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Permalink Reply by Michael Glenn on December 31, 2011 at 1:53pm

Here is my last minute entry into this contest:

"The Lovers" 3-string CBG

I built this over the summer.  It was my first neck-through design and still one of my favorites.  This guitar features a beautiful Romeo Y Julieta cigar box, oak neck, and good old eye bolt tuners. 

I also used an eye bolt for the bridge, and I placed brass grommets over the sound holes, and used brass screws for the nut and string spacers.

The finishing touch for me was the use of brass tacks to mark the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, etc. frets.  (Individual fret locations are marked with a black pen, but I wanted the important ones to stand out. Note the image below shows the 7th, 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th and 19th fret markers.)

Admittedly, this was a very simple design.  There's nothing really unique or challenging that went into this build, however the brass hardware seemed to blend well with the colors of the box, creating a simple yet visually pleasing 3-string CBG.  Like my mom says, "It's just pretty to look at."

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 31, 2011 at 2:13pm

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 31, 2011 at 2:16pm

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 31, 2011 at 2:18pm

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 31, 2011 at 2:21pm

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 31, 2011 at 2:21pm

Darren brown  custom resonator ,Bob harrison art deco bakelite rail pickup piezo on a 6 inch republic cone with a three way switch and vol control,my active eq dinet show up in time  ,rock maple neck wood from the bay of fundy nova scotia, rosewood fret board with red abolne dots , bone nut and saddle  supplyed by  mojo bone works ,CB,Getty seald tuners ,on a dark samatra Cigar box ,with a 6 inch republic reso cone  and a hand hammerd cover and tail peace by me.

Permalink Reply by darren brown on December 31, 2011 at 2:23pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fghma7KUKY8

Permalink Reply by Joe Minter on December 31, 2011 at 3:49pm

Built for my wife's birthday in Nov.  Tabak special box, poplar neck, oak fingerboard, metal piece from thrift store for the tailpiece.

Permalink Reply by Mr.C on December 31, 2011 at 4:22pm

try again my bob marly guitar 24 3/4 guitar .

Permalink Reply by Paul H (PRH) on December 31, 2011 at 5:20pm

OK, I'll try and get the pix to show correctly.

As I said...

Twin CBGs

Matching boxes
Maple necks with Maple cap fretboards and Walnut heels
Scarf joint headstocks
Walnut bridges with Ebony saddles
Ebony nuts
Gitty tuners
Strung with Tenor strings .010 to .042
2011 "shield" pennies for headstock decoration.
Includes (not shown) matching quilted Batik cases

I find it's as much work measuring the elements of a CBG as making them so I tried making the twins. They often get new
homes anyway so I thought I'd make two and maybe end up with one.
One has simple 4 string tenor tuning, the other is a "three" string with the trebble strings set in a pair.

If they hang around a while I'll likely make one a three fret version a la our friend in Brazil and the other fretted diatonic.
I don't know, maybe they're done I have two other sets of twins in the works anyway.

I'll post close-ups and pix of the cases on my page in a day or three.

Happy New Year, I'm off to celebrate.

Paul H.

Permalink Reply by K-Dawg on December 31, 2011 at 5:27pm

This is my first ever guitar build. I was introduced to cigar box guitars when I saw Moreland and Arbuckle open for ZZ Top at the Beacon last year. When I googled CBG's, I discovered how popular they are, and was intrigued with how appealing they are to build. I don't play but after researching construction techniques on Cigar Box Nation and other web sources I decided I had to build one.

The neck is poplar and the fretboard is red oak. I used the Smokehouse Guitars tutorial to construct a scarf joint and other details such as the fretting for the neck and headstock. The neck is a through neck relieved away from the sound board and finished with shellac. Fret markers are burned in with the heated end of a metal tube. The box is an Arturo Fuente Magnum R and many of the parts came from C.B. Gitty as well as local sources. It has a floating bridge made from brass threaded rod and stainless cap nuts. There are two pairs of piezo pickups located at what seem to be sweet spots a third in from each end and a third in from each side. A three way switch selects either pair or both pairs at once and there is a volume pot for each pair. The knobs go to eleven!

For a bone nut I got a dog bone at a pet shop and cut it up on a band saw (what a smell!). For a strap, I visited a thrift shop for two old belts where I made a lucky score with a belt of tooled leather for $2.00. I decided the headstock needed some ornamentation so I inset a fare token for the Connecticut Turnpike from when there were still tolls on it. I particularly like the token for the outline of Connecticut where I live and there's a 1 on it for my first guitar.

I wanted to achieve attractive craftmanship without losing the homemade style in an instrument that is a pleasure to play. Since I don't play, I enlisted my daughter's boyfriend Max, a music major, to critique the setup and playability, and make some beautiful music on it.

I am very pleased with my first build and I'm considering what direction I'd like to go with my next build, maybe with a small tube amp also. Thanks for how much of a resource Cigar Box Nation is and how much I have learned from this build!

Attachments:

• DSC_1420.jpg, 420 KB
• DSC_1492.jpg, 162 KB
• DSC_1439.jpg, 176 KB

Permalink Reply by K-Dawg on December 31, 2011 at 5:29pm

Last 2 pics

Attachments:

• DSC_1468.jpg, 193 KB
• DSC_1416.jpg, 240 KB

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