If you want to make your own box for your Cigar Box Guitar Build, there are a few things you need to consider before you start:
- Length
- Height
- Depth
- Bracing
- Fixing the sides
- Material
- Lid
Length Of The Body For a Cigar Box Guitar
Before you even start considering building your own box, you need to decide what scale length and how many frets you want on your guitar. If you are using a ready-made box, the box itself will to some extent dictate the scale length and frets, so if you are making your box it makes sense to consider these first.
I have written another article which will show you how the size of the body and scale length are related and you can read it here: What Box Should I Use For My Cigar Box Guitar?
You may want to use a set of plans that tell you exactly what size of box, neck etc to use and I have my own plans coming soon.
Length vs Height On a Cigar Box Guitar Body
The length of the box is larger than the height of the box, that is the instrument is made in “landscape mode”. I cannot think why anyone would want to have a box orientated the other way. Some boxes are pretty square, but even so the longer length is aligned with the string length.
Depth Of The Box For A Cigar Box Guitar Body
2 inches or thereabouts is a good depth for the box. This gives good resonance without being too bulky and uncomfortable to play. You could reduce this to about an inch if you like, but I think that thinner than this is just too thin.
Of course you could choose to make a solid-bodied electric Cigar Box Guitar, but that’s beyond the scope of this article, especially as I have never tried this and I can’t give you any advice at all.
Bracing The Inside Of The Box For Your Cigar Box Guitar
Although you need your box to be sturdy and well made, too much bracing to make it strong will decrease the resonance and make for a dull-sounding instrument.
Some people like to put a block of wood in each corner but this is not really necessary if you make sure that the box sides are fixed well to each other and to the base of the box.
Fixing The Sides Of The Box On a Cigar Box Guitar
Strong wood glue is needed to fix the parts together and you can also use panel pins to reinforce this.
Cut the wood accurately so that the corners are true square corners or you will struggle to get a good fit for the base and lid. Ask me how I know? because my first couple of attempts were not square and I had a terrible job trying to get the base and lid to fit.
I found it useful to use a band clamp when I’m gluing by box together to help to keep it square. This is a strap with shaped pieces to fit the corners and a ratchet system to tighten them. You do have to be careful not to overtighten it.
Here is a link to the one I bought from Amazon.co.uk: Stanley Band Clamp
and the same one from Amazon.com: Stanley Band Clamp
I actually found making the boxes for Cigar Box Guitars surprisingly frustrating. Although shaping the neck and fitting it to the body was time consuming and fiddly, it was also really rewarding. This was a unique piece of art that I could be proud of. But a box? well it’s just a box right? I thought that would be the easy quick part, but to get a square-cornered box with everything fitting well and looking OK took me ages.
Perhaps it was because I started with the box and I wasn’t really familiar with the tools yet or perhaps it is just harder to fit lots of pieces together than to carve a neck from a lump of wood. Either way, I’m looking forward to carving the next neck, but not so much making a box.
Choosing The Wood For Your Cigar Box Body
I have found that to make a box that makes a good sound there are a few things that have worked well for me and some that haven’t.
When you have a box that is pre-assembled, you can tap it to see how much it resonates, but if you’re making a box from scratch, you have to try to imagine what would make a box that resonates well.
Generally speaking, a small thick-walled box will not resonate as well as a large thin-walled box, but there is much more to it than that.
Boxes made from dense hardwoods give a different sound than boxes made from softer woods. If you want a brighter tone, choose a wood that is not too dense. This will probably be a less expensive option too unless you can find off-cuts of hard woods ( or re-use pieces of wood from old furniture)
Laminated woods resonate differently than solid wood. A home builder is unlikely to use an expensive veneer to make their box look nice whilst using a cheaper wood as the actual body of a cigar box guitar. However, you might think that plywood might be a good option for your box.
I haven’t found that plywood made for a good sounding instrument, possibly because I’ve used cheap plywood from the DIY store rather than nice plywood from a decent wood shop. The plywood I used was also surprisingly hard to work with to get nice sharp corners, since the layers were prone to separating out and getting damaged. I won’t be using plywood again.
Making The Lid Of The Box For A Cigar Box Guitar
You could choose to use one type of wood for the top of the box ( called the soundboard) and another type for the back and sides. Generally speaking, 6-string acoustic guitars with a shaped body tend to have a less dense wood for the top and more dense wood back and sides. I haven’t experimented properly with this yet, but it sounds interesting.
I used a piece of plywood as the box lid for a diddly bow I made from a light pinewood open box. I used it because it was what I had at home at the time, but it hasn’t made a great sounding instrument. Another time< I would try to use a better quality piece of wood for the soundboard.
However we Cigar Box Guitar builders are often using up scraps and left-overs. It’s in the nature of the build.
But the ash box that I made with a nice piece of ash that I bought was so lovely to work with. I managed to get the lid/ soundboard nice and thin with the thickness planer we bought from Amazon.co.uk . You can check it out here from amazon.com
Tips For Beginner Builders Of Cigar Box Guitar Box Builders
Use the best wood you can afford for the skill level you are at. I learned a lot from working with cheap plywood that I needed to learn before I bought some decent wood.
Working with good quality wood is so much more rewarding than working with cheap plywood.
A box might sound like an easy build but I didn’t find it so.
Don’t glue down the lid if you intend to any further work on it, such as installing or repairing an electric pick-up.