new love

I have a new lady in my life that I've fallen in love with. She's was born in Chicago about 50 years ago but still a good looker. Heck I'm no Brad Pitt myself and at my time of life, I prefer a lady with some maturity. She's been around and I have to admit, when she was younger, she was cheap and available to any guy who had a few dollars to spare. She's on the small side with a short thick neck (doesn't sound all that attractive huh?) but her body is still in good shape apart from a few scars. She's not all that easy to please though, you have take her as you find her and not expect too much. She was a bit highly strung and smelled like an old ash tray when I first met her but I've worked my magic, given her a good rub down and she's starting to smell better, unwind and respond to my fingers. Her name - Stella. If you're reading this I guess you'll like her too. Next time I'll show you a photo of my new love.

finding cigar boxes

For us Brits, it's hard to source cigar boxes. Most builders here find it almost impossible to find them, smoking cigars is a minority occupation. I must say though that I have done pretty well finding plenty so far. The main source is from old fashioned, small tobacconists shops who specialise in cigars and pipe tobaccos. I have found them to be very willing to let me have empties at very reasonable prices. I usually pay no more than £1 per box.

I had a good experience this weekend when I found one of these places (location - top secret). When I entered the shop I could see a small storeroom with a pile of empties on the floor. I thought I'd pre-empt the deal by stating what I usually pay. He showed me the boxes and I chose 4 decent ones (couldn't carry any more). Now the crunch was coming.

"So they usually charge you £1 each", he said. I thought he was going to sting me for more. "My boss usually gives them away and just asks for small donation to the charity box", he said.

I willingly gave him the donation and came away with four bargain-priced boxes and a warm glow from the generosity of the man. Nice to know there is still some around in these hard times.

two new CBGs finished

Just finished the two new ones. Top is the Monte. I've used the tangs of a fork, cut off from it's handle and bent back through 180 degrees as a string anchor. Works well. Neck has had white paint rubbed into the grain to give it a limed oak effect. Frets marks were cut in and filled with paint then red paint rubbed into the main fret positions. I didn't like the smoking warning on the label so rubbed most of it off with wire wool then added my own smojo stamp three times to make it more interesting. Sound holesurrounds are brass grommets. It's tuned to low open E. Sounds and plays great.

Bottom one is a Romeo Y Juliet. Similar treatment on the neck but I stamped my thumbprint in green paint on the main fret psotiotions. I've used a piece of wire mesh glued inside the soundhole which is slighty bigger than I usually make them. It has a fantastic acoustic volume for a small box. Maybe the bigger hole helps. This one is tuned to open A. They both have piezo pups and sound great.

two more cigar box guitars in the pipeline

Been working on two new ones today. A nice bright yellow Monte Christo and a white Romeo Y Juliet boxes. Mahogany necks. I'm going to rub white paint into the grain of the necks to give them some character and charm. Paint the headstock with a sympathetic colour, might use a crackle finish. Not sure about the soundholes yet, might use brass grommets for the Monte but something else on the other one. I liked the 'key' bridge on the last one so might repeat that idea on one of them. I need to build up some stock fairly quickly so I'm not going to drag these out. Stay tuned in for the finished items in a week or so.

When these are done I want to build a real nasty 'rat rod' CBG. Not sure at all how it will turn out but thinking along the lines of rusty fittings and a well worn box. I'm going to have to experiment with various ageing processes. Should be a fun exercise.

new Don Tomas cigar box guitar

Just dropping in to post a picture or two of my latest build. I'm using an old door key for the saddle on the bridge - works well. Sink drainer for sound hole and solid mahogany neck cut down from some old shelves. Nice warm tone from the smallish box and pretty good volume. I'm pleased with this one but it's been claimed already!

What now in smojo CBG world?

I haven't been doing much CBG stuff for a few weeks due to other commitments so I need to get busy again. Had an afternoon on the new Don Thomas today, should be finished in about a week. I'm figuring on using an old key for the bridge just for novelty. With the Birmingham UK CBG fest coming up in October, I'm hoping to get quite a few made before then. I even had to let one of my 'keepers' go last week so my stock is getting pretty low.

Mark C. - a good buddy of mine has suddenly got busy with his CBG stuff. He made a cracking guitar a while ago using a very old and beautiful box called Rough Havanas and has just sold it to one of the band members of The Paperboys. You can see them playing it on his Youtube vid here. http://www.youtube.com/user/roughguitars

UK cigar box guitar meet

Exciting news for cigar box guitar fans in the UK! Plans are under way for a one day event at Birmingham later this year. It's hoped to include a day of workshops for players and builders followed by a Hollowbelly gig in the evening. Builders will be bringing some of their CBGs for swap/sale etc. The event is hosted by Chickenbone John to be held at the the Crossroads Blues Club on Sat 3rd October. If you are interested please contact me so I can pass on your details to John. Full details haven't been finalised yet but I'll keep you posted on it. If you are into CBGs then it looks like it's gonna be a gig not to miss.

cigar box guitar documentary

Shane Speal announced - On Tuesday night at 11:59pm, Alabama Public Television will re-play "Songs Inside the Box," the Max Shores cigar box guitar documentary. It will be shown on no less than NINE tv stations throughout the state. The documentary is an hour long and covers everything from how-to-build & play CBGs to the magical music these things inspire. Most people who have seen it give the EXACTLY SAME REACTION: "I want to build one of these, myself."

Can't get it in the UK but all you guys out there in the USA should tune in to this. It should be fantastic.

New cigar box guitars

Just started two new builds. One is going to be my first 4 stringer and it's going to have frets which will be a first as well. The box for it is a beautiful Indian Tabac Cigar Co. This one's going to be a keeper so I'm going to town on it a bit. I've rounded the back of neck for comfort and experimenting with creating a cracked paint finish to cover it with. I will definitley add a volume pot and might invest in a magnetic coil pup (another first). It's good to break the mould and try something different.

The other box will be for sale and is a three stringer. Mahogany neck again (I got several solid shelves from the local Freecycle). I've cut grooves for fret markers and filled them with white undercoat. The marker dots have been routed in and also filled with white paint. Not sure what else I'll put on it yet, maybe a drain cover for soundhole or maybe something completely different. I'm in the mood for innovation.

Had a go at making a stomp box too. The sound from the piezo I fitted was disappointing though - too harsh, so i need to experiment some more. Cushioning with a piece of carpet on top improves it and so does using a shoeless foot for stomping.

Nice to see we're getting a few Brits over on Cigar Box Nation. I started a discussion just for us, so if you're a Brit and into CBGs why not sign up and meet the other guys.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/thebritsarecoming

cigar box guitar soundholes

Had an interesting question from a reader and after spending a while replying, thought it would make a good post for others. Norm asked:

I've cut the neck for a 6 string acoustic CBG to learn on. Have a beautiful piece of leopard wood for the fret board. Trying to select the box. Going to go with kind of a plain Jane so I won't feel bad about cutting a sound hole in the middle. Since some of the art work on the CB's I have picked up is so beautiful I can't bring myself to put a big hole through it!!!

My question is this. I'm going with a 25 inch scale, how large of a diameter sound hole should I cut and how far from the bridge do you think I should place it. I'd like to get the biggest sound as possible. Would you suggest reinforcing the inside of the box? I am building with the neck and tailpiece as one unit going all the way through the box.... hmmm that right there would limit placement of a central sound hole. What would you suggest with that in mine? Maybe two smaller sound holes on each side of the neck/tail piece? If so what size diameter or radius?

Answer

There's been a lot of debate on CBG forums about soundhole sizes. I'm not an expert luthier, I reckon you probably know more than me on regular guitar building. I tend to like to keep things fairly quick and simple in the original spirit of CBGs being rough home-made instruments. I do like to know the science etc behind things though but don't actually apply it to my builds. Here's a link to one article http://hal9000.ps.uci.edu/Weber%20H90%20Physics%20Paper.pdf just Google "helmholtz resonator" for more info.

As far as I understand, soundhole size has nothing to do with the scale length but is relative to the volume of air inside the box. I'm sure there are online calculators to give optimum sizes if you can work out the internal volume of your box. Theory suggests that size seems to affect the frequencies more than actual acoustic loudness - larger holes better treble but less bass. Some CBGers don't bother with holes at all and some put one in each corner. It seems that it doesn't make all that much difference what you do. I guess that's becuase the poor acoustic properties of a cigar box can't be altered enough to actually hear a big difference in audio quality. It's more a question of visual aesthetics where you place them.

My personal slant is usually to put one about an inch diameter in one corner. Sometimes two or three smaller ones. (I think the optimum worked out by someone was surprisingly small - only about 3/8 inch for the average size box). I built one with it in the centre but hid the neck by fitting a sink drain cover over it. Very little 'hole area' when you add it together but it sounds great and is one of my favourites. I also fit piezo pickups to all my guitars so if I want some volume and variety of tone I just run it through an amp.

I reinforce the box by simply running a bead of wood glue (PVA) around the inside of the corners. Some people use wooden beadings glued for extra strength. I think soundboard bracing would be overkill.

Theories seem to go right out the window with CBGs. Standard acoustic guitar builders consider the type and thickness of wood for the soundboard, type of internal bracing etc. Doesn't seem to make much difference to a cbg. Example I built one with a very thick lid. I thought it would sound dead but it has the best sustain of them all. In fact it's the thinner box lids that seem to be a little dead, I would have thought the opposite though perhaps they give more volume. A pal built one out of an all-cardboard box and it sounded great.

My advice would be not to get too caught up in all the technicalities or striving for the ulitmate sounding CBG. Just have fun, experiment, try a different approach each time you build one and see what works. You will be surprised what does. Every one I've built has sounded and felt different, some better than others but unless I use the exact same box and neck wood, I doubt I could repeat any one exactly but that's one of the things I like about it all - variety and the element of surprise. Don't get drawn into being too precious about them. It's a guitar made out of a cigar box after all! You're not competing with a Martin or a Gibson. Be guided by your imagination and whims and just enjoy the whole creative aspect.