build a cigar-box guitar

Finally finished this project this afternoon with the help of a very generous friend.
Now I’m ready to start building the next one!

sounds great. Ran it through a little 15watt fender Frontman with the overdrive up and it sounds awesome! Just a few finishing touches to make over the next week and it will be done. Bout time!!!

i’m 90% there. just spent the whole morning working on this. have to finish the “nut” and solder the wiring in place for the transducer mic. I’m getting a reasonable sound out of it and its definitely got the novelty factor appeal.

just have to get a transducer mic, fit it and string it up. this is gonna go so well with the band I’ve been playing in!

I found some really cool brass corner-pieces to fit to the box. It’ll dress it up and also hide the screws that will hold the lid of the box down. Still have to cut some sound holes into the lid and varnish the whole thing.

More sanding. Rounded off the bottom of the neck and cut the top of the head-stock but a little too short to do any fancy cuts in the top so it will just have to stay roughly squared off. Starting to get impatient with the project and this has caused some small errors through rushing. Dang.

Did a couple of hours of sanding on the neck today. Its been great to watch the woodgrain appear out of a piece of scrap timber. I am amazed by how easy this has been so far. The hardest part, and this applies to so many things in life, is being patient enough to do do each step properly. Things go wrong when you try to take shortcuts. I learned this lesson a few years ago through reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Meanwhile, a good friend of mine doesn’t see the value of fiction.

I’ve spent a few hours on this project and its coming along well. I have to finish sanding the neck, cut off the top of the head stock and the tail, repair the cigar box (little piece broke off) and then varnish the whole thing.

This is my first one and its going to be a bit rough. I’ve got no woodworking experience so I’m learning by trial and error (mostly error). I’ll post some photos tomorrow of the project so far.

and didn’t get past about 2 hours of work. I want to have this finished by Christmas.