If you’ve seen a cigar box guitar, you will have seen that not only do they tend to have box-shaped bodies but there is a piece of wood sticking out of the bottom of this box. In this article we will find out why.
A cigar box guitar has a through neck because this provides stability where there is no truss rod. Without a through neck, the steel guitar strings would warp the neck and pull the bridge and saddle away from the body.
What Is A Through Neck?
The cigar box guitar has a neck which passes all the way through the box and out of the bottom of the guitar. This is a very different set-up to a standard steel-stringed guitar which uses a truss rod. A standard guitar neck does not go through the body of the guitar.
A truss rod is normally made of metal but can also be carbon fibre. From the type of materials used you can probably guess that a truss rod is there to provide strength.
Actually, a cigar box guitar can have a truss rod if the builder wants to install one, but most builders don’t unless they are building a 6 stringed instrument.
Instead, the neck is strengthened by
- Passing through the box itself
- Having extra thickness as it enters the box- this is called the heel
- Being attached to the box- preferably by screws rather than gluing. It can then be disassembled later for any modifications needed
Why Does The Cigar Box Guitar Neck Need Strengthening?
A guitar neck has quite a lot of force put on it. Steel guitar strings need to be tightened by turning the machine heads or tuning pegs to play in tune. This stretched wire will tend to pull the neck into a bowed shape.
By attaching the strings at the top of the neck and the bottom of the neck and strengthening the neck in between these two points, we minimise the risk of this warping.
The body of the box provided some of this stability, acting as bracing.
The heel of the neck ensures that the guitar neck has extra bracing as it enters the box. This helps to keep the neck at the correct angle as t passes through the box. Extra bracing is installed in the box to help with this.
How Are The Strings Attached At The Bottom Of The Neck?
The part of the neck that sticks out is called the tail piece. Sometimes this is strengthened and / or decorated with a piece of metal.
This can be a metal hinge or a bracket or something a bit more unususal. People bend forks, spatulas or bottle openers to make a metal tailpiece. You can buy metal tailpieces from a specialist Cigar Box Guitar supplier.
If there isn’t a metal tailpiece, the wood needs to be strengthened where the strings pass through. Metal grommets make sure that the strings don’t cut into the wood.
If the strings were just installed straight through holes drilled through the wooden neck, they would cut the wood and pull back through as they were tightened.
Do I Really Need A Through Neck On My Cigar Box Guitar?
When I made my first cigar box ukulele, I didn’t want a through neck. I found two difficulties came from this decision:
- Getting the neck attached to the box itself was far more difficult. I had to use extra bracing inside the box.
- The strength of the tightened strings, even though they were nylon and not as strong as steel, pulled the saddle and bridge off.
There is the possibility of having a through neck which doesn’t come all the way out of the box. In this way, you get the benefits of the extra bracing of the box without the extra wood sticking out of the bottom.
If you install a metal tailpiece directly onto the box so that it is attached to both the box lid and the side of the box which is at the bottom, you can safely install the strings to this.
Are There Any Other Benefits To Having A Through Neck On A Cigar Box Guitar?
Besides the strengthening of the neck, the stability of the neck position and the secure way of attaching the strings, the other advantage is that you can tie a strap to the tail piece meaning that you don’t need to install a strap button.
What Types Of Wood Are Good For a Cigar Box Guitar Neck?
If you are making a steel stringed cigar box guitar with three or more strings, you will find it better to use a hardwood to avoid warping.
A one or two stringed diddley bow could be made from a softer wood. One stringed diddley bows can even be made from a broom handle.
Depending on where you live and your budget, you have a lot of choice for the wood used in making a neck:
Ash, Cherry, Douglas Fir, Mahogany, Maple, Oak, Poplar, Sapele, Teak, Tulipwood and Walnut.
This is not an exhaustive list. Many builders choose a hardwood, but you may know that Douglas Fir is not a hardwood. Nevertheless it is strong and durable and can be used a cigar box guitar neck.
For a beginner builder, I recommend that you don’t spend a great deal of money on fancy neck wood for your early builds. You will learn so much along the way as you experiment with installing your first few necks.
You can buy pre shaped necks and pre fretted necks if you don’t want to make your own.
What Is A Scarf Joint?
A scarf joint is a way of joining 2 pieces of wood together end to end.
They are often used on cigar box guitars , not necessarily to make the wood long enough, but more to get the headstock angle correct. By cutting the neck at an angle and then reattaching the two pieces with glue, the headstock is angled away from the fret board.
There are 2 ways of making the scarf joint- one which gives a join on the headstock itself and one that gives a join on the neck.
If the joint is on headstock, it’s not quite as strong as if the joint is further down. A piece of veneer can be added to the top ( and bottom if wished) of the headstock to strengthen this join. It is also possible to hide this joint by adding “ears” onto the headstock. These are pieces of wood glued to each side of the headstock to widen it.
Having the joint further down, on the neck itself, makes for a stronger joint, especially on necks that have a fretboard glued on.
Why Are Scarf Joints Used On Cigar Box Guitar Necks?
The strings pass from the neck, over the nut and then onto the headstock and into the machine heads. The fact that this is angled helps to keep the strings secure in the notches of the nut.
With a straight neck that doesn’t have a back angle on the headstock, a piece of metal can be installed over the top of the strings to keep the strings pressed down. Alternatively, the strings can each pass through an eyelet screw.
A neck does not have to have a scarf joint to get this headstock angle. It can be cut from a thicker piece of wood. This gives it extra strength over a scarf but does waste some wood because you need to remove the excess from the front of the headstock and also from the back of the neck.
If the angle is very steep, however, this does introduce some weakness. A way of adding strength is to leave the neck slightly thicker under the nut.
Where Can I Get Wood For Cigar Box Guitar Necks?
You have the choice to either find wood to make your own or buy a pre-prepared neck from a specialist site. Either of these is a good choice.
You can buy from a home DIY supplier, a specialist wood supplier or you may be lucky enough to find wood that has been pre-used for something else. Fence posts and stair posts are suitable options.
It’s a good tip to rummage in the scrap bin at wood suppliers as there are often cheap offcuts that will do a great job as a guitar neck.
How Big Is A Cigar Box Neck?
If you are buying wood to make a neck, you need to know how much to buy. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the neck length is the same as the scale length. Cigar Box Guitars come in a variety of scale lengths, generally from to 16- 25.5 inches. They are a bit narrower than a standard guitar because they have 3 or 4 strings, generally 2 inches wide or narrower.
If you want to make a guitar with a scale length of say 24 inches, you need to have enough wood to allow 24 inches between the nut and the bridge plus some for the headstock, all through the body and the tailpiece:
You will see from the picture above that the wood length needed is longer than the scale length.
If you are just starting out building and are trying to keep costs down why not choose the scale length from the box and the length of neck wood that you have? You probably wont wont to go much below a scale length of 16 inches unless you are making a ukulele or a guitar for a child.
Further Reading
How Many Frets Does A Cigar Box Guitar Have?