base bar on the wrong side. Who'd a known that when you flip the top every thing wound up on the wrong side. I had no thought of neck angle vs. string height nor that the bridge should be between the 'f' holes. Hard to get to the e and g strings with the bow. Very little sound. But it plays.