I live in Estonia. It's hard to find used cigarbox or humidor in Estonia. New humidors are 51 euro.For me buying form ebay is to expensive. I have never build a guitar only didley bow.
I'am not soft guitar player. I don't like nylon strings.
I never learned to play my calssic guitar. It wa to hard for me
because strings was to high and to away from each other.
I only know how to play my electric guitar and diddley bow.
I was thinking do build 5 or 4 string cookie tin banjo.
4 string guitar made from cookie tin or alternative for cigar box.
I don't wanna use plywood. Plywood sounds awfully.
I was thinking to use nails for frets and bolt or something like this for nut.
When I put trussrod I need to make fingerboard.
For pickups I have two piezo elements. Cork under piezo mutes screaming highs.
Do I need to make trussrod or no't ? For neck maple oak or poplar ?
Can I make neck rounded with sandpaper ? I have no idea how to attach piezo with cork in box.
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Hi DJ
There's a discussion group here on Cigar Box Nation (CBN) that focuses on building your own boxes. I live in China where cigar boxes are about as common as hen's teeth. So, I created this group to help people learn about basic box building. So far, I have built 3 box guitars all with home-made boxes. One is a square box, the second a triangular box, and the third is what I call a "paddle box" shape. I just completed the paddle box 'gitar' today. All three sound real nice, better than most of the Cigar Box based instruments I have built in the past. The discussion group is called "Home Made Resonator Boxes 101". There is some good reading there. To join the group you have to be approved. I approve everybody, but it may be a day or two till I get around to checking my e-mail to be informed that you want to join. (I wish I could figure out how to turn off this "feature", it certainly is a hassle for me as well.) CBN also has a canjo group with info on building cake/cookie tin guitars. That group is called the "Can Jo Consortium". There is a wealth of other information here on CBN, so don't be afraid to search around a "steal" any ideas you may need. We are all about helping others out building their instruments.
Also, I build three string guitars using a simpler so called "diatonic" fret layout, modeled after stick dulcimers and mountain dulcimers. I find it is a lot easier to learn and play on than a 6-string guitar. You might consider making one of these as well. They're even easier to learn how to play than ukuleles.
My last 3 instruments were built using 220cm x 3cm x 0.5cm cherry trim wood for the neck and box. For the sound board and the back board, I used veneer (a fancy name for plywood) that comes in large sheets 2mm thick. Although the veneer is a bit tricky to work with (the edges split quite easily), the resulting sound board sound really good in comparison to most cigar boxes I have heard. But if you have access to good quality tone wood and a planer, then by all means, build a high quality instrument. I just don't have the same access to quality material as I would if I were living in the States. Also, I make my necks by gluing about 6 strips of this trim wood together. For each board in the "stack", the curvature of the grain (as viewed from the ends of the boards) are reversed so as to build as strong a neck as possible. They are plenty strong without having to resort to a truss rod. I also use another strip of this trim wood for the fretboard. Needless to say, I use a lot of carpenter's wood glue.
If you have access to poplar, it is a good "hardwood" to begin on since it is not as hard as say Red Oak. A softer hardwood will make wood working easier, especially if you are limited to hand tools as I am. The only electric tool I use is a hand drill (and of course my computer for access to CBN for information and ideas). Rounding necks by hand is best done with a "spoke shave" and a few wood rasps. Some people have taken belt sanders, built a rack to support it upside down and have used that to sand down and shape necks, but I can't say I recommend this practice as I've never done it and there maybe some risk of injury involved.
All my instruments are acoustic. I played around with piezo-electric on one of my guitars and could never get rid of the finger noise pickup. So, I'm planning on experimenting with magnetic pickups, next. That will likely be this summer. In the mean time, there are a ton of discussions and articles on piezo pickups on CBN. Just search on piezo and related key words.
Well, good luck with your builds.
-Rand.
I was thinking first found something in estonia.
First I try on cookie tin because these are easier to get and cheaper.
Most certainly use a cookie tin. I have built some very fine instruments using them.
Can you locate some very thin,2.5mm plywood and replace the bottom with it? It mellows out the tone nicely. Also I have built some boxes from thin plywood and have been quite pleased with them.
Don
For me buying maple oak or poplar is extremely hard.
These woods is under precious wood in estonia.
Is there any alternative for maple oak or poplar ?
I was thinking to put leather on cookie tin box for better sound.
Hi Don,
That's a good idea. I'll have to try it sometime. That's a beautiful instrument, too.
-Rand.
Don Thompson said:
Most certainly use a cookie tin. I have built some very fine instruments using them.
Can you locate some very thin,2.5mm plywood and replace the bottom with it? It mellows out the tone nicely. Also I have built some boxes from thin plywood and have been quite pleased with them.
Don
I second Dan's idea. Laminating pine can produce a pretty strong neck, plenty strong for a 3 or 4 (or maybe a 5 or 6 stringer, I've not tried that). My last six necks were all laminated from "polmelo wood" or cherry trim wood with very good results. You can also alternate two colors of trim wood so as to have a stripe pattern. When finished, it will usually result in a very pretty neck that will "wow" people who see it. Just use what you can get and start building. You'll learn as you go. And don't be shy about posting questions to Cigar Box Nation.
P.S. If you are laminating the neck out of a few (or several) pieces of wood, then rather than orient the boards horizontally (like a sandwich), turn them 90 degrees upright. The resulting neck will be even stronger in this "vertical" orientation.
-Rand.
Dan Sleep said:
What kind of wood can you get? If you can't get maple, oak, or poplar, you could use a different wood like pine, and just laminate several strips together and make the neck stronger.
Is there a common hardwood in Estonia? A hardwood of some kind would be much better than a softwood such as pine. It doesn't have to be oak, cherry, maple or poplar. Most areas have a local hardwood of some kind that is available, though I know nothing about Estonia or it's regional woods and the availability of hardwoods there.
just a thought.
Brian Hunt.
I just did a google search on trees in Estonia and harwoods appear to be quite rare. Birch, spruce, aspen and pine are plentiful, but few hardwood trees. I did find one mention about hard spruce. Imported woods might be rather pricey.
Don
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