Nice, I want to make a cigar box uke. Do you have any advice? Any tips or any pitfalls to avoid?
I am finishing a CBU at the moment. Usually the bottom is a thinner piece than the top, but still too thick. I used an adjustable kerfing saw I made (using a bit of broken band saw blade) to run a cut all around the bottom edge. Then I thinned down just the inside surface of the bottom panel with my homemade thickness sander, braced it and clued it back on. You'd never know it has been off. All the markings are preserved this way. I am still going to use a piezo bridge as I like the electric option, but it should play acoustically too.
Good luck.
Max
Put a stick through the body add some strings and start playing. Cigar box guitars/ukes are supposed to be primitive instruments. And you will probably be pleasantly surprisdd by how nice they can sound without all that flaffing about. If the box makes a pleasantly lout enough sound when you stretch a string over it using a pencil as a temprary bridge then go for it.
Cigarboxnation.com has a number of free and historical plans and a uke group. I dont think i have read of anyone there recommending thinning the top.
Sorry, Titch, can't do it. At Cigarboxnation.com their expectations are too low and the work often too crude. Recently Shane was "celebrating the sheer shittiness" of a build. I get it, but why throw away 40 years of experience when I know how much a little work can improve an instrument? Its a matter of knowing when to stop. Its still a cigar box, after all. But if it isn't fun to listen to, why bother at all?
Good stuff UkieOkie. I used to view cigar box ukes as something of a novelty rather than real instruments. But I'm definitely coming around. There's some real charm to that box shape, and I suspect I'll have one on my shelf soon.
I think that it is interesting how some of the commercial ukulele makers are now manufacturing cigar box ukuleles. Eddy Finn is the one that comes to mind. I can see that someone my not have the skills to put together their own and may buy one from someone else who does, but a mass produced cigar box ukulele just goes against what they stand for, at least in my opinion. But I have become interested in them. I'm actually getting interested in the three string cigar box guitars. I think that one is in my future, I just have to get to it. Maybe it can be a winter project. San Juan has a lot of cigar shops, and I'm thinking that the boxes might be easy to come by if I just go looking.
Take the plunge. It's lots of fun. For my first on I ordered a neck with the fret board attached already from Mike at Mainland. He sells bridges and such too. I should say he did. I'm not sure if he still sells the parts.