How to Read the Cigar Neck Notching Template

Building a Cigar-Box Guitar

Words and photos: Vic Tesolin
Diagram: Graham Sands

As a woodworker, making your own tools is a real treat because y'all can make them to your exacting specifications. The same holds truthful for a musician – I've been playing stringed instruments for over 30 years and at that place is nix more than gratifying than making your own instruments. This cigar-box guitar (CBG for short) is one of my favourites to build. I can unremarkably make one in a day and there is no end to the options yous accept for customisation.

This particular model is acoustic and fretless which is well suited for slide playing. I have too made versions that take a pick-upwardly installed in them to amplify the sound, as well as versions with frets for chording. CBG's are also characteristically made with odd objects and commonly found parts that you probable have laying around your shed. Using items like bolts and threaded rod for parts like the nut and bridge may seem odd just a quick cyberspace search will turn up all kinds of weird and wacky CBG's so have some fun with it.

Start by gathering your parts. As the name suggests, a cigar box guitar requires a cigar box that you can usually observe easily enough at a local tobacconist. The size and blazon are up to you, and you can even make your own box if you lot like. Boxes are made from anything ranging from hardboard and plywood to solid woods. I've fabricated CBG's out of all types of boxes and they've all worked well.

You volition likewise need the other bits and pieces shown in the materials and supplies list. I get all of my hardware from C.B.Gitty.

Mark up the neck

Yous can utilise almost whatever timber to make a CBG, and so this is actually up to you. In this case I used a straight- grained slice of construction material, merely fancy is good besides. Manufacturing plant the neck to the dimensions listed and indicate where the top surface and top stop are. Mark the nut location on the meridian and side surfaces, 150mm from the elevation cease of the neck. Then measure from the nut down towards the lesser end of the neck and make a mark at 622.3mm. This is the bridge location and will give y'all a scale length of 24-1/ii".

Now lay the neck down on the cigar box and line upwards the span location such that the span is approximately iii-quarters to the bottom of the box (photo i).

Roughly mark the location of the box on the neck so you have an thought of what part of the neck will be in the box. Finally, notice the centre of the neck width and marking information technology at the lesser stop (photograph 2).

Box work

Often times there are various labels and export stickers on the cigar box. In Canada and Australia there are some pretty graphic photos of what smoking tin do to various parts of the anatomy. I typically accept off the graphic stickers and go out the consign labels in identify. I've found the easiest way to do this is with a heat gun or even a hair drier set to its hottest setting.

In order to let the cervix into the box, you lot have to create notches on either end of the cigar box. Identify bluish painters record across the ends of the box. Find the heart of the within of the box width and mark it clearly with a fine marking on both ends. Now line up the neck using the centre marker you made on the bottom end with the centre mark on the box ends (photo 3).

Clamp the cervix in place lightly and employ a marking pocketknife to cut through the record. Set a marking gauge to the thickness of the neck material and score the blueish tape between the ii marks you made for the neck width. At present use a square and a knife to conduct the width lines down to the depth line and remove the rectangular scrap of blue tape. The remaining blue tape will delineate your neck position.

Employ a fine-tooth saw to make your cuts down from the acme making sure you don't cutting into the tape (photo four).

Use a utility pocketknife to advisedly cut across the lesser of the notch with multiple passes until the waste material breaks away. Utilise the pocketknife to refine the corners of the notch then place the cervix into the notches to verify the fit (photo 5).

Strut your stuff

Adjacent you will fit the box struts which serve to strengthen the box. When the strings are tensioned, they volition exert force on the box and these struts volition aid to handle that strength. The material for the struts can exist solid wood or ply and anywhere from 12 to 20mm thick. The struts should exist sized to the shortest depth of the box. The long sides of most cigar boxes are commonly narrower past the thickness of the lid.

Cut the struts to fit the width of the box and install them. Utilise a pencil to trace the location of the notch so remove the waste matter (photo vi). Reinstall the struts and examination fit the neck to be sure all fits well. Remove the neck again and try to close the hat.whatever minor adjustments at this fourth dimension to ensure the lid closes easily.

The hat of the box will be screwed close in a later step, only y'all tin locate and drill the pilot holes for this at present (photo 7).

Let there be sound

This model of CBG is acoustic and then in that location needs to be some ports to let the sound out. This is an opportunity to go artistic. In this case, I drilled two 35mm holes with a Forstner scrap and hot-glued a couple of sink strainers into those holes (photo 8). In the
past I've likewise used things like big grommets, or pocket-sized clock bezels and I've also just left them as apparently holes. The choice is yours – just be mindful that the neck goes through the centre of the box and then putting a audio pigsty in the eye of the box will non work well. I besides endeavour to continue the box graphics intact so the artwork will expect good.

Terminal cervix fitting

Place the neck into the box so that it'southward positioned using the marks you lot made early on on in the build. Lightly close the box lid and trace the location of the lid onto the neck with a marking knife (photo nine). Use a marking estimate set to the thickness of the lid and strike a line referencing the top surface of the neck. Remove the waste material, essentially creating a really wide, shallow dado that will allow the box lid to shut completely with the neck installed.

I typically practice this freehand at the bandsaw beingness sure to cut to the line, simply I don't stress if the cutting isn't perfect. This surface area will be in the box and never seen again once the box is screwed close (photo x).

Brand heads and tails of it

We accept to thin the headstock surface area to properly fit the tuning machines and to create an expanse for the nut. Ready a mark gauge to 5mm and strike a line on the edge of the neck running from the pinnacle of the head to the nut line you marked earlier on. Cross-cut on the nut line to the depth you only struck then resaw the waste away (photo 11). You can now remove the resaw marks with some sandpaper, although I typically leave the marks there.

Using the diagram shown in the diagram above, locate the tuning automobile holes and mark the shape of the headstock (photo 12). Drill the tuning machine holes with a 5/xvi" bit and then cutting and shape the headstock. If you are using a set of tuners other than the ones listed, be sure to review the installation instructions for them to ensure the hole sizes and location are correct.

At present locate the three holes in the tailstock for the string anchors and diameter the holes with a 5mm chip. End off by tracing a pleasing arc on the end then cutting and shape the curve. As you can come across, any curve will do here, as long every bit you are happy with it (photo thirteen).

Soften the neck

The back of the neck should exist rounded over to be easy on the mitt while playing. Place a piece of blue tape 12mm down from the nut location and 12mm upward from the point where the neck enters the box. Install a 3/eight" radius round-over router bit into a router table and rout the round-over on the back side of the cervix (photo 14).

Use the blue tape every bit a gauge for where to start and end the cuts visually. If it'due south important for yous to be more authentic than this, feel welcome to ready a contend and stops on the router table. Remove whatever precipitous corners on the neck and then do any last sanding and apply finish (photo 15). I typically merely use a glaze of wax on the neck, but whatsoever cease volition practise including adding colour in the course of stain or paint.

Install the hardware

With all the woodworking washed, it's fourth dimension to install the metal bits. Kickoff past gluing the bridge (a 5/16" threaded commodities in this instance) against the shoulder you created on the headstock (photo 16). Some five minute epoxy or strong hot-melt glue volition be perfect for this.

Now motion to the tailstock and glue the rivets into the anchor hole with some medium thickness cyanoacrylate glue making certain non to plug the holes with the glue (photo 17).

Finally, install the tuning machines according to the instructions that came with them. Be mindful that the screws used for this hardware are typically tiny, so don't lose them (photo xviii)!

Last steps

The but things left to do are the assembly and stringing. Identify the neck into the cigar box, close the hat and spiral the lid close (photo 19). Lay a ruler down on the centre of the nut at the 24-1/2" (622.3mm) mark (photo xx), so place a lite pencil mark
on the box at the cease of the ruler.

Place ii pieces of tape on the box to show where the neck is as a means of centring the bridge location (photo 21). Glue the bridge (in this instance, a piece of 5/sixteen" threaded rod) to the box using five minute epoxy or hot-cook gum, and so remove the tape.

Install the strings and tune them to the advisable notation (photo 22). I typically string my CBG's with an open G cord set which are tuned to G-D-g to make it easy to play with a slide. If this is your commencement stringed instrument, bound online and learn how to string an musical instrument. Information technology's not hard to practise but like annihilation else you need to know the steps.

There are many instructional videos online that explain how to play a CBG. Equally you surf around, you'll start to run across that there is an entire sub-set of musicians that play instruments that they have made themselves. You will notice events, concerts and festivals with the CBG as the central musical instrument, so have some fun with your new-found, handmade instrument.

Vic Tesolin is a furniture maker and also a Lee Valley Woodworking Partner. He lives in Canada and teaches workshops all over the globe. Acquire more than at victesolin.com

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Source: http://www.woodreview.com.au/how-to/building-a-cigar-box-guitar

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