# 3 Strings CBG (cigar box guitar)



## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

*The beginning*

Hi everyone, finally I come back with a blog for a little project I been doing in my free time for the last 2 weeks.

As it was bound to happen I think, having been a professional musician for nearly 20 years and now interested in woodworking as a hobby among some other things, finally bit the bullet and started building a CBG (cigar box guitar), and this is the short story, short because there really is not too much to tell as the build can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be.

So, a couple of years ago I found out a cbg photo somewhere, that lead to some youtube videos and a plan to build one for myself. Then I bought some nice wood for the build but life got in the way so the build was postponed, till a couple of weeks ago when I took vacations from my job and the build finally started.

I didn't had a plan in place so I had to browse a couple of websites to get a general idea about cbg requirements so I could drew a blueprint, with that out of the way, I went downtown to see if I could source locally a cigar box and the tuning machines, luckily for me I found both and actually not expensive at all.

And the work started, I got to do a few "first timers" here as I'll show, but forgot to take the first photos so you'll have to imagine the first steps hehee:

Maple neck cut to length(33 3/4"), ebony fingerboard cut to length, guitar tuners installed:








This is the first time I get to work with maple wood, I found it to be really easy to work with but probably wont be using it to build a lot of stuff as it is quite hard to find it locally, the pieces I got, two 3×1 4' boards were like "this is all we have" and not cheap.
I got the ebony from rockler like two years ago, small 3 1/2×24" 1/4 board just enough for a fingerboard at us$60, not really instrument grade I guess but hey, it's ebony. It cuts easy and the cuts look like already being planed but you have to be careful as this wood is brittle, I had to remove 1/16" extra from my first crosscut, but second time I backed up the wood from top and bottom, this time the cut was really clean.

I think this is the only time I will use ebony as is not cheap, and looks like it wont get easier/cheaper to get more, but I'm glad I got to try it.

Headstock closeup up without the tuners, the neck was already routed:









And some inlay tests in the leftover ebony:








First I tested with fret markers, the ring you see in the pic is a 3/8" aluminum round tube, I took some tube and small file to make a couple of teeth in it, like a door lock saw but tiny. I thought the teeth wouldn't last against the ebony but it dig just fine.

Then the small ring inlay was placed in, it worked really well!

As this neck is going to be fretless, or that's the plan so far, I experimented also with fretline markers but I'm not so sure about this idea, don't want to risk the ebony while doing 22 fret lines hehee.

Ok, that's it for now, seeya in a bit!


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *The beginning*
> 
> Hi everyone, finally I come back with a blog for a little project I been doing in my free time for the last 2 weeks.
> 
> ...


wrong thread


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *The beginning*
> 
> Hi everyone, finally I come back with a blog for a little project I been doing in my free time for the last 2 weeks.
> 
> ...


I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out!


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *The beginning*
> 
> Hi everyone, finally I come back with a blog for a little project I been doing in my free time for the last 2 weeks.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mauricio, probably i'll finish it in a couple of weeks it time allows


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

*More neck work*

Hi again, this time I'll show you the extra work I did with the neck:

You can see in the pic the small cigar box I got for the cbg, a Romeo y Julieta brand, cedar plywood, it is almost too small for the scale I choose (25") but I will use it anyway, time will tell if I need to replace it.









Here I did another "first timer", a pattern jig to cut a nice shape into the headstock, used double sided tape to attach the pattern to the headstock and routed away… and also did my first mistake:

Being left handed, I'm used to see other players like a mirrored and reversed image, but I made the blueprint only mirrored and routed the pattern into the headstock that way, in my mind the design looked the right way but that didn't transfer ok to the paper duh!

Luckily I had cut the maple board 1" longer than needed so I fixed this one easily hehee, just had to flip the pattern and route the headstock again, the pic shows the wrong routing.
Fixing the headstock routing:








Done!:








Also, you can see the extra wood piece for support inside the box already routed to a nice shape, that side will work as a neck heel. Actually this a leftover from the neck cut, but not thick enough to be just one piece so another "first timer", I cut two pieces, planned the sides and laminated them to get the proper size, all went fine!

Removing some wood so the cigar box lid can rest at neck level:








I did the 2 outer cuts in the table saw, then removed the rest of the wood in the router table.

Another "first timer", a couple of finish nails to prevent the wood from moving while being glued, it works as advertised!:









Now gluing the support wood, and another mistake!, I forgot white glue dries fast in hot weather, result: visible glue line, not great but I bet it won't come apart any time soon:









After cleaning up the glue and doing the holes for the neck in the box I'm testing the fit, everything looks ok:








Fit close up, I'll have to remove some more wood to make space for the lid so it rests against the neck only in the sides of the box:









And that's it for now, things left to do:

holes for the strings, fingerboard inlay/gluing, bridge, nut.

Seeya later!


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *More neck work*
> 
> Hi again, this time I'll show you the extra work I did with the neck:
> 
> ...


Its all about overcomming the mistakes! Great post, you'll have to post a video so we can see how it sounds when its done.


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *More neck work*
> 
> Hi again, this time I'll show you the extra work I did with the neck:
> 
> ...


Hi Mauricio, I'll try to do a video but wont promise anything hehee


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

*Tail and bridge*

Hi guys, this weekend I worked on the tail and the bridge:








The tail got some planing and a shape routing, I didn't liked a lot the first pattern in the headstock so I changed it, forgot to take pics but is the same shape as in the tail just flipped, now I really like it.

Then I drilled the holes for the strings, you can see aluminum rivet heads in there, to protect the wood from the strings, will se how that works.

Also I made the bridge with some spare tzalam (aka caribbean walnut) wood I had at hand from other projects, this piece of wood has a grain a little too plain so I decided to add the maple inlays to spice it up, the spacing is the same I'll use for the strings, hopefully it will look good when finished.

Next time I'll do the nut in aluminum, and some fingerboard side fret markers inlay, as I'm afraid to do something wrong if I go for the whole line(like a fret) 22 times, I was thinking mayabe it's better to do something like this:









What do you guys think? Also I'm not so sure about using maple for the inlays as it will get darker with ebony dust while sanding, any ideas?

Laters!


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Tail and bridge*
> 
> Hi guys, this weekend I worked on the tail and the bridge:
> 
> ...


This is a pretty cool little project, its going to look great, cant believe no one commented. The inlay in that last picture looks like mother of pearl or something, or maybe some kind of metal. Not sure how that is done but it might be an idea.


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Tail and bridge*
> 
> Hi guys, this weekend I worked on the tail and the bridge:
> 
> ...


Hi Mauricio, I tried other woods for the inlays to avoid searching/spending more $, but it won't look as good as maple.

In my test try I cleaned the dust from the wood with paint thinner, it works great so maple will be, will take some time to sand the maple to the needed thickness though will see if I can finish it the next weekend (long weekend over here, whee!)


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Tail and bridge*
> 
> Hi guys, this weekend I worked on the tail and the bridge:
> 
> ...


Souds good, how do you cut those thin kerfs for the inlay?

You get off for All Saints day? You got to love all the catholic holidays. We need more holiday's here in US.


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Tail and bridge*
> 
> Hi guys, this weekend I worked on the tail and the bridge:
> 
> ...


Hehee, not sure if everyone takes the day off but we will at the office, I think the banks do too.

About the kerfs:

This small hacksaw I have is like 0.028" thick so that's what I'll be using, not as thin as the kerfs in the bass photo but it will look good I hope


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

*Fingerboard and box work*

Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:

Slots for the fret line position inlays ready, made by hand with a hacksaw going really slow to avoid any mistakes. It may be a couple a little bit bad, but noting too obvious 









All the maple inlays ready to be glued and trimmed









Inlays closeup









Fitting each inlay









Inlays done!









And now side dots, made with flux core solder, drill each hole, fill it with a small length of solder, melt it with a soldering iron, sand it flush.
At this step I also sealed the maple inlays with a drop of crazy/super glue to avoid ebony dust from obscuring the inlays, it did happen a bit in some of the inlays… "It adds character" I'll say









12 fret marker made with 3/8" aluminum tube, file some teeth in a piece of the same tube to have a saw for this hole, I went with 1/8" depth and cut the tube inlay a tiny bit thicker, later sanded it flush.









Then I glued a couple of wood pieces (quinilla wood, really dense and hard) to attach the neck later









Test fitting the neck attached to the box, all good









Then added a small detail to the neck heel and tail(tzalam/caribbean walnut wood)

















I'm playing with the idea of adding a sound hole and cover it with this sink cover I found in HD, what do you guys think?









Next steps: gluing the fingerboard to the neck and decide which finish I'll use, see you next week!


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## jap (Oct 10, 2012)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


coming along great


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## EMVarona (Aug 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


Very clever, indeed! I'm impressed by your resourcefulness.


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


Hi jap, Ed!
Ed: I can't take all the credit, I'm learning form here and other websites as I go and just adapt to my tools and materials at hand 

Cheers!


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


Very nice, great job on the maple inlay also the metal inlays came out great! I really like the trick of filing saw teeth on the tubing and using it to make its own groove.

I like the sink cover for the sound hole, adds a nice touch I think. The only problem is that it interferes with the graphics on the box.


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


Hi Mauricio, yes that's a neat trick I learned from a friend doing cooper inlays in some lathe turned vases.
At first I had some doubts as the aluminum I used is on the soft side, but it did the groove surprisingly well and went into the ebony really easy.

And… I didn't thought about the graphics in the box until now, nice catch! I think I'll save the idea for the next build 

Cheers!


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


Looks like a cool project.
Look forward to see it done, perhaps a video playing it!
Best thoughts,
Mads


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


Hi Mads! yeah, it's been a fun project, hopefully I'll have it finished this weekend


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard and box work*
> 
> Hi again, this weekend was slow because all the fingerboard work, let's see:
> 
> ...


;-)


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

*Fingerboard glued to the neck*

Hi there, this weekend another project got my attention for a couple of hours so I guess I'll need another weekend to finish the guitar.

So, I could only glue the fingerboard to the neck and apply the first hand of polycrylic finish but I'm almost at the end of the project, yeah!

Getting ready for the fingerboard gluing:









This time I went with yellow glue to have more time to set the clamps, it worked as expected









An hour later, after cleaning some glue run-outs the neck is ready:









Getting ready for the first hand of polycrylic, the top of the fingerboard is taped with scotch tape to avoid poly getting on it:









First hand of polycrylic applied, as I wanted it to go as smooth as possible I used a small piece of foam as a brush.
An hour later the first hand is sanded lightly to level and is ready for the next hand, I 'll apply 2 more hands in the week:









Things left to do:
Another 2 hands of polycrylic, nut and bridge setup, piezo pickup, volume pot and this beauty will be ready for the blues 

Cheers!


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard glued to the neck*
> 
> Hi there, this weekend another project got my attention for a couple of hours so I guess I'll need another weekend to finish the guitar.
> 
> ...


alright man cant wait to hear how it sounds! hint hint….


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard glued to the neck*
> 
> Hi there, this weekend another project got my attention for a couple of hours so I guess I'll need another weekend to finish the guitar.
> 
> ...


hi Mauricio, hehee, hang in there! I did the second coat yesterday, one more to go


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard glued to the neck*
> 
> Hi there, this weekend another project got my attention for a couple of hours so I guess I'll need another weekend to finish the guitar.
> 
> ...


Man, this is cool.
Best thoughts,
Mads


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard glued to the neck*
> 
> Hi there, this weekend another project got my attention for a couple of hours so I guess I'll need another weekend to finish the guitar.
> 
> ...


Hey Mads, build some musical instrument/percussion, then we can do a video gig 

btw. I did the third coat yesterday, I'll do the finish sanding/polishing next 

Cheers!


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *Fingerboard glued to the neck*
> 
> Hi there, this weekend another project got my attention for a couple of hours so I guess I'll need another weekend to finish the guitar.
> 
> ...


Laugh, I have a big love for music, but to play it…
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
You don't want that.
Best thoughts,
Mads


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## FreddyS (Oct 21, 2010)

*This cigar box guitar is done but I think the journey just began!*

Hi there guys, I had another long weekend (revolution day over here) so I managed to finish my first cgb, whee!

So, first I did the last polycrylic coat(satin) and wet sanded with 1200 grit, the plan was to do some polish to the finish… but it turns out that, when wet sanding this finish it looks and feels just like the necks in 3 of my factory made guitars - natural matte look, and smooth to the touch- which I love a lot so no polish needed!, and that means a lot less elbow grease too hehee.

Let's see what I did this weekend:
Piezo, bridge ground, volume pot and jack wiring, also you can see the little wood triangles in the corners, I added those to fix the lid with screws as it was buzzing a little:









You can see the screws here, silver 4-40×1/4" hex button screws to match the rest of the hardware:









So, I'll call it done!:
(this photos are before the screws)












































I'll add a couple more photos like the next one in the project page 









Aaaand, as Mauricio and Mads requested, here's a tiny video of me playing the guitar, some comments first:
It's been some years since I played guitar regularly
Is taking me some time to get used to this string spacing
While fretless, the action in this guitar is low enough to be played without a slide like I did, but is not easy, my fingers still hurt 
That being said, here you go, please turn up the volume some to hear it ok:
http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=109786

Cheers!


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## Brett1972 (Nov 5, 2010)

FreddyS said:


> *This cigar box guitar is done but I think the journey just began!*
> 
> Hi there guys, I had another long weekend (revolution day over here) so I managed to finish my first cgb, whee!
> 
> ...


Great Job! I still need to watch the video but it looks ver well made and a very unique instrument that will be cherished for years to come. Happy playing!


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## mochoa (Oct 9, 2009)

FreddyS said:


> *This cigar box guitar is done but I think the journey just began!*
> 
> Hi there guys, I had another long weekend (revolution day over here) so I managed to finish my first cgb, whee!
> 
> ...


Wow thats awesome man! Sounds great! Thanks for posting the video.


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