Making a Cigar Box Guitar, Part 2

I left you in part one with the fingerboard just glued to the neck.

While I was waiting for that to set I made up a big chunky purple heart Nut.

I also cut a the hole in the box

and have a cup of tea.

You may have noticed that the headstock is quite deeply recessed from the fingerboard. There is no reason for this particularly just the way it is but it does have some advantages. one being you don't need a string tree and you have plenty of room to tie a strap through it.

Once the Fingerboard has set I then mark out the frets and cut the slots. Now this is where a lot of people get put off  I'll tell you my technique which is cheap and cheerful.

First of all I mark them out using an old guitar neck I line the centre of the  fret side of the neck along the edge of my neck ( I haven't tapered the neck yet so the sides are parallel) I then take a fine and very sharp pencil and mark my fret board where the centre of the fret touches it. I then copy this on the other side And join the marks up creating a line.

To cut the frets I actually use a fretsaw! No not a fret slotting saw a normal fret saw that you can buy in your hardware store. I rest my neck on a flat surface and level it I then get two blocks of hardwood that will be higher than the fret board and  with one hand hold the blocks one each side of the neck  With the Coping saw blade flat against the blocks of wood I line it up with a the mark and very carefully cut the slot until the top  of the  saw blade is level with the fret board.

"Surely this can't be accurate?" I hear you ask well no it probably isn't but I am making a cigar box guitar here not a concert classical. Any irregularities and inaccuracies will only help towards giving it it's own unique tone and sound. Obviously there is a limit to how accurate you have to be otherwise it will just sound awful but half a mil here and there won't hurt. (the first time I did this it was quite bad though but with some practice and taking great care I get pretty good results. I'll probably get fed up of doing it like this eventually and buy myself the proper gear!)

Once the slots are sawn I cut all the frets I'm going to need. This fret board is flat so I am using flat fret wire. (don't bother trying to give your fingerboard a radius completely unnecessary).

Using my sanding machine I shape the frets like this...

Notice the tang This is because I don't like the metal to show at the edge of the fret board.

Now the fret slots are cut I finished of the final shaping of the neck and sand it down to 120 grit.

 I fit the frets by (one at a time)  putting a line of super glue into the fret slot and by hand pressing the fret in. then press it in using a clamp. And when they are all fitted I rub down the edges with 240 grit and also give a quick level by wrapping some 240 grit over a long flat piece of hardwood and lightly sanding the tops of the frets.

Once this is done you are left with little gaps at the fret slot edges. To finish these of I use some wood filler and I always like to go a bit darker so I mix a bit of black acrylic paint into the wood filler and work it well into the fret slots. Once dry sand of the excess until you are left with nice tidy little lines.

Now it's time to fit your neck to the body. Normally I fit the neck directly to the back of the box this time I'm going to have it going through the middle of the box. I also need to set the neck at a slight angle so I can get more string Height at the bridge.

Before you glue it I have to sand both the body and neck to get a good fit I left the body part a bit long for this very reason. Also remember the shoulders on the body part of the neck? these should just fit snugly along the top edge of the box.

Once I have a good fit I glue all the connecting surfaces. and put a temporary screw through the end just to hold it in place.

Leave this to dry and the rest in part 3.