Cigar box 12 strings

[Mad Oshea]

I found two ship wreck guitars for My next project. And seven nice cigar box's to pick from. Tryin to baby sit some broken ribs for work , so I figured that would be the time ta start. Got one broken down now and gatherin up My odds and end junk for the build. Just need to buy the sealer and finnish.

 

[jekylnz]

They should turn out pretty cool.

 

[Southern Planter]

Then build a cigar box harpsichord.

 

[Mad Oshea]

This is desert south west not Dixie. Yer gona get Me in trouble agin!!!!!

 

[webmost]

Those cigar boxes look like pasteboard. You can get nicely made dovetailed wooden cigar boxes from your local cigar store. I have a store a quarter mile from me which displays cigars for sale in a box. When the box is empty they put it in an empty box section for a buck. This is typical. I think you'd get a much better tone from a solid box and a solid box would be strong enough to hold the strings taut.

 

[Mad Oshea]

I agree with dove tailed box's. all of Mine are luaun (door skin wood)
Sound; is electric. The box cant hold the strain of the strings. However will sound without an amp prety nice.
The smoke shops keep em here (cheap scapes)

 

[Mad Oshea]

OK -It's made--

 

[Mad Oshea]

 

[leverhead]

Very nice! I saw something a while back about a guy near Houston building these, he's paying the rent making them.

 

[Mad Oshea]

Thank You leverhead for the complement. I had fun with the build. I'm keepin this one to put on the wall. It's a tobacco thing and fun to show. The sound is great and was hard to work with because the box is pasteboard. Cant find good ones here. Folks hoard them.

 

[jekylnz]

Looks cool bro. .did you have to strengthen it up much?

 

[Mad Oshea]

No, just put a board in it. and went LOL The next un is gona be made out of a rock (lava) I think I want to have a ROCK GUITAR!!! LOL

 

[FmGrowit]

No trying to nit-pick, but

The joinery on the left is a "rabbet joint", the joinery on the right is a "Dovetail Joint" (blind).

 

[Mad Oshea]

nice , I as well do rabbet, dove tail, pin, wafer. through dove tail, sling tail, mortis and tennon and split tail. BUT-- can't use any of them on a paste box that is already done. Got to roll with what is already made to have the fun of the game.....
Good pic. Is that Your work?

 

[Knucklehead]

I'll look around the basement the next time I'm there. I remember stashing some wooden Padron cigar boxes somewhere. How hard would it be to change the box? Dang pictures are not showing up again, I'll have to clear my cache again.

 

[deluxestogie]

The project looks handsome. Unfortunately, it looks untunable. The distance between the bridge and fret 12 must be identical to the the distance between the nut and the 12th fret. That makes the 12th fret the half-way point, and exactly one octave above the pitch of the open string.

Bob

 

[Mad Oshea]

I can text ya pics. and wat I did. ALL FUN!!.

 

[Mad Oshea]

That is correct. I did not measure for that. However have a solution-- The saddel of the Gibson is totaly addj. for just that. Cool or wat?? GREAT INPUT to My project without makin a monster!!!!
I love a MASTERs input. (wont want to have to pull out a slide!)

 

[Mad Oshea]

All I had to do to adjust for tunning was to move the nut on the neck. It still has the same look without any changes to the box. All You need to do to the box is cut a slot in the end for the neck to fit Knucklehead. A solid box is ideal to work with. The 12 string took some work to hold up to the strings. I used a mortis and tenon with construction grade epoxy backed by oak so it would bind. It came out solid as expected. (on the neck use maple)

 

[deluxestogie]

All I had to do to adjust for tunning was to move the nut on the neck.

I don't know how that could adjust for the scale-length error. If you move the nut toward the bridge, and the correct distance just happens to be at one of the existing frets, then that would work, although all the position markings would then be in the wrong place.

But I congratulate you on tackling a 12-string. Even Martin gave up in despair, because of the difficulty of preventing the force of the strings from either warping the neck or collapsing the sound board. I kept my Martin D-12-20 tuned 3 half-tones below pitch, and it still warped.

Bob