The Beginning Of The License Plate Guitar

in #woodworking7 years ago (edited)

A friend of mine was one of the very few that helped me move besides family and a couple that stopped by for a couple minutes to help on their way to or from work. We met when he was interested in a cigar box guitar after seeing a friend of his playing one. He has since bought two more and has an order for two more after that to give to his friends... I decided to build him one that is specific to him. I built a custom box from curly maple with a purple heart stringer.

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I notched the neck to fit into the box instead of on it. Hopefully it stays strong with the strings on it.

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I will be using a P90 pickup under the top so it will not be seen. To do this I will have to notch the neck again possibly making it weaker. But I will be glueing wings along the side of the neck to strengthen it and give the pickup something to set on.

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The plate seen here is not the one being used, its just for reference. I have a 1967 Illinois plate for him. That was his birth year and he was born in Chicago.

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More pics to come as it comes further along. I need to find my fret saw, miter box, and various other tools that haven't surfaced after the move. To cap it off here are some pics to show how it should come together roughly.....

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www.stogeebluesbox.com. - www.facebook.com/angelsong13/

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thats very kool mrkstn1. Did you determine the fret placements on the neck from an existing neck? I will be keeping up with your progress. Thnx for sharing

I have a program on the computer that gives me fret placement in accordance with the scale length and how many frets and what type scale it is.

Beautiful. Is it going to be a 3 or 4 string?

Personally I have made a 3 string CGB using a Brick House box with a mahogany neck / maple fretboard. For Christmas, I made my stepdad a 2x4 lapsteel out of mahogany I built up the 2x4 from a 6ft 1x4 plank as a mahogany 2x4 is freaking expensive.

The next guitar is going to be a 4 string dobro using a paint can lid for the resonator.

Oh and my 3 string. Protip do not put the control knobs above the bridge if you are a right hander... It gets annoying with your playing arm hitting them.

It will be a 3 stringer..... image

Paint can lids can be fun too

Looking good, :) The door strikeplate headstock is awesome.

Nice work Man. That rippled maple is serious stuff. Great box joints too

my cuts are a little rough but it doesn't matter because nothing will be seen and in fact it might make the joint a little stronger when its glued. With my table saw still in storage I had to cut everything either with the band saw or a hand saw. The box joints were an experiment... I don't have a jig but rigged one up and it wasn't quite lined up right and a few of the fingers aren't like they should be. But you should start to see a great transformation because I have ideas.....lol

Box joint jig or freestyle ?

Freestyle.....shoulda had a jig

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