I blame this on Ken and Jay! Cigar Box Guitar

Tom Baugues

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Location
Lafayette, Indiana
I started a new project today. After seeing Ken and Jay's Cigar Box Guitars I thought I would give it a shot. I'm nowhere near the craftsman that those guys are but I hope to have something to pluck around on when finished.
Went to a local Cigar store yesterday and picked up this box. Found a piece of what I think is red oak in the garage about the right length for the neck. Cut holes in the sides of the box. Inserted neck. I'm waiting on a few supplies I ordered (strings, tuners, frets). I should have a working guitar by next weekend. In the meantime I'm doing lots of reading. Seems this is one of those kinds of projects that everyone does things their own way as there is no right or wrong way. I have questions and concerns but I'm sure the answer is going to be "whatever works". So we'll see how this comes out. Here is a couple images of my progress from today.

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I started the day with a very old box that I had picked up at an antique store. Not sure of it's age but it advertised the cigars as 2 for 5 cents. Anyway the lid was a little warped so I thought I would gently give it a little bend. SNAP! :eek: :bang: I wont do that again.
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Allllriiiight Tom :thumb:, let the addiction begin :rofl:

On my first cigar box one, I broke the lid also, glued it back up and continued on, no sense in wasting that outrageous $2.00 cost :eek::D

Only thing to really be concerned with is the fretboard layout, the dimensions between the nut & bridge/saddle and between each fret, not difficult but warrants closer attention{DAMHIKT}:eek:

Glad to offer any of my limited experience if you like.

& as Mr Bradley would say..."Enjoy" :wave:
 
One concern I have already is the height of my fret board. I decided to go with a "one Piece" neck instead of gluing on a fret board after the neck is done. Currently it sits 1/4 inch higher than the body. I still need to add the frets. This seems a little high to me which means the strings over the body will be about 1/2 inch away from the body. Does this seem about right? I know I asked Jay about this and I think he said that is correct.....it just seems higher than so many others I see on line.

This image shows the height of my fretboard minus the frets. Should I take some of this down?
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Right now my neck stock is 1 1/2 inchs wide and 1 inch thick. I'm thinking of taking 1/4 inch from the bottom side of the neck sisn't isnt so thick. Right or wrong???
 
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I think it will be ok, higher than I prefer but again, to each their own. I like doing the fretboard as a separate piece, seems to help fight warpage imo. I'm now building my necks by laminating 3 pieces side by side and then adding the fretboard which really stiffens 'em up.

Your string height will come into play depending on how/what your going to play...too high off the fretboard & you'll throw the pitch off when you press the strings to the fretboard, but if your going to be using a slide, the strings should never touch the frets and height won't matter. Mixing both methods {*to me at least} is more trial & error until your satisfied with the results. Have no fear of getting it exactly right, no such thing, each player finds their own comfort zone.

This is where the spiral begins lol, you'll do a fine job, then decide the next has to be better, and the design muse kicks in with the 'wouldn't this or that be cool', and as you gain some playing time, you'll get a better understanding of what you'd like & once again...waa-laa another good reason to build yet another :D

I don't think you need to cut back your neck thickness, if you round the bottom side edges some it won't look quite so bulky & makes sliding your hand up & down much easier.

Edit: better to be too high than too low, you can always lower the nut & bridge/saddle to bring the height down, too low and you risk the strings hitting against frets in front of where you intend.
 
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One concern I have already is the height of my fret board. I decided to go with a "one Piece" neck instead of gluing on a fret board after the neck is done. Currently it sits 1/4 inch higher than the body. I still need to add the frets. This seems a little high to me which means the strings over the body will be about 1/2 inch away from the body. Does this seem about right? I know I asked Jay about this and I think he said that is correct.....it just seems higher than so many others I see on line.

This image shows the height of my fretboard minus the frets. Should I take some of this down?
View attachment 72264

Right now my neck stock is 1 1/2 inchs wide and 1 inch thick. I'm thinking of taking 1/4 inch from the bottom side of the neck sisn't isnt so thick. Right or wrong???

My Fret boards end up about 1/4" above the top of the box Tom and like Ken I apply a fret board to the neck
 
I thought about slicing off this top 1/4 inch then glueing it back on after the frets are applied but I dont see how that would make it any stronger unless your counting on the strength of the glue being stronger than the natural fibers of the wood as it is now. Hey...what do I know? :dunno: I'll do this one this way and see how it goes. I figure if I dont like the outcome then...I'll really have the blues. :rofl:
 
Tom, I believe the reasoning behind adding a fretboard is that the two separate pieces tend to fight each other against warping, cupping etc.
You could cut yours down, flip & rotate the piece which would be more beneficial then just cutting it & gluing it back on in it's original position.
FWIW, I use two different species on mine, both for the extra strength & for the aesthetics aspect...

Heck, there's no rules, try it as a one piece as you've started and see where it leads.

I can hardly wait to see what you produce :thumb: BTW, will singing be included on the sound sample? :D
 
So, I thought that I would post a couple images of my progress so far. It's been fun. This is another one of those projects where you have to get all done before you know if you completly screwed up or not. I'm confidant it will make noise when I'm done........music....I'm not too sure about. :rofl:

I trying for a very clean look on this. Nothing flashy. Tonight I got the back of the neck shaped and cut the slots to mount my frets and drilled for the tuners in the headstock. I shaped the back of the neck with my hand plane. Worked great!
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Attention Jay, Ken, or anyone that knows....should I apply finish on the neck before adding the frets? I've read to NOT apply finish to the fret board surface but I feel like I need to.
 
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Attention Jay, Ken, or anyone that knows....should I apply finish on the neck before adding the frets? I've read to NOT apply finish to the fret board surface but I feel like I need to.

I use oil only on the fretboard which wipes off the frets unlike poly/lacquer or any 'hard' type finish which will most likely peel/chip etc from the frets themselves eventually...
Nice work on the neck, I need to try that &/or pick up a spokeshave & a couple of finer rasp's.......looks like your almost ready for the stage :thumb:
 
Cool!

Those are fun projects. I can't remember if I ever posted pictures here or not, but here's a couple shots of the one I built.

cbguitar1.jpg

Here's a closeup of how I did the neck on mine.

cbguitarneck.jpg
 
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