I've recently had a major change of direction in my builds. I've turned away from the shiny graphics and modern electronics, and I've headed back to the roots of Cigar Box instruments. I'm talking Vintage Antique boxes. Example; my latest build, a Vintage Harvester Ukulele. Starting with a depression era, "NRA Stamp" box, and a hand carved set neck. No Electronics, just simple old fashioned acoustic sweetness.

I've just about given up on through neck builds. A through the box neck…

https://homemadeblues.wordpress.com/e-book/

Guys, if you have any interest in diddley bows and the history of instruments check out this fine book by Phil Thomas. The link takes you to a free ebook that's quite informative and interesting. His video Desert Surfin' has…

Started on the neck and cut some strips for the linings.

Had to drop the exposure, even then it is hard to see how I cut the kerfs in the linings. I use a piece of wood with a slot cut in it to limit the depth of the cut. You have to have all the pieces the same thickness to get the same depth of cut. I dimension them…

Clamped up the ends.







A quick rosette.…

I have spent and spend a lot of time searching for STUFF to adorn my CBG's I can't walk in a department store with out scouring the walls and shelves looking for the next great IDEA. My wife thinks I'm crazy. says I have too many CGB's. When I am looking on e-bay for parts ,the longer I look the better deals I find . Most of the wood I use is reclaimed lumber , I'm buying Cherry and Maple at give away prices. There is a store here that sells metals hard woods, overstocks,  cabinet doors ,…

Bent up a sides today. Did it by hand on a pipe being paranoid from breaking it yesterday. Seems Tightbond Original did not like the amount of heat or steam I had to use in bending the side.







Once I had it clamped this much I was not going to give it a chance to spring back on me. Put a wet rag on it and…

You can WIN the St Louis 2017 fest swamp witch  

even if  you don't go  .. 

 LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY  !!!

THIS YEAR THEIR CHARITY WILL BE

SIX STRING HEROES.



They honor and assist injured U.S. military veterans suffering from PTSD through free guitars and guitar lessons.

Healing through music . The…

Thought I would post this before I bend them. No plan B if I mess up.



Managed to get the pieces all joined without too much stress. Being that I had many joins to make and I did not have much in the way of extra to sand out if they were not close to perfect I modified my process. They turned out fine so now the next stressful operation, bending the sides. Softwoods do not like to bend much and will crease and crush on the inside turns. SuperSoft II really helps out from the one…

Had to use a right angle jig and sandpaper to joint the sides, the jig I usually use was not long enough.

Doing the top and back pieces with my router. I but the joint edges against the bit and run the router along a straight edge. A bit of fiddling to get it set but I usually come away with a good glue…

Today I finished my first cigar box bass: four string, fretless, short scale 30". The neck is a sandwich of hard maple and walnut, and the fretboard is walnut. I used a tiny knot on the fretboard as the octave marker. Neck is finished with spray lacquer; fretboard is finished with oil & beeswax. 

The Mark Twain cigar box would have benefitted from a piezo pickup because it was pretty cool, but I sprayed it with several coats of lacquer and tried to keep Twain's face intact at…

The 2x4 was a little damp and gummed up my blade. Have a fan on them trying to dry them out. Cut the 2x4 in half and resawed one for backs, tops and linings. Cut two lengths for the sides and that left about a 1" board to make the neck, braces and stuff. Think I am going to make an 00 sized guitar, aprox. 19" body length, 14.5" lower bout.…

I saw the post on making a ukulele and I thought I would like to do it, a simple build that won't take too much time. I was suppose to make one at a uke forum when they had a thread on building them. One thing lead to another, I glued a couple of pieces of wood together for the neck, put it aside for a different project, will have to show you guys that one when it gets going. Looked through my stash of 2 x 4's, I have kept my eye out for any that would be half useful to build an instrument.…