WhenDogsSing
Well-known member
Pardon me please if this is posted in the wrong slot...
I went to the local tobacco/cigar shop and asked if they had any cigar boxes they would sell. It turns out that the store owner has a small collection of cigar box guitars that others in need of boxes have built for him...he will provide boxes with a "hopeful" request to build him one too. So I got 2 boxes from him. Well, to make a long story short, my first CBU didn't turn out well soundwise as I didn't do anything to the top. I gave it to the store owner who was nonetheless overjoyed with it because he cares more about the "folk art" aspect than he does about the actual sound of the instrument. Mine was the first according to him that you could actually play and the lack of volume didn't bother him at all. By the way, he had 4 other cigar box instruments on display in his shop.
The second CBU I built also did not turn out well. I put a spruce soundboard on it but didn't thin it down and I also put a design on it that wasn't centered and didn't look good so I ended up salvaging the neck and tuners and scrapping that one after it was complete. It also didn't have much sound.
Which brings me to my third build and my first decent sounding cigar box ukulele. I used a "Jamaica Rounds" solid cedar box I got at a local junk store on this one. I removed the bottom and used a spruce soundboard thinned down considerably for the instrument top. I also learned through my other 2 builds that it is better for a novice like me to use a "floating" bridge as you can tweak and fine tune the intonation at any time after it is built. I intend to use a floating bridge exclusively in the future. I shaped the bridge out of a small piece of wood bracing and used a piece of styrene flat bar I purchased at the local hobby shop for the nut. The neck was purchased from Mainland ukuleles. Mike got it to me 2 days after I ordered, quite good customer service... I have since bought another soprano and a third tenor neck from Mike for future use. The tuners are geared and came from Stewart-MacDonald.
The CBU is currently strung with fishing line and one wound classic guitar string for low G. I have Aquilas on order for it which will hopefully allow it to sound even better...
I am going to give this nicer, better sounding and looking ukulele to the store owner as a token of my appreciation for his contribution to my new hobby...
So, attached are 2 pictures of my third CBU and a link to my YouTube channel with a sound sample:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WhenDogsSing
I went to the local tobacco/cigar shop and asked if they had any cigar boxes they would sell. It turns out that the store owner has a small collection of cigar box guitars that others in need of boxes have built for him...he will provide boxes with a "hopeful" request to build him one too. So I got 2 boxes from him. Well, to make a long story short, my first CBU didn't turn out well soundwise as I didn't do anything to the top. I gave it to the store owner who was nonetheless overjoyed with it because he cares more about the "folk art" aspect than he does about the actual sound of the instrument. Mine was the first according to him that you could actually play and the lack of volume didn't bother him at all. By the way, he had 4 other cigar box instruments on display in his shop.
The second CBU I built also did not turn out well. I put a spruce soundboard on it but didn't thin it down and I also put a design on it that wasn't centered and didn't look good so I ended up salvaging the neck and tuners and scrapping that one after it was complete. It also didn't have much sound.
Which brings me to my third build and my first decent sounding cigar box ukulele. I used a "Jamaica Rounds" solid cedar box I got at a local junk store on this one. I removed the bottom and used a spruce soundboard thinned down considerably for the instrument top. I also learned through my other 2 builds that it is better for a novice like me to use a "floating" bridge as you can tweak and fine tune the intonation at any time after it is built. I intend to use a floating bridge exclusively in the future. I shaped the bridge out of a small piece of wood bracing and used a piece of styrene flat bar I purchased at the local hobby shop for the nut. The neck was purchased from Mainland ukuleles. Mike got it to me 2 days after I ordered, quite good customer service...
I have since bought another soprano and a third tenor neck from Mike for future use. The tuners are geared and came from Stewart-MacDonald.The CBU is currently strung with fishing line and one wound classic guitar string for low G. I have Aquilas on order for it which will hopefully allow it to sound even better...
I am going to give this nicer, better sounding and looking ukulele to the store owner as a token of my appreciation for his contribution to my new hobby...
So, attached are 2 pictures of my third CBU and a link to my YouTube channel with a sound sample:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WhenDogsSing
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