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.
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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.
