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 least. The cigars weren't bad, by the way ... 

It's a through neck, and the bridge--a regular bass bridge--is screwed directly into it through the top. 

I had to remove the hinges to fit the lid directly down onto the neck. I also glued filler blocks to the neck inside the box to help balance the bass a little ... though it's still neck-heavy. 

Sounds pretty good to me, but I don't play bass, much less fretless. I'm looking forward to hearing my friend play it when he takes possession. 

Ask any questions ...