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The Point of No Return.... I'm going to stir the "honey pot" a bit.

Ok folks.... first off.... I'm Back!

Now, as I was working this morning on my current build, a 4 string Undercrown Acoustic, it occurred to me that this isn't no longer a Cigar Box Guitar. I've gone so far beyond the event horizon that even I can no longer deny the fact. I'm in a new, abeit mostly uncharted, unexplored paradigm. Certainly, a cigar box is involved, but the instruments that many of us are working on today have evolved so far from it's humble roots that they would not be recognizable, tone wise to a player walking the dirt road outside of the Dockery Plantation. There was a certain primitive grunge, created by those first hand made instruments born out of poverty & desire. These folks were not professional in their quality, they were not custom winding pickups, or using exotic tone woods. They were not even splitting hairs about the intonation of their fretwork, or their string action. They were simply making noise and having fun. I'm probably one of the most guilty of this grievous sin. I have pursued the Phantom of "Tone" for far too long. It's an exercise in futility my friends, for what you seek is not found in the humble cigar box. Your "Rat Rod" T-bucket may go very fast, sound loud, and smoke the tires, but... even though it has the outer body of a Model-T Ford, it will never drive, sound, or even look like a Model-T Ford.

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Permalink Reply by G.S. Monroe on December 17, 2015 at 5:10pm

That is exactly what I'm feeling....

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 17, 2015 at 9:25pm

Very good looking build. Saw a capacitor on the input jack, what value is it?

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Permalink Reply by G.S. Monroe on December 17, 2015 at 9:32pm

It's a 100k uF

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on December 17, 2015 at 10:00pm

Another way to tame the signal before it hits the amp?

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Permalink Reply by G.S. Monroe on December 18, 2015 at 2:03am

The 100k cap is there to help "dump" the harsh Feedback squeal to ground. It doesn't otherwise affect the tone.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Saraceno on December 18, 2015 at 4:28am

I like that. Could lyou show us a picture of how the neck is attached?

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Permalink Reply by G.S. Monroe on December 18, 2015 at 9:14am

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Permalink Reply by Jim Saraceno on December 18, 2015 at 10:27am

Thanks! Wow, a dovetail joint! You're really taking things to another level. I need to try one of those! I am also in the search for the best acoustic sound and you are way beyond anything I've tried yet.

As I'm looking at that, I see a dovetail joint that looks like it is glued and I see what appears to be a space the then a screw. I would think the screw would actually exert pressure that would loosen the neck from the dovetail joint. Am I missing something, seeing something wrong or am I coming to a wrong conclusion?

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Permalink Reply by G.S. Monroe on December 18, 2015 at 10:46am

You have a good eye, and yes, the screw does serve a purpose. It is something I picked up from building stave hoop banjos. That my friend is a neck adjustment screw. The Dovetail is not glued, it is only press fit. The screw adjusts the neck angle to fine tune the action. How it works? ... well, string tension pulls the tenon into the dovetail, and tightening the screw provides "relief" against the tension.