Cigar Box Soprano

This is different enough that I thought I'd post it and talk a little about the design process for folks interested in trying their hand at building.

A client sent me a cigar box and asked if I'd build it into a uke for him. It was interesting enough for me to have a go at it, so agreed.

The box itself is made from some rather ordinary plywood, and the lid was fully covered with paper labels on both sides Totally unsuitable for a top, so that had to go.

I had to work out was the scale length that I could use on this size of box. The only one that would work out in a suitable fashion was a soprano at 13 3/4" but I had to join it at the 16th fret in order to put the bridge in a suitable spot.

Inside the box was lined with white paper that I removed, then I lined the inside with a thin veneer of Spanish cedar and added some small triangular linings to all the inside edges, plus a 25mm neck block that spanned that end of the box and is shaped into a gentle curve. Looking down from the top the block is 25mm thick where the neck joins, but tapers to each side. Otherwise it would interfere with the front sound port.

The top is one piece Western Red Cedar that was quite loose across the grain, so I made it 2mm thick and added a bridge patch in cedar as well. There are 2 fan braces that are the full length of the top and taper from nothing at each end to 5mm tall under the saddle. This is the only bracing on the top.

I wanted to put a label back on the new top, so opted for sound ports rather than a hole or two in the top.

The neck is rather simple in design. It's glued into a pocked that is cut through the front edge of the box and that neck block I added. It's a nice press in fit that is glued in place. Then the top is glued on over the rest.

I went with a tie bridge and milled a cigar shape into it front of the tie block. A quick Google search got me some art work that I printed up, sprayed with a coat of lacquer before applying some spray adhesive and applying to the instrument.

Finally several thin coats of satin lacquer to finish it off.

I didn't have high expectations of the sound, but I must say I'm pretty surprised.

It's quite different to a convention instrument. What comes to mind is a tone that makes me think of a resonator, but there is still lots of sustain. And it has great tone all the way to the 16th.

Looks really nice. Is that a neck you made yourself?

That came out really nice Allen. My grand daughter wanted a uke so I built a soprano cbu for her to see if she would take to it and she has. What was shocking to me also was how good it sounded. I had to tie the neck block to the tail block with a couple of struts as the whole assembly flexed too much but I left the plywood bottom in place and used it for the top. And, she has taken to it so I'll have to build her a nice instrument now. My daughter says she won't put it down.

That worked out very nicely indeed. A well made acoustic CBU is a really fine thing. They can sound surprisingly good.

RAB11 said:

Looks really nice. Is that a neck you made yourself?

Click to expand...

Yes, the neck is made from New Guinea Rosewood. I had a couple on the shelf that I did not add a heal to, so I could cut them to whatever scale length I liked. They had been sitting there for several years, as they are a bit heavy for a ukulele and I use Spanish Cedar now. So this was a perfect project to use up some odd's and ends. I also had a fret board all ready to go, but ended up giving it to a fellow that was in Cairns and came by for a shed tour.

Dang, that CBU looks nice! Well done!

Nice job, maybe even a little too nice to be called a cigar box uke. The replacing of the top was a bit of a wuss out, even if it did lead to a much better instrument. Cigar boxes in Australia are a whole lot more heavy metal than their US counterparts due to our legislation mandating photos of cancerous mouths and dire warnings of death and suchlike on the packaging.

That is really a great job! I started out making cigar box ukes and guitars and they are a lot of fun. Be sure to post this one on Cigarboxnation.com and show 'em how it's done!