Answers
How do you get the frets right on a cigar box guitar? Mine is not intonated very well.?
I used the 24.5 inch diagram off of cigarboxguitars.com and printed it out then affixed it to the neck that I made but the sound is not in tune. Is there an easier way to put frets on cigar box guitars so I can actually get the frets intonated right so that you can play chords on it...
Thanks
JRW
Measure the distance from the bottom of the nut to the 12th fret.
Add 3/16"
This distance should equal the distance from 12th fret to bridge saddle. If it doesn't then you'll have to move the saddle and/or bridge.
Homemade 6-string electric cigar box guitar.
i want to build a guitar like a cigar box guitar. the only problem is i dont have a cigar box sitting around anywhere i can use. anybody have any idea of something else i could use instead of a cigar box to build my guitar? thanks to all answers
What a cigar box gives you is a sounding board and handy place to mount the fret board to push the strings against. So you need to look for other stiff but thin materials that you can get - a round metal nut or fruit cake tin, a large coffee can. Jug bands make a bass of a bucket and a rod that is pulled to change tension. You can also apply thin material to a rim - think of the drum head structure of a banjo - such as thin model making plywood to a wood box -
Do cigar box guitars play good? Have you heard of them?
www.cigarboxguitars.com
Surely no...
try the website cigarboxguitars.com
will a piezo buzzer work or does it have to be a transducer
a transducer.
a buzzer is something completely different.
i imagine you have just spent a total of something like 0-10 dollars making a homemade guitar and now you are looking at pickups and realizing they are like 50-80 for a decent piezo pickup. it is a bummer for sure. but they are out there somewhat cheaper if you look from them, but you will most certainly hear the difference. my cheap piezo kind of sounds like *ss. the other thing you could do is find a decent mic scematic and make an under the bridge mic pick-up. radio shack microphone elements are somewhat reasonable, but the sound isnt going to be as even string to string as it would be with a piezo attatched to the bridge.
good luck. feel free to email me if you have any questions. i'll answer if i can, i'm always making instruments.
I've already heard about making a guitar out of them or making them into a shelf...anything else?
You could decorate the outside, line the inside with velvet, put a mirror on the inside of the lid, and make it into a jewelry box. Or add a strap and a clasp and use it as a purse.
