This is another cigar box guitar (bass) failure. For slightly different reasons than previous ones.

Again I thinned the neck slab too much leading to neck flexibility. I probably fixed that error by cutting up an aluminum Squangle carpenter’s square and bracing my weak homemade neck with it.

Despite being warned by the talkbass.com commenters, the social media site for bassists, that it was a bad idea, I made my own nut and bridge from red oak.

Which is a hardwood but not hard enough. The guitar strings instantly began cutting grooves into it, making tuning and intonation impossible.

So I cut them off and tried using old plastic uke bridge and nut instead.

Again, no joy. I could tune the strings open but even the first fret’s intonation was bad on every string, getting worse the higher up the neck I played.

My toothpick frets were incorrectly placed despite all my measurements and care. Another CG box guitar (bass) failure.

I’m not giving up though. I need a 4-string boxen to learn melodies on and nobody is souveniring me a tenor guitar so I’m soldiering on, being a stubborn old soldier.

I drove down to South Sacramento, a major expedition for this eldster, to look at some CG boxen built by an amateur luthier.

He advised me to look for an electric guitar neck. Then attach it to a 2×4 plank, put it in the box, and convert it to a four string with new nut and bridge/saddle.

I have about nine cool vintage cigar boxes, cardboard and thin plywood, so I’m searching for a cheap or free guitar neck so I can try again. Never say die.

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