Advice on where to put the sound hole on my cigar box uke

addicted2myuke

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Here is a photo of the cigar box I have decided to use with my CB Gitty kit. From all the sites I have seen on how to build these, the the top is the bottom and the bottom is the top. I love the design on the top and would love to have it as the top of the uke. Where would you put the sound hole? I don't want to cut into the design. Do I need to remove the clasp? I also like the look of that. I know I'm asking alot of questions but this is my first build and I want it to be as good as it can.Thankscigar box for uke (3).JPGcigar box for uke (2).JPGcigar box for uke.JPG
 
A lot of the CBGs I've seen have one or two soundholes out at the corners, to either side of the neck joint, in order to preserve the graphic.

That looks like a pretty sturdy box, so as long as the clasp is tight, I don't know why it would have to come off.

Are all four sides of the box curved? or are two of them flat? If they're all curved you may have extra work attaching ther neck.
 
Thankfully, the ends are flat, and the neck piece fits like a glove. I guess it ready to assemble. Thanks for the advice. I think it would look cool with the sound holes in the upper corners. Thanks for the tip river_driver.
 
Why not be a bit artistic, and put an F hole on either side of the design?

Cheers
Darren
 
Hehehehe curses upon you for starting this thread...I have a couple of old cedar cigar boxes stashed somewhere in my shed...now what do you think is likely to happen to my weekend? ;)
 
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F holes often force the brace too be to far towards the tail, I tried to lay out a CBU with F holes and ran into this problem. Two holes work great.
The two-hole uke below uses the bottom of the cigar box as the top of the uke - it is solid cedar. The soundhole placement is to preserve the logo. The other two ukes are built "right side up", the original tops (one plywood and one cardboard) have been replaced with cedar and spruce.



In each of these the brace is just back of the soundhole(s), you can feel it with your finger in the soundhole - this makes the vibrating area of the soundboard bigger.
 
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Thanks for all your replies. Pandoro, those are some great looking ukes. Did you use a kit or make them from scratch? I am not skilled enough yet to make them from scratch so I ordered from CB Gitty but the materials were cheaply made. Thankfully the kit was not expensive.The kit comes with friction tuners. I have never used friction tuners so we'll see. Mainland Music sells a kit with the geared tuners already assembled into the head stock. Since I have an unlimited supply of cigar boxes, I am going to try a few kits and learn how to use the power tools necessary to make one from scratch. My husband has a wood working shop in the cellar that he rarely uses anymore. I guess it's the perfect opportunity to make use of it. We are in the middle of a long heat wave so it's too hot to work yet. I will post photos when the project is underway.
 
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