Beginner Cigar Box Guitar

Step 3 Chisel the neck

So, slide the neck through your brand new notch, all the way until it touches the other side of the box. Cool, right? Except, chances are, your lid won't close anymore. In order to get the box to close flush, we need to account for the thickness of the lid.

In case it's not 100% clear, your neck needs to fit all the way through your cigar box so that you can drill the bridge into the neck at the top of the box.

1. Measure the depth of your cigar box lid and mark it on your guitar neck.
2. Measure the length of your cigar box and mark it on your neck.
3. Saw several cuts into the top of your neck, using the guides you've just drawn.
4. Stick a chisel in between these cuts and apply pressure. The wood between the cuts should pop right out.
5. Safety tip: Always chisel AWAY from yourself
6. The chiseled-out surface will be lumpy and uneven, but this doesn't matter much because this part of the neck will be hidden inside your box.
7. Still, if you're a perfectionist like me, you can use the palm sander to smooth out the rough surface.
8. If your lid still doesn't close flush, sand a bit more around the edge that butts up against the notch you made earlier.

Comments

[woeandwonder]

could i just cut the notch in the cigar box to accomidate for the lid? or do you have to cut down the neck?

[bbostick]

I built one that did not include a notched neck, a few days ago, (my first one actually). It just a has deeper cut into the box so that the lid could close all of the way. It works more or less, but the problem with that is that you end up not being able to fret all the way up the neck; at a certain point the strings hit the edge of the lid. With the notch cut in, the neck should be completely flush with the lid.