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Finished to the point of testing. Some slight adjustments to the bridge are needed for angle and intonation. Metal finger picks feel the best so far when playing. I may experiment with the tone control capacitor. It has a .022uF at the moment. I have only tested with the Fender-style amp. Seems pretty mellow. I will make several changes to the next one I build. Building these guitars is a little more complicated than I thought going in. It is not Rocket Science, but it has challenged my skill level. Fun stuff! Most likely will make a four-string next time. The cigar boxes are very fragile, and the paper covering them is especially easy to damage. I will post some sound files when I get everything intonated.  Billy BTW, the amp in the photo is my design and is like a Fender Delux Reverb but with twin 12 inch speakers.
Last edited by Planobilly; 06/15/23 11:55 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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eddie1261
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How about a 30 second audio demo?
Oh wait, you already said you were going to do that.
Last edited by eddie1261; 06/15/23 11:55 AM.
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Looking pretty good, Billy.
Certainly has a bit of 'wow factor'
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Here is a short sound sample plugged into my Mesa-style amp. I got the Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 chassis and the PCB from a shop in Miami with no components. It originally had EL84 power tubes. I reconfigured it to use EL844 power tubes. It is, without a doubt, the most complex and sensitive to dial in the tone I have ever built. https://soundcloud.com/planobilly/cigur-box-1/s-o2IXriSVYfj?si=374765e8927449af9bbb1c86acdeaf5c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing It will for sure take some time to learn to play this three-string guitar. The string spacing is pretty significant. The next one will be different and an improvement, I am sure. Billy
Last edited by Planobilly; 06/16/23 01:32 PM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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eddie1261
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eddie1261
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How are you tuning it? So many options. Open chord tuning, but which key? Which inversion of that chord? I would probably get the most use out of open D, with a D-F#-A inversion (low to high).
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It is tuned to open G. G, D, G, and that is the most common "Cigar Box Guitar Tuning." Open E and drop D are also pretty common.
Also, the guitar sounds very different plugged into a Fender-style amp.
This first attempt at building a guitar is a bit crude. I did learn a good bit that will be useful going forward.
Billy
EDIT: Trying to operate a computer mouse and keyboard with metal finger picks and a thumb pick is a PITA...lol
Last edited by Planobilly; 06/16/23 01:50 PM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Billy, I'm surprised at the amount of sustain the guitar has. I would love to hear a clean sample with no distortion.
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It has a pretty good sound to it Billy. Thanks for the clean sample.
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Hi Jim
I have a new guitar under construction. It has a zero-fret design. That is not so common, but I hope it will solve some of the intonation issues. With slide guitar, the intonation is not an issue. This fingerpicking/slide playing is a new skill I am trying to learn. Plus, playing in open tunings is something new. Lots of new stuff to learn.
There is something called "Buzz Fenton" tuning design, which is how Tom Anderson builds his guitars. The fret spacing is slightly different, and how you tune the guitar is a bit different. I may look into that system on the next guitar.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Billy. The paint's not dry on his latest job and he's already moving on another. Yep, not one to let the grass grow under his feet 
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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This is the start of the second guitar. The rough-out guitar neck. Works on oil rigs part-time...lol  I screwed up this part of the neck and cut it too thin.  This is how I recovered from the mistake. This part will get high gloss black paint.  Gluing up the neck to the fretboard. New fretboard design with a zero fret.  Gluing up the new headstock part.  This is the Gigar box.  Side of the box.  The final hardware parts arrived today. I have one more part to glue on the neck. I carved and rounded the back of the neck to a C shape similar to a Fender Mexican Strat. Perhaps this will get to the clear coat stage by next week. Guitar number three is in the design stage at the moment. I am unsure how many I will have to make before making a really good one. Learning to play these instruments is also a bit of a challenge. Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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eddie1261
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3 strings again or 4 on this one?
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Three on this one, Eddie. If it turns out pretty good, the next one will be a four-string.
I have some woodworking skills from the past, but it has been a long time, and this is my first attempt at making a guitar.
I may have to make several of these guitars to figure out how to do it properly.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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The new Neck before paint.  Billy EDIT: This guy said he would play for me!  This is totally weird that Chatgpt would use the same headstock design on the drawing as I am using. I just as for a robot playing a guitar.
Last edited by Planobilly; 06/24/23 07:24 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Richards isn't known for using Marshalls let along a 100w with 4x12.
He was known to use a AC30, a fender Showman, an Ampeg bass head and, for the last couple of decades, a handmade Mesa Boogie.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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