Cake Panjo

This was the answer to the cigar box guitar. I seem to remember wanting to make an instrument that I might actually want to play. It was also meant to soak up extra parts. Probably dates from the Summer of 2015. Dimensionally, it is basically a baritone ukulele. It sounds alright- surprisingly "banjo-y," on its own and through piezo.

This one was a success. It used scrap cutting board hardwood from shop class and a pan from Goodwill which was probably $3, as well as the aforementioned cigar box extras. Notice the homemade adjustable bridge. Hand tools were used throughout, including for tedious ripping of the neck, except for a dremel which I used to cut the pan before inserting the through-neck.

Cigar Box Guitar

Though the picture reads 2015, this is probably actually from the year before. My first fretted string instrument, this cigar box guitar descended from countless earlier noisemakers. These included cans sporting wires which were manually stretched to vary pitch, a diminutive Altoids tin guitar with screw-eye tuners and a pickup (naturally,) and, most directly, a dual-strung slide guitar made out of a chunk of two by four. For this effort, you can see that actual tuners and fret wire have been obtained. No expense should be spared on a masterpiece.

Design goofs are shared with many cigar box guitars you can find online.

• Strings are stretched over the bridge like on an archtop or electric. On a flat top, they should be affixed so that they can rock the soundboard back and forth.
• The above point ceased to matter anyway when I decided to brace the top against the through-neck, deadening the soundboard completely.
• The bridge should have been made to adjust with shims somehow, or brought down to size. The action is horrible (pawn shop owner might call it "perfect for slide.")
• Threading the strings through the body is a nightmare.

Cool things about it:

• Hardware store nut and strap buttons.
• Cool looking. Pick guard and jack plate were from the lining inside the box, F-hole is funny.
• Electronics work alright.

If I wanted this to be good, I would turn it into a semi-hollow electric type doo-dad with a magnetic pickup and adjustable bridge. It is pretty cool as is and just needs to have the bridge lowered.