Fun Project

[Nick]

I'm always up for a challenge & I never even knew these existed until I was asked if I could make one Bit of youtubing & internet research and a week and a half's worth of labour inbetween waiting for bits to arrive & glue to dry on a uke build.
I started with one of these (who knew there was a brand of cigar that named Oliva, close to my own Oliver...won't need to do any signature inlay on this one, sorted!)

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Machined a few holes in it

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cut a bit of 2x1 Maple for the neck and ended up with one of these

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Made my own tailpiece out of some old scrap brass sheet, the customer's initials are L.T so I pierced them into the tailpiece (backed with a small square of Ebony to accentuate the initials)

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I know these cigar box guitars are meant to be really basic, rough and ready but I just couldn't bring myself to build something that a customer was going to be paying for that looked like I'd made it as a high school wood working project!
It was a nice quick and easy project that gave me a chance to use up some odds & sods I've had hanging around for ages, the fingerboard (Ebony)was a reject that I'd fretted for a 25" scale then the customer changed their mind for a shorter scale
Tuners were from a set of Schallers I'd installed on an archtop, it fell over when I had it in my shed (don't ask me what happened I'm still mad at my own stupidity over that one) & the top two tuners took the brunt of the fall, they were all scratched & dinged so I was left with four decent tuners, I put them away and then this came along needing those four tuners.

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Single coil is a Tonerider Tele neck model I picked up cheap from Ebay a few years back, it's been hanging around ever since waiting for somewhere more permanent to hang out. I also have a couple of Piezo's glued on the underside of the lid, positioned at the 'wings' of the bridge, all switchable via a 3 way selector. The Electrics (Switches & pots e.t.c) I always have plenty of in stock for repairs e.t.c.

The little amplifier is a kit I bought from cb gitty's a whole 2.5W of pure unadulterated grunt and runs off of a 9V battery. Some assembly & drilling required

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The customer doesn't know he's getting the amp yet but it was cheap enough & matched the guitar so well I thought I'd chuck it in as part of the deal.
The guitar is tuned to an open G (GDgB), I'm not familiar with this "fancy" tuning so not sure of chord shapes e.t.c yet but I've had a lot of fun mucking about with it & it's a great little guitar for Delta style blues and slide playing (the amp has a little trim pot that can be tweaked to give it some dirt if you want to go authentic) . Also unplugged it hasn't got much volume so it's a great thing to sit on the couch with everybody else can hear the tele(vision ).
I've just ordered a small 6" Resonator cone which is going into my next one, that one's going to live in my own menagerie of toys

[nnickusa]

"Wicked"

As my young mate Tim would say....

[P Bill]

Very, very neat and tidy as those things go.

[martintaylor]

Great job Nick. I've been reading up on cigar box guitars for a brother-in-law. He's really into the "recycled" ethos and these guitars ooze that. Yours looks great. Not overdone at all, just done to your high standard!

Martin

[Allen]

That's just sweet as Nick.

I've got a couple of the exact same boxes that I use to stash pearl, bridge pins etc. in. I like your use much more.

[Bob Connor]

Lovely work Nick.

[steve roberts]

Hi Nick
Looks fantastic love your work
Regards Steve

[ckngumbo]

What a fun build! The amp just makes it over the top.

[Kim]

Very clever Nick, especially luv the amp it makes for a really unique package.

Well Done

Kim

[Luke]

gee the cigar box guitar world is getting very classy. Well done Nick looks cooool.

[Taffy Evans]

I like that a lot, I've built quite a few of these and love the freedom and creativity one gets. That looks like the Rolls Royce of CBG's

[PHANTOM]

Sweet as bro

[charangohabsburg]

Just as Taffy has said: you just built a Rolls Royce cigar box uke!

Very inspiring.

[Nick]

Thanks everybody, it was a fun build to do and didn't take long either so pluses all round. The final plus was from the customer who absolutely loved it, I don't see enough 50+ year old men behaving like a 5 year old at christmas these day's