AMMO CAN 6 STRING

Today I finished the Ammo Can Guitar I've been working on. It's not as polished as the JR tenor, but it's got an amazing range of tone. I didn't run the neck all the way through this time, gambling on my ability to firmly mount the neck to the body, and it payed off. I think it's maybe a sixteenth out between the head and the end of the fretboard, but it doesn't seem to make any difference, and it holds tune just fine.  This was my first foray into the world of fretting, but it was easier than I had thought it would be- just a pullsaw and a hammer and some fretwire. The key was using a square to guide the cut. I laid out the fret positions using my '75 Harmony 3/4 scale acoustic as a template- the scale is 21.5" from nut to bridge. The hardest part was getting the bridge angle right so the intonation wasn't off... that took a couple hours of trial and error, and I ended up having to shim the nut with a jigsaw blade (whatever works, right?). I keep learning new things about the instrument the more I play it- for instance, I just discovered that if you turn the latch on the box lid by 180 degrees, it creates a rattle that sounds just like someone turned up the gain. It's natural distortion- amazing! And, since it is still operable as an ammo box, I can keep any number of things in it during shows: extra picks, a whole microphone as a pickup, or, best of all, 2 inches of ice and three cans of beer. Best Instrument Ever.

Specs:

-Poplar neck

-Mahogany fingerboard

-Ammunition can body

-10 speed rear cluster guard sound hole co

ver

-Simpson Strongtie neck bracket

-Old Fender Tuners (mismatched, all right handed)

-Maple table leg neck brace

-Abalone inlay drawer-pull bridge

-Light gage strings

-Total Cost: $24.00

J.R. CBG LIVE!

Here's a video of me more or less playing an old Doc Watson tune. I'm still getting used to the fretlessness of the neck, so I'm sure the viewer will forgive any bum notes. I tuned to GDGD for this song, which is how I also tune my fiddle. I think I'll keep the guitar in this tuning, since it also makes playing slide a lot easier.  Enjoy! (Also, for some reason my camera turns everything backwards, so the backwards writing on the headstock is actually correct in real life.)

INTRODUCING THE "JONNY REB" TENOR CIGAR BOX GUITAR

So here it is, finally! The Jonny Reb Tenor CBG, all strung up and ready to go. It's not the loudest guitar by any means, but it's got a really distinctive tone that I can't quite place... something between a crappy cello and a nylon string guitar you'd buy at the Tijuana border crossing. In other words, perfect. I originally wanted to put frets on it, but I kind of like it fretless now that I've played it. Also, due to the 19" neck and the strange bridge position, the first few frets would be pretty massive. It's playable though, so I'll either burn in fret markers once I figure out exactly where they are, or I'll just put cheater dots on the side of the fretboard. I think I might have to install ferrels where the strings come out of the tailpiece since they are digging in more than I thought they would, and I think it's causing the strings to go flat, but other than that, my design works pretty well. I strung it GDAE, tenor style. I have to admit that I was pretty sure the whole thing was going to explode or shatter or something when I was tightening up the strings, but it held together just fine. Next post will involve a video or recording of me playing it.  

Specs:

-Poplar neck

-Mahogany fingerboard

-2/25 mahogany cigar box

-Mahogany nut

-Steel T-strike bridge

-Nickel sealed gear tuners (mismatched discount set, 3 right, 1 left.)

-shower drain sound hole

-Mineral Spirits finish

-D'Addario light gauge strings

-Total cost: about $40.00

CIGAR BOX PROGRESS

Today I made some headway on the cigar box guitar. The project is taking me longer than I thought it would, but it's also coming out better (looking) that I had anticipated. I'm still not sure what it will sound like, but I rigged a pretty interesting floating bridge that I think will work pretty well. Here are some pics and explanations:

I finished shaping the neck and head (poplar), and glued down the fingerboard (mahogany). I'm pretty stoked on the two-tone grain of the fingerboard, and not so stoked on the accidental kerf left by the table saw on the left side of the headstock... poplar Duco, anyone?

For my bridge, I dug through a couple old tool boxes full of hardware left over from random jobsites. I found this steel strike plate and attached it to the tailpiece using two panhead screws to pin it down inside the mortise opening. The nice thing is that the tab (unseen in the pic, sorry) can be adjusted by bending it up or down. This feature, originally designed to allow easy door adjustment, makes it possible for me to adjust the action from the bridge side pretty easily. Also, since the panheads secure the bridge without actually penetrating the metal, I can pop the bridge out simply by loosening the screws a small amount.

I noticed in researching CBG's that some people have a hard time keeping the strings from digging into the wood.  I think I'll be ok behind the bridge, but I am a bit worried about the ball ends of the strings slowly working their way into the holes in the back of the tailpiece. I solved this problem (I think) by cutting out a piece of an A-? bracket left over from a house we framed last year.  Oddly enough, the layout of the holes is perfect for spacing 4 strings evenly across the fretboard, and they are smaller than the ball ends on most strings. 

I should be able to finish everything but the fretting tomorrow. I can't wait to play it, although I'm not getting my hopes up that it will sound good... at least it looks pretty sweet though. Also, any ideas on finishes would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking just some mineral oil might do the trick...

ADVENTURES IN GUITAR BUILDING

About a week ago I was searching Ebay for something I'm sure I didn't need, and I came across a cigar box guitar. Quite simply, it's a home made guitar that uses a cigar box as a resonator cavity. I got really stoked on the idea of owning one of these instruments, and I figured that, as a sometime finish carpenter, I should be able to build one pretty easily. I did some research, bought an assortment of empty cigar boxes from my local cigar shop, rustled up some poplar 1x3 and started planning. Somewhere along the way Ta-Ta's the banjo man got involved and decided to build himself a cigar box banjo. He came up with some close-grain mahogany crate wood (who builds crates from mahogany?) and we set up in the red house garage to build us some pickin' machines. Here are some shots from tonight's experimental session, in which we learned that tuning pegs are weird, jigsaw blades can actually light on fire, and, contrary to popular belief, it is possible to freehand a headstock on a table saw with no guide- super sketchy, but possible.

Necessary starting materials: Poplar, check. Cigar box, check. FatMax, check. Alcohol, check.

Ta-Ta's sanding out his neck. Obviously, our work area is conducive to safety and efficiency.

Me, prepared for flap-disking and mustard gas. 

GUITARCYCLE

We played a show at Mike Kaplan's Motorcycle Shop tonight, and I thought it would be a good time to test the instrument transporting capabilities of Skully the touring bike. This photo was taken on Ta Ta's the Banjo Man's porch right before the gig. I made good use of some bungee cords, and, other than a slight difference in cornering balance, I was able to ride around with no problems. On the way home, I had a guitar and a mandolin case strapped on the rack, and my tenor guitar in a gig bag on my back but I forgot to get a picture of it. Pretty awesome way to get to the show, though- Toddy rode too, solo on the tandem with his dog chasing us in the bike lane.