Very first play of the latest stringed thing that I built here at the Works.

I had a few people ask me "How do you build those things?" in reference to the Cigar Box Guitars and Diddley Bows that I make. So I figured that I would give a brief answer here today.

First you go out and dig around in the trash for materials such as scraps of hardwood, old cigar boxes or jewelry boxes and the likes. I even find guitars, violins and other instruments in the trash. Some are more busted than others but all can be used for parts! You can find everything you need to build a noise making instrument right in the dumpsters! Seriously, you just have to start looking at things differently. Instead of seeing a busted hinge, I see a an interesting way to secure guitar strings to the body of the build. Instead of seeing an old rusted bolt, I see a bridge that has some character. It is all a matter of perception and perspective. So I start off by going out on my bike and jumping into the cesspool of societies waste!

After gathering up the necessary materials I started by fashioning the neck. I was fortunate enough to get a good scrap piece of nice hard wood for this build. It all starts with the hand saw.

 I made the cuts for the basic shape that I am aiming for. Once that was done I pulled out the old hammer and chisel to clear out the unwanted chunks of material.

After a few minutes of wacking the chisel, and I ended up with a very crudely shaped neck. Next I grab the files and augers and do a little refining on the shape of the neck.

In the meantime I went ahead and soldered up the wiring for the piezo disc pickup and mono input jack.

Then I cut out the notches in the box to fit the neck into. I usually use a miter saw for this step but decided to break out the rotary tool for this one. It came out pretty good.

After a little filing and sanding to smooth out the edges of the cut I moved onto the next step which was doing a final sanding on the neck by hand to get it as smooth as possible. No one wants to get a splinter while picking!

Next I got out the drill and some screws and mounted the neck onto the box.

After that I got out the hot glue gun and mounted the pick-up and jack assembly inside of the box body of the guitar.

Once that was done all I really had left to do was to string it up and plug it in. First I wanted to add a little artistic touch and give the instrument a one of a kind unique finish.

Once it was "purdied" up a bit, it was ready to make some noise!

Thanks for stopping by, now go ride your bike!