The Blues Jam Railway II

[Bad Juju]

First off the production line, all handmade! Body was imported from Esteli, Nicaragua and held 24 of Drew Estate's Tabak Especial cigars . Resonator-style sound holes courtes of Lowe's plumbing department .

22" scale poplar neck, front and rear string ferrules for all 3 strings, Gotoh tuners, Switchcraft jack, brass nut, brass side dot fret markers, and a Ted Crocker Flatbed Piezo bridge/pickup made from East Indian Rosewood and Queensland Walnut.

Acoustically, it sounds slightly dobro-ish because of the brass bridge and nut, which is what I was after. It resonates well and is surprisingly loud for its size. I routed out the neck-thru design and minimized the amount of neck touching the top to allow it to vibrate better.

I plan on making other 3 and 4 string models - possibly to sell - out of the 25+ cigar boxes I bought from the Corona Cigar Company's world HQ in Orlando, FL.

Here's a sound clip:
http://www.box.net/shared/kdbraudhor

And here's some pics:

[rob_on_guitar]

At first when i saw the pics i was 'What the heck?' I never too many guitars if any looking like that

Then i heard the sound clip Frikin awesome!

[acwild]

That's really cool! I've heard about these but didn't know what to think. Now I gotta go find the sample. The ad system in this site has me all confused.

[acwild]

I just found the link. Dude, that sounds really cool! You could come up with some badass blues with this box! Was it hard to build?

[Acoustic Rust]

That is totally awesome, BJ. I have been meaning to make one of those myself. A few folks in my area make them to sell. Tampa is the cigar capital of the USA. All kinds of exotic boxes to choose from, however, now that these are getting popular to make, the good looking ones are premium priced! I am going to make mine out of a humidor because they generally have some with pretty fine woods for not a whole lot.

I made one in the 8th grade as a shop project. Played it until the bridge blew up on me. LOL.

What do you have yours tuned to on the clip? Sounds perfect. Did you use regular tuners? Where did you get the piezo bridge? I was planning mine with two flat piezos and a tone and volume control from a guy I know in Chicago who makes them.

I can't say enough good things about your CBG. Fantastic says it all.

[Bad Juju]

Thanks guys! The more I play it, the more I love it. It's the guitar you can toss around and keep any where you are - it's under 3 feet long!

The build wasn't too bad - I bought a router to route out the neck/body joint and headstock. That was probably the hardest part. I route out the neck joint so it's not totally solid under the lid to allow it to resonate more. The scale length for the bridge, nut, and fret marking placement wasn't as tough as I thought, just slightly time consuming.

I picked up about 25 cigar boxes from the Corona Cigar HQ in Orlando - got a deal worked out to get them on the cheap. I picked up all wooden ones of various shapes and designs - even a few of the Don Julio Playboy ones!

I have it tuned to open G (G, D, G) and use standard guitar Gotoh tuners, which require a 9/16" depth on the headstock. I got the bridge/pickup combination from Ted Crocker - a heck of a nice guy who also threw in a free one because I ordered so many.

My plan was the same AR - build them and sell them on the side to those who are interested. The ones I sell though will have a stained/finished neck, plus I have to come up with some kind of logo

[rob_on_guitar]

Jutang Geetarz! lol
Thats awesome man, a man with a plan, great stuff!

[Bad Juju]

Jutang Geetarz! lol
Thats awesome man, a man with a plan, great stuff!