New look for SMOJO cigarbox guitars

You might have noticed something different here! I'm changing my "corporate" look (yikes did I say that word - wash my mouth out, that goes totally against the grain - but I can't think of an alternative word) to something more appropriate to the cigarbox guitar movement. That is a more basic hand made, distressed, retro type of look. It might change again before I'm done so bear with me. I have a whole lot of stuff to do to bring it all together but hey - it's fun. Feedback welcome.

two string bass cigar box guitar

The two new CBGs are just about done now, pictures to follow soon. The two stringer has turned into a bass. I wasn't sure how that would turn out with a short scale neck and heavy strings but I'm well pleased and it's going to be a keeper for me.

Some lessons learned if I made another. Try a longer neck, heavier duty nut and bridge. The bridge would be best anchored as the tension of the strings tends to pull it forward. Space the strings out wider too. I just need to learn to play the thing now. I don't know anything about bass playing let alone using a slide too. I wonder if there are any professional bass players who use a slide on a standard bass. Must do some Googling and Youtubing.

Update - here's some pictures

low tech CBG

Since my first cbg I've gradually refined and improved the build quality but always cautious not to overdo it. The essence of a cbg is the home-made nature using cheap, recycled and found objects. Some builders take the quality thing to extremes and I can totally understand why. It's enthusiasm and the desire to make better and more attractive instruments but if it's really the desire for a top quality guitar that is the driving force, then why make cbg's? There are much better designs and materials for a professional instrument than a cigar box.

So I got to thinking I'd like to try make a really incredibly low-tech guitar. May not even use a cigar box. Just for the hell of it I have the idea of making a really quick, simple thing that looks as rough as hell (but with some cool mojo) but will actually play OK. It will be a 3 string slide of course. I was hoping to try find some well worn drift wood and knock together some sort of box and maybe make a neck from an old seasoned branch or something. It will probably end up as a pretty long project though, the main problem just finding the right materials. I'll keep you posted.

UK cigar box guitar revolution?

As mentioned in my last post I was meeting with another CBG nut - Mark C. Venue somewhat obscure - MacDonalds at Colne! Not the best location, a cold wet day and not much opportunity to play CBGs but nevertheless a very enjoyable one. We both brought some guitars, amps etc to show and it struck us how bizarre this whole thing is. Two middle aged blokes meeting up in Mac's car park surreptitiously examining goods out the back of the cars - like a couple of dodgy crack dealers! I think we talked non stop CBG for about two hours and it went in a flash.

Well, as Mark since said "Has it struck you that our meeting may have been historic and worthy of a blue plaque? It may well be that we are the first two UK cbg'ers to have ever met up...unless you know differently". Is this the start of the CBG revolution in the UK? If you've already started it with someone else here then drop me a line an tell us how it went. I have a few UK contacts now but haven't met any others yet. I certainly hope we can continue the friendship and look forward to the next time when we can explore our hobby/CBG passion some more and get to play some blues.

I'd like to feature some other UK/European CBG builders work on here so if you have a photo of a guitar you've built and want to share it with us, please email me with a photo and brief description.

Back to cigar box guitar building

Just had a relaxing week in Sunny Spain, (didn't find any nice cigar boxes) temperature was in the 70's F. Back home and it was freezing snowy Britain - yikes! So to cheer myself up I've had an afternoon CBG building. The two new ones are coming along great. I'm interested to see how the 2 stringer turns out and what I can do with it.

I've also got my Ebay orders for various electronic components through now so I can start experimenting with different amps.

I'm meeting up with a fellow UK CBGer on Thursday for the first time. We're bringing some stuff for a bit of "show and tell" over a coffee. Should be interesting.

I'm looking into doing a bit of music mixing and editing. It's a new direction for me and so there's another steep learning curve. I've downloaded some free software which seems pretty good. It's called Audacity. When I get some free time I'll try some simple multitrack stuff and see what comes of it.

2 new cigar box guitars started

I've started the next two CBGs but my plans have changed. Started with two pieces of timber for the necks. One oak one mahogany. They were already ripped down to size but the mahogany one was a bit on the narrow side so I decided this one would be a two-stringer, a first for me. I've rounded the back of the neck on this one and chosen a nice white and green Macanudo box. It's sort of narrow and quite deep, not the usual dimensions but I think it will work nice with the neck. I'll probably string it up in a fairly high tuning open D using unwound BE strings. The oak neck will get the green Ramon Allones box. Heading off to sunny Spain soon so CBG building will come to a halt while I do some serious research into chilling out, drinking beer and eating paella. Might even pick up the odd nice Spanish cigar box. Bummer eh?

cigar box guitar bridges saddles

As requested here's some info on bridges/saddles. First some principles as I understand them. The bridge/saddle is the main component that transfers the vibrations of the strings to the soundboard, in our case the cigar box lid. The most efficient materials are dense ones. Having said that the traditional material for acoustic guitars is bone which is not as dense as metal but I don't know why it is favoured. A CBG is never going to compete with a Martin or Gibson on sound quality but we do want to try to get a decent volume and tone out of it, given its limited capability, so it's worth experimenting with different types. Personally I like to use as much recycled material for my CBGs as possible. I have mainly just used scraps of hardwood like oak and mahogany and shaped them into an upside down "T" cross-section shape. I made one out of aluminium for the Quality Street tin and that worked well too. My last CBG had a bridge made from bamboo and aluminium and that also worked.

I think the positioning of the bridge on the soundboard must also have some bearing on the sound. I have seen many CBGs with the bridge placed right down at the bottom of the guitar. I haven't tried placing it there myself as logic tells me that the most sensitive area of the lid must be near the middle. I opted for a position about 2/3 down the lid which is roughly where most acoustic guitars have them. The guys that build them must know a thing or two so who am I to argue.

Another issue that may be of interest to the builder is how to secure the ball end of the strings as most modern acoustic guitars have the plastic pin arrangement in the bridge. Well most CBG builders adopt the "straight through neck" design. This lends itself to fairly easy construction and the facility to leave a short "tail" at the bottom of the box to anchor the strings to. Simply drill small holes to pass the strings through from underneath. I have included a small metal plate to take the strain of the strings off the wood, which would otherwsie tend to cut into it. Hope this helps.

What's next?

I need to build up some more guitars for stock so I'll probably start two new ones soon. I've got a nice green Ramon Allones box I was going to use last time so that will be one. I'll choose a white box for the other one. It would be nice to carry on with the CBG case I started but that's still on hold. The suitcase drum is on hold too for a while.

I'd love to get the old extension speaker converted to an amp now. I'm buying up electronic components on Ebay at present to make up some new amps. I've been using kits from Maplin so far (quite expensive) but have found some plans to build low wattage amps and want to experiment with them once I get all the bits I need. I'm enjoying the electronics side of this hobby and have some ideas for some other cool ideas for housing small amps like interesting old tins, boxes and maybe a section of the big bamboo poles I have. That's a way down the road for now though.

I've had a request to put a blog on here about making bridges. I'm collecting material for that and will post soon Sammi.

I'm wondering if there would be any mileage in producing some sort of an Ebook for sale. Aimed at beginner cigar box guitar builders/players. Maybe take the meaty sections from this blog, expand on them and add more tips and photos etc. I've thought about even running one-to-one CBG building courses. I'm getting carried away I know but this stuff really lights my fire.

Partigas and Cuesta Rey cigar box guitars

Here's my latest CBG - it's a Partigas box. It's got the new experimental bamboo slice bridge which I like the look of and sounds good too. Probably make some more. The slotted headstock was tricky and this was the one that got the end of my finger sliced off when making it! The neck is the first I've made using pitch pine - a hard species of pine with a lovely grain pattern, and finished with tung oil. The fret marks are burnt in. I've used the three soundhole configuration like the last one too. You can see it played with the CB amp at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oajIBEUfHQU



The previous new guitar was another Cuesta Rey box. I used the slotted headstock type and painted it yellow on the front to match the box. The neck is oak and stained dark brown and finished off with tung oil to feed the wood and give it a nice sheen. The strap was made from a nice old wooden bead belt. I particularly liked this guitar and it now has a new home in Ireland.

new cigar box amplifier

Just finished a new cigar box amp. Powered by 9v battery, it has on/off switch, power on LED and volume control. Up to about half volume the sound is pretty clean. Turn it up and it gets progressively distorted providing a nice dirty sound ideal for some mean slide playing on a CBG. You can see/hear it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oajIBEUfHQU