The other day I went to plug my patch cord into my Blues Box cigar box guiter and to my shock and horror the plug had become unscrewed and I inadvertently pushed the plug into the body of the guitar.
I didn't take a picture of it till after I fixed it :( I had found that nut on the floor shortly before the mishap. I had just finished restringing the Squier Strat and thought it was to one of the tuning knobs. Turned out, it was the nut that held the cord plug in place.
I had bought this kit on Amazon. I seen a video on cigar box guitars and thought it would be fun to try out this hobby. I found this semi pre-assembled kit on Amazon for $20.00 at the time. Seemed like a nice deal to see if I had any interest in pursuing cigar box guitar. The box comes completely sealed. The only way to get into it would be to cut it open. So I had to perform surgery, try not to destroy the box and still keep it looking good when I was done.
There's not a lot to the electronics of this particular build. It uses a really simple piezo style pickup. It's basically a hot mic glued to the body of the guitar. This appears to be a rather cheap one, considering the kit was on sale for $20.00 I wasn't expecting much. Now that I've opened it up, I may upgrade this to a better one with a volume control know. For now let's get this thing fixed.
One of the things I love about cigar box guitars is that it's really about making an instrument out of whatever parts you have laying around. Grab an old cigar box or something shaped like one. Drill a sound hole in it. Add some tuning knobs, neck, and a few strings and you got yourself a cigar box.
I thought I'd screw some wood reinforcements into the box on the front side and back side to keep the cut out piece in place. I made some measurements and cut a wood block out, but I didn't like the way it was going together. A little aggravated, I did what many DIY guys do in this situation and went to the fridge for a cold beer... I think beer helps us think 🤣 After cracking open a beer and staring at the top of the fridge in deep contemplation I noticed my wine cork collection in a storage jar on top of my fridge. A light bulb went off and to my complete amazement the corks were the exact perfect size to secure the cut out piece! 😂🤣 Never underestimate the power of bar room ingenuity!
This reminds me of the joke:
Give a bunch of stoners a bag of weed and nothing to smoke it with and suddenly watch as theses guys become engineers. Like a stoner MacGyver they'll build you a worthy pipe out of whatever's laying around the house.
Sorry about the blurry picture. You can see that it was the exact perfect size I needed though! 🤣
So I cranked down the patch cord jack with a pair of pliers and then screwed each cork to the base of the guitar from the front using some small wood screws. When the four corks were in place, I placed the cut out over the back and screwed it in place with four more tiny wood screws.
I think it's funny that the guitar designer has the box patented. I hope he's not a patent troll. I mean this is a pretty standard cigar box guitar for the most part. Once the back was secure I plugged it in and all worked fine. For the most part, it looks good too!
And here it is all put back together again sitting beside the little 10 watt practice I amp.
The BBG written across the front stands for Blues Box Guitar. That's the name of the kit. It's basically a three string, fretless, slide cigar box. This is actually what got me back into playing guitar. It's a fun instrument to play, and I'm really happy I gave this kit a try.
This was my first really simple build. I'm actually just getting started on a much more complicated build with real guitar pickups, tone and volume controls, frets, and a stratocaster style bridge.
Well, that's all for this post. Ever play a cigar box guitar? Any thought's? I'll post some updates on the new build as it progresses! Thanks for reading and rock on!