CBG's 023 - 027

Well it is nearly Christmas and after hardly much action during October and November things have gone crazy in the last two weeks. Below are some builds that I have just finished.

023 was another Manuel Lapez Punch box (I like these boxes as they are fun to work on) with same measurements again (635 mm or 25 inch scale length, 18 frets and 3 strings) and another build using Tassie Oak for the neck and fretboard and a piezo pickup.

024 was a Macanudo, Hyde Park Café box with a volume control. I am not sure if the volume control is that important on a CBG as I hardly ever touch the volume on all my guitars (CBG’s, electrics, lap steel etc). I know some players use it a lot but I don’t seem to at all. Anyway, same measurements again (635 mm, 18 frets and 3 strings) and the neck was made out of Tassie Oak. The sides and top are made out of MDF or something similar and the bottom is timbered ply. We screen printed our logo on the back for something different.

025 was a Romeo and Juliette brown coloured box. The sides and top were also made out of MDF  and the bottom is timbered ply. Not sure why but I really like this guitar. It could have been because of the bigger box but it has a nice and warm sound. It plays nicely and sounds good either clean or distorted. I ordered these boxes (plus the Perdomo, the Macanudo the Rocky Patel and the blue Punch boxes ) about a year ago from Michele Mahmood of cigarboxdeals.com. The postage is a bit dear but if you order about 10 or so it can bring the price of each cigar box down to about $9 to $10 each. Not that cheap but it does give you access to other boxes that you don't normally find in Australia.

026 was another rounded body Perdomo box. These feel great and they sit so much nicer against your body due to the rounded edges. It has a Tassie Oak neck and a Rosewood fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup. A nice warm sound emanates from these boxes. 

027 was a Punch box. It also had the sides and top that were made out of MDF and the bottom was  ply. This was a rush job and I completed the whole guitar in 24 hours…luckily I already had the blank neck and fret board pre cut. Once again 18 frets, 635 mm scale length, piezo pickup and Tassie Oak neck and fret board.



Also this year I helped 16 students at my school create their own 3 string CBG's. The boys were aged 11 and 12 and considering their lack of wood working skills they all created fairly decent, playable guitars. The CBG's all stayed in tune and the action was set at a good height for finger picking. One boy was attempting some slide work but for the rest, simple chords and some finger picking was their main goal.

See you all next year with some more CBG's from Frank's Guitars. I am thinking off trying some Bob Harrison pickups (harrisonguitarpickups.com) on a couple of them. 

Cheers and best wishes for 2013,
M, A and F

CBG's 020 to 022

CBG 020: Once again I used another Perdomo box (the rounded body gives it a nice feel) for this CBG. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup.

CBG 021: I used another Romeo & Julieta box for this CBG. These boxes seem to be the most readily available at my local tobacconist. Maybe it is a good all round cigar that people enjoy. Anyway, it has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup.

022 was another resonator (cone from Mike Lowe of the US) CBG. It has a Camphor Laurel body (milled from our back yard about 8 – 9 years ago), Tassie Oak neck and printed markers on the fret board. This guitar sounds great either as an acoustic or an electric CBG (a single coil pickup) and I have really enjoyed making these. A different cone was used and the sound is a cross between a dobro and a banjo.

CBG's 018 and 019

CBG 018: I used another Perdomo box (features a rounded body which I find very comfortable) for this CBG. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup.The fret distances are all precut using a laser cutter from my place of work…100% correct distances.

CBG 019: I used a Punch box for this CBG. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup. Scale length is 635 mm (I tend to make most of my CBG’s this length). This guitar is more in the style of your regular cigar box guitars due to the box. Action is nice and low and it plays beautifully.

My Journey with CBG's PT, 001 to 017

FRANK'S GUITARS

My journey with cigar box guitars is relatively quite young. It all began with a little visit to the Eumundi Markets on the 1st June 2011, after spending four nights at Noosa to celebrate my wife’s 40th birthday with our young son (whom Frank’s Guitars are named after). We couldn’t find a park on the street so I reluctantly paid the $4 parking fee in the local school grounds, as I only wanted to spend about 30 minutes browsing around to see what was on offer. After the sojourn my wife said, “…well that was $4 well spent!”

Anyway, while we were there I stumbled on a gentleman selling cigar box guitars (CBG) and I was smitten. I have played guitar since I was seventeen but I had never seen one before. I always thought it was some mythical beast like the Pegasus or a winning New South Wales State of Origin team (I do realize that the tide will soon turn). The only guitar that ever came close was Bo Diddley’s Gretsch, which strictly speaking, is not a true cigar box guitar. The seller had a range of guitars priced from $450 to just over $1000. Beautiful as they were, I thought they were a little bit expensive for me. I took the gentleman’s contact details and when I arrived back in Brisbane I did a search for cigar box guitars and couldn’t believe how big of a scene it was around the world.

Within about three days I had bought my first CBG via EBay from the States and in my desperation waiting for it to arrive, I bought a CBG kit from Matthew Suckling (http://www.mjscbg.com) in Harvey Bay and started to build my first CBG. This I later called PT for Prototype.

It was almost a complete disaster. Things I know you shouldn’t do now, I did, and things I didn’t do, I now know you should do. The headstock and tailpiece were the hardest to sort out. One thing I did get right was the fretting. With all my mistakes maybe some luck had to come my way. This first CBG ended up with quite good action and when plugged in to the amp it rocked. The action was a little low for slide playing so I knew I needed to make another guitar. In the meantime, my guitar arrived from the US and this helped me to see my many errors. 

CBG 001: The first guitar, which I numbered 001, was for a mate’s birthday. I was really impressed with how this one sounded and it actually looked pretty nice as well. The action was a little too low for slide but was great for fretting. It has a Tassie Oak neck with a Rosewood fret board, 20 frets as well as a piezo pickup. An H. Upmann box was used for this guitar.

CBG 002:  My next CBG was also for another mate’s 40th birthday and he wanted it painted in Rastafarian colours (he had spent time working at a Salvation Army blind orphanage in Kingston, Jamaica). On this CBG, I stripped away all the paper (soaking in water helped make the process so much quicker), reglued the timber and my wife painted the box. The removal of the paper made it a lot louder when played acoustically. This time I used recycled Meranti for the neck, Tassie Oak for the fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup.

 CBG 003: This was a smaller Montecristo box and this time I opted for a neck that finished flush with the end of the box. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 15 frets and a piezo pickup. I changed the tuners to Les Paul tuners after the CBG was already photographed as one of the tuners had broken.

CBG 004: This CBG was a rebadged guitar that required some modifications (frets needing redressing, neck and body adjustments). It has a Pine neck with Poplar fret board, 20 frets and a piezo pickup. It has a warm deep sound due to the size of the box.

CBG 005: This was based on a Wayne Bigler design (www.biglerguitars.com). It was my first attempt at using an electric guitar pickup and bridge, which I bought off Wayne. I think mine ended up sounding pretty good but I don’t know if it is as good as a Bigler. Tassie Oak neck and fret board and Rosewood inlay on the headstock.

CBG 006: This was my first attempt at making a resonator guitar using a license plate from the US. It has a Camphor Laurel body (milled from our back yard about 10 years ago), Tassie Oak neck and fret board with a Rosewood inlay on the headstock. It has 16 frets and a piezo pickup. I set this guitar up for slide so the action was a lot higher than normal. It sounded fine but it might have sounded better using a traditional electric guitar pickup.

CBG 007: This was my first attempt at a 6 string CBG. I bought the neck from China (all my necks are hand made but not this one) and attached it to a Partagas box. I used a P 90 pick up and this sounds great for slide. The action is nice and high so slide it so easy to play on this CBG.

CBG 008: I used a Perdomo box with a rounded body for this CBG. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, Rosewood inlay on the headstock, 18 frets and a piezo pickup.

CBG 009: This was another resonator CBG but this time I used a resonator cone courtesy of Mike Lowe from the US instead of a license plate. The scale length was about 650 mm (nearly all my guitars are 635mm) and it was a 4 string. It has a recycled Hoop Pine body, recycled Meranti neck with a Rosewood fret board and a Rosewood inlay on the headstock. It plays very much like a banjo and it sounds great either acoustically or electric. The pick up has a beautiful sound and I was very pleased with this guitar when it was finished.

CBG 010: Number 010 was another 3 string this time using a Rocky Patel box. The box has rounded edges so it sits a lot nicer against your body. Tassie Oak neck with a Rosewood fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pick up.

CBG 011: Another 3 string this time using a Romeo and Julieta box. A recycled Meranti neck with a Rosewood fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pick up finish this guitar off so nicely. The pickup has a volume control and plays very well.

CBG 012: Another resonator cone courtesy of Mike Lowe from the US (you can purchase 2 cones off him for $50 US which include free postage) was used on this CBG. It has a recycled Silky Oak body, Tassie Oak neck with a Rosewood fret board. This guitar sounds great either acoustically or electric. This was one of my favourite builds as I redesigned the neck into the body to make it a lot stronger.

CBG 013 was another CBG using a Romeo & Julieta box. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup.

CBG 014 was this time a Punch box. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pickup with a volume control.

 CBG 015 was another 3 string, using once again, a Rocky Patel box. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pick up. The action was set up for slide with a little bit of fretting if so desired.

016 was another 3 string using a larger Romeo & Julieta box. It has a Tassie Oak neck and fret board, 18 frets and a piezo pick up with volume control. The action was set up for slide and fretting (a nice balance between the two). This was the first of our screen-printed fret markers and my favourite of all my cigar box guitars.

017 was another resonator (cone from Mike Lowe of the US). It has a Camphor Laurel body (from our back yard), Tassie Oak neck and fret board. This guitar sounds great either acoustically or electric and it has been my favourite resonator so far.