Cigar box guitars
A three-string fretless slide guitar with a humbucker and piezo, the first of three, each one carrying its lessons forward to the next.
The cigar box guitar is the oldest kind of DIY instrument: a box, a stick, some strings. I’m building three, slowly, each one improving on the last.
The first one
- Three strings, fretless, 23-inch scale, set up for slide.
- Two pickups: a flat-pack humbucker and a piezo disc, passive for now, with a preamp possible later.
- Wiring on a perfboard with header connectors, so the pickups and string ground come apart easily for changes.
- Nut and bridge in wood to start.
What’s next
Two more at about a 25-inch scale, one fretted and one fretless. Eventually they’ll get pickups from the coil winder.