Cigar Boxes in Auckland:- where to get?

[mickeyj4j]

Hi I have been looking online and found some, stompbox drums, strum sticks and this ukulele simple cigar box ukulele

I am wanting to know any places I could get cigar boxes for cheep or free in Auckland New Zealand. I don't have a workshop or many tools to male boxes so it would help to get some.

[Paul Henneberry]

Hi,
I just got some cigar boxes from ebay within Australia to make a cigar box amplifier for a ukulele. I think one of the sellers would post to NZ. Just search "cigar box" and there are heaps to choose from. Cheap and really cute. I'm just waiting for some lithium batteries and a speaker grille to turn up and it will be finished. A real fun little project.

cheer

Paul

[mickeyj4j]

Hi,
I just got some cigar boxes from ebay within Australia to make a cigar box amplifier for a ukulele. I think one of the sellers would post to NZ. Just search "cigar box" and there are heaps to choose from. Cheap and really cute. I'm just waiting for some lithium batteries and a speaker grille to turn up and it will be finished. A real fun little project.

WIN_20161011_09_37_35_Pro.jpg

cheer

Paul

Nice will love to see a how to on how this is built and wired up.

[Paul Henneberry]

Hi,
Ok, I wasn't going to but seeing you asked. I'll wait for the last bits to turn up and put something together. All of the bits are dirt cheap from ebay apart from the 20watt speaker which was bought as a pair for $4 from a tip shop. Most of these things are built with sub 5watt amplifiers and run off 9 volt transistor batteries but I thought lets pump it up a bit and go for 10 watts. That needs at least 12 volts and consequently bigger, better and more expensive batteries. Anyhow, I'll tell the story in a few weeks when the rest of it turns up.

cheers

Paul

[kiwigeo]

Chuck in some Samsung brand lithium batteries.......should give you a nice "hot" sound

[Paul Henneberry]

Howdee,
I just finished putting together a little cigar box amplifier and thought I’d add to this post about what goes into it. I understand if the moderators think this is a bit beyond the pale for a luthier’s forum but the original poster asked for some details. It’s a fun little project to go with a new quilted maple with MISI pickup soprano uke that I’m making for my daughter. The batteries, battery holders, battery protection board, speaker grille, amplifier board and cigar box all came from ebay . The switch, LED, socket came from Jaycar. All up the project cost about $40 but half of that was for the batteries and charger. I don’t have any ukes here with pickups but I plugged in my mobile phone to test it and it sounds surprisingly good and loud. Heaps loud enough for busking which was the reason I made it.
A few things about the build that might not be apparent from the pictures. Lithium batteries are damaged if over discharged so there is a little circuit board tucked up behind the side mounted battery which interrupts the supply to the amplifier before damage is done. I could have charged the batteries in situ but with all of the stories around about them catching fire I decided to remove them from a wooden box for charging. I only finished it today so can’t offer any information about how long the batteries will last but it should go for a least 4 hours at full volume based on amp efficiency, max power output and battery capacity ( at least I hope so). The 15 watt mono amplifier (which comes preassembled) has the volume pot hard soldered onto the board. The pot didn’t have a threaded front bush so I couldn’t desolder it and remote mount it through the side plate and had to buy a replacement. It was a fun and easy little project and a nice diversion from uke making. The wiring diagram and parts list at the end of the pictures should get you started if you want to knock one up.
Cheers
Paul

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