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