Another Altoids Guitar

I loved the Altoids guitars made by bumpus and jwilson27. So I decided to make one to give to my brother for his birthday, with a few additions... ROCK ON!!!

Step 1: Materials

The materials needed for this project are as follows:
- Altoids tin (eat up!)
- Wooden slats (I used red oak ones from Lowes)
- Guitar tuning pegs (3) (bought a set of six at the local music store)
- Nylon spacers (found in the specialty hardware section)
- Piezo element
- 1/4" audio jack
- Guerilla glue, hot glue, super glue... (get the picture?)
- Electric guitar strings
- Guitar strap buttons (2)
- At least 12oz. of ice cold liquid creativity *optional, but recommended

The tools I used were as follows:
- Dremel tool with router bit and small cutting wheel bit
- Jigsaw
- Bar clamps
- Drill
- Screwdriver

Comments

[HADJISTYLLIS]

Its the piezzo a buzzer or a magnetic switch?

[YoChuck]

You can get the piezzo element out of a buzzer. I lucked out and found this one in a battery-powered window alarm at the dolar store (piezzo, micro switch, and three 1.5v button cells for a buck!!!) Just take the outer casing apart (very gingerly), and the flat piezzo element will be inside. Try to salvage the wires that are already soldered onto the piezzo, as it's much easier to just solder extensions to those rather than try to solder new wires onto the piezzo itself. Also pay close attention to the polarity. Best of luck to you!

[JtMS]

if you are feeling fancy you can actually make your own piezo out of baking soda and cream of tartar powder... http://createdigitalmusic.com/2011/08/kitchen-contact-mic-chemistry-make-a-mic-from-baking-soda-cream-of-tartar/

[rownhunt]

I followed your advice and got a window alarm from the
dollar store and got one nice lookin' piezo!! 

[evilmadcow]

I looked at a video on this and decided that i want it to sound like an actual guitar,
so how do you remove the effect that makes it sound like you are hitting tuning forks?

[rownhunt]

Im working on one right now ive got the paint scraped of the top
and then i polished it with a buffing wheel and got a nice piece of birch which i stained to a chocholate brown colour..
But when i get my piezo does it have to be a 1/4" jack
can it be a smaller one for some computer speakers
or ipod headphones????

[YoChuck]

Yeah, I'm sure it'd be fine to wire whatever size jack you want to it.  Best of luck, and I'm happy you found one of those dollar store piezzos!

[Muchkoolz]

In this picture here, you have two wires, a green one and a white one. I'm guessing the green one goes to the audio jack, but where does the green wire go and connect with?...

[petler477]

both wires go to the audio jack

[Glockenator]

dark chocolate covered cinnamon?  i never knew such a strange flavour existed

[reptar9]

i wired the connections but i keep getting feedback, is it because i didnt sauder them together? or do i need a footpedal to just take away the feedback?

[YoChuck]

Are you getting feedback or a humming noise? The piezo sensor acts as a SUPER sensitive mic, so you should start at zero and adjust the volume from there if it's feedback. Humming is a bit more tricky, and I'm not sure of the best way to get rid of that. Perhaps soldering the connections would remedy your problem. I'd say just check your connections and make sure there's not a short anywhere. Best of luck!

[1up]

Humming is sometimes caused by a "ground loop". This is where there is more than one connection to ground. This acts an antenna to pick up interference.
Maybe something is shorting on the case and causing this?

[Zem]

Which part of the piezo element is which?
 

[lilbrewdog]

um...what did you spend making this guitar?

[wangzo]

Nice design, probably the clearest instructable I've seen yet. Gonna make it soon

[dreath77]

so are ;they like those cigarbox guitars but made with an altoids can instead, its seems like it is and that is awesome

[dreath77]

although i do have one questionss, wheres the frets, i play guitar and i know some guitars have frets. so is this that kind of guitar that doesnt

[repareren1]

it's not a real guitar

[zrune18]

LMAO

[D4VOBRO]

AWESOME AS!!!! Cool as... I read somewhere you can plug them into your mac and through garage band you can fiddle around with them. Do they sound remotely close to an electric guitar? Could you use a 3.5 audio amp with them? What would that sound like? Instructable perhaps... my calling... Great instructable

[ring wraith159]

>>-----(===) this is my guitar..... all most as small as yours

[Funkmasterlogan]

did you use th first three strings of the guitar? or every other one?

[YoChuck]

I think I used the first three, but you can use any combination of them you want to. It's crazy sounding to begin with, so have at it! Best of luck!

[Funkmasterlogan]

how long is the main piece of wood? i bought some at Lowe's but i dont know how long its supposed to be, they didnt have precut i had to get it long

[YoChuck]

I can't remember how long it was exactly. I think 12-16 inches is probably a good length...

[Funkmasterlogan]

can i get ay ptzo from radio shack? or does it has to be a certain type.

[YoChuck]

Yes. Radio Shack sells piezo buzzers for electronic alarms, that work perfectly. Just pick one of those up and carefully dismantle it to get the piezo element out. You can even leave the wire leads soldered onto it (makes life MUCH easier!). Best of luck!

[slowsam]

what would i use to make the frets???

[YoChuck]

I considered several items to use, but unfortunately couldn't do any because of time. Some things to try to glue on the board would be toothpicks, straightened paperclips, or small finishing nails. I'm not sure if you could find them, but if you're looking to go the authentic route, you could try and find some real frets, actually cut slots, and install them. Best of luck with whatever you try!

[lokisox]

try using the copper wire core (solid) from antenna cable from a cb radio

[chi chi chippy]

will the mono jack in this site work?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062461

[YoChuck]

That would work just fine if you want to use an in-line instead of the panel mount jack. As long as you wire everything up to the piezo correctly, you're good to go! Also, that link is to a 1/8" jack. That will work fine, but keep in mind that most guitar/music equipment is set up for 1/4". Best of luck, and let me know if I can be of any more help!

[Jr Hacking kid]

i went to radio shack and i got one of the cheapest 1/4 mono jack they have and i got it says that it is a phone jack can it still work? also on the peizo buzzer can i use this one or the other one?

this one
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062399
or
this one
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062397

[YoChuck]

I imagine the jack should work just fine, as long as it's a 1/4 inch mono... Both of the piezos should do ok. It looks like the first one is just rated for a bit higher voltage and current than the second one. Best of luck to you, and let us know how it turns out!

[Jr Hacking kid]

mkay! =)

[emdarcher]

this looks like it will be fun to make. I'll try to make some frets so I can know what I'm playing though.

[YoChuck]

Yes, it's definitely 'slide necessary' without frets. I think there are a good number of fret calculators you can find online to properly space them out. Best of luck, and thanks for the comment!

[gr1ffs]

The one I'm making right now is a full sized home made 24 fret neck. I'm sloting the neck and installing jumbo size nails with the tips and heads cut of for frets. the one I made before used finishing nails, but they give an uncomfortable feel and lead to hand injuries. also be sure to use a fret calculator.

[thejuggler]

I am going to make one with frets, and a black licourice altoids tin