Saturday, September 13, 2008

distressing a cigar box guitar

I've started building a new CBG and wanted to have a go at making a distressed one out of a new box. I stripped the labels of this plain looking Monte Christo box, then sanded all the corners and edges to round them off to look worn.

I added some marks by wacking the surfaces with various metal items to produce a random marked effect that would make it look like it had been used a while. Some coarse grit sandpaper scratched across the grain in a few places added to the effect. Lastly I gave it a couple of coats of stainer which gave it a mellow golden colour and picked out the distress marks.

Next stage is to make a neck to look equally old. Probably use some mahogany and paint the fretboard. I'm thinking of white, then dulling it down somehow. Compare the before and after photos - I think it worked quite well. I may add an old label or two later.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definite improvement!
Reminds of those dealers who whip new tables with bike chains to distress them :-)
Labels will add greatly to the look. Will you print your own and stick them on?
You could even try some Smojo Logo's added on....

Jeff Raindog.

David said...

Cheers Jeff, funnily enough, I was thinking about making my own label. Not sure how yet.