Building a Cigar Box style Ukulele from a Firewood log

My firewood delivery arrived back in December and amongst them where several square chunks of poplar So I thought I would challenge myself to build an instrument out of one.
All wooden instruments start of with a log at some point but rarely builders actually start with one preferring to use pre processed wood that is already planed dimensioned to make less work.
Here is the chopped log roughly 12" long and about 5" wide

First job is to process the wood so I cut as many 5mm thick slices as I could whilst still leaving a large enough block for the neck

After measuring the neck pieces I realised I had enough to make a tenor scale but had to scarfe joint the headstock on. The poplar is really nice to scarfe joint as it's pretty fibrous and grips really well so only 1 clamp needed.

Next was to rough shape the neck

So at this stage I have the neck blank top and bottom which are in two halves and the sides and enough left over for bracing. I decided to use a thin slice of mahogany for the fretboard for extra stability and a bit of contrast although I did have enough to make it out of the log.

I then glued on some sides to the headstock to increase the width

Along with the mahogany fretboard I decided on an Amazique bridge as the poplar wouldn't be strong enough for my design of bridge as the strings rest in slots.

Next was to sand the body panels and joint them together I only sanded them on the insides as it's easier to sand the outside once it's been made into a box.

The box construction is simply gluing little bars along the inside edges of the panels leaving a little recess for the sides to fit into (sorry forgot to take pics of this bit) Then clapming the sides down

The picture shows the top on here but that was only to hold it together as haven't put the bracing on yet.

Gluing the bracing you can see the inner frame that the sides fit into here.  The bracing is simple I have no method really for a cigar box instrument my main concern it to re-enforce the top there is also the bridge plate that sits behind the bridge.

I made some dowels out of some of the poplar for the fret markers. (Unfortunately when I stained the uke these virtually disappeared)

So here is the neck Blank Mahogany fret board and Bridge all completed.

Next job is to glue the fretboard on (I always do this before shaping the neck).

Then final neck shaping

I cut an (not sure why but an egg shape took my fancy) sound hole

and glued the top on

Then once that was dry I sanded down the outside of the box thinning the top down to about 3mm

Here it is with the neck placed and bridge on to see what it would like completed.

Next job fretting the board and drilling the holes for machine heads

Once that's done its the job of gluing the neck on. Again sorry for the lack of pics but I glued in a rctangular block of poplar in the L shape of the heel and fret board and cut a slot in the top of the box to make a tenon joint. There is a heel block inside the box for this tenon to fit inside. A bar clamp to keep the heel against the body and a clamp to keep the fretboard on is all that's required.

To fit the bridge I drill two holes with a deep counter sink. Glue and screw the bridge. The screws go through to the bridge plate underneath the top. Then fill the countersunk hole with the rest of the dowell

1st stain going for my rustic aged look

2nd stain and coat of clear matt lacquer

I cut a corian nut and saddle  fitted the machine heads strung it up(Sorry no pics again) and here is the finished Uke

And here is a video demo of the finished Uke

Fitting a Horseshoe Vibrato (Bigsby style) To a Telecaster. ShonKy Bedcaster

Recently I made  a Tele shaped guitar out of my daughters redundant cot bed.
I basically laminated the thicknessed planks together and routed out the shape. The neck and all other parts where recycled and I put a new budget electrical control plate on.
To get a quick sale and a bit of cash in the coffers I put it on ebay for auction.
As with all my guitars I sell I offer to upgrade any pickups and parts and the buyer wanted a Bigsby style tremolo.
There aren't many options for fitting one to a tele. You have the official Bigsby Unit with the replacement bridge and pickup plate which is beautiful and very expensive. (more than the guitar sold for)  There is also the stetsbar unit which is pretty cool looking bit of kit but also very expensive. .
Other options are taking the bridge off completely Making a separate plate to hold the pickup and fitting a TOM roller bridge or in this case adapting the bridge plate.
This one had a top stringing bridge but with 6 individual strat style saddles. To have the strings going from the bigsby through the holes in the back and then through each individual saddle was going to cause no end of problems with the strings catching on all that. so I swapped the bridge for a 3 saddle plate and put some wilkinson brass compensated saddles on. I simply elongated the holes so the strings would pass freely through them without touching anything, attached the bigsby strung it up and hey presto job done.

One final tip. the strings will rock the saddles when operating the vibrato Due to the sharp apex of the compensated saddle and the raised height of them causing a creaking noise I simply put a little touch of copper lube in between string and saddle which eliminated this. It would probably need to be done on a regular basis I expect over time the strings will wear a groove and it will be less of a problem.
Anyhow guitar is with it's new happy owner now. Heres a couple more pics of the finished guitar.

Tenor guitar No 7 with Demo. ShonKy cigar box guitar

It's been a busy couple of months here at ShonKy HQ
I've mostly been working on several commissions for solid body guitars details of which will come later. In between that I have managed to build a few cigar box instruments to sell.
One of them is this lovely little Tenor CBG
The 7th Ive made now.
I made the box on this one as had a bit of spruce doing nothing. The neck is Sapele with some unknown exotic hardwood for the fingerboard. Tenon jointed to the body.
 I decided on ovankol binding for the body and fingerboard too. Square fret markers.
Spalted Beech headstock front and heel cap add just the right amount of interest to an otherwise clean and simple build.
It's really lovely all round and sounds particularly good through an amp. Also very pleased with the F holes which I carved out with a dremel freehand.
SOUnd demo is below the pics.

Primitive Syle Diddley bow. 1 string cigar box guitar.

Here's another recent commission completed.
Its a 1 String Lefty. made in in a really primitive fashion. To get the effect The only power tool I used was a drill everything else was hand tools.
Made from a vintage solid wood German cigar box and a left over stick of maple. I used a  spokeshave to whittle the neck.
A Friend gave me some Deer Antlers that I used for the bridge, nut and end pin/ string Anchor.
I wanted to make a tuning peg out of the antler too but after spending a fair bit of time whittling one it just wasn't strong enough to withstand the stress so I resorted to using an classical guitar peg which I removed the button and replaced it with an Antler piece.
 the fret markers are roofing tacks.
to finish it was give a coat of woodstain. (Ebony and Oak thinned with white spirit.)
The last pic is of The new owner (Kev) who is very pleased with it.

Another tenor guitar

Another tenor guitar the 7th so far.
I made the box for this one from some left over spruce. I used some Ovankol binding left over from a previous fret board for the top of the box and  the fret board.

This one sounds quite nice acoustically but not fantastically loud. it is fitted with a piezo and sounds particularly good through an amp with little of the hand noise transference you usually get so I'm pretty pleased with that.
I'm also pretty pleased with the soundholes. Using a hand held dremel with no templates.

2 string fretless cigar box bass guitar

Its been a while since I posted anything (as usual) Mostly the summer holidays and getting a few commissions which has made me very busy.
The latest creation is this 2 string upright bass commissioned by Gavin Lloyd Wilson of Guitars Blog the second after the Double neck I built earlier this year.

SO here it is a 2 string fretless bass
Made with a vintage cigar box, reclaimed  maple neck with a lovely character grain Ovankol fingerboard.
Split pbass pickups and jazz bass wiring. He also wanted to be able to play it in an upright position which makes sense as it will be so neck heavy. So I used a snooker cue. I removed the ferrule from the unused half which I them embedded into the bottom of the body the thin end then can be screwed in easily or removed for portability. It was an idea suggested by some kind folks on the cigar box guitar builders group on facebook.