Cigar Box Guitar - How I Made My First CBG

My CBG journey

I guy walked into our wood club meeting and was holding a guitar made out of a cigar box. He started to explain how he made it but he had me at cigar box.

Coincidentally, my club was having a contest where each member was given a small selection of exotic hardwood boards and challenged us to create something interesting. So I thought building a 3-string cigar box guitar (CBG) would be the perfect project more importantly my club member was willing to teach me how to make one.

First some background…

Cigar box guitars first emerged in 19th-century America, when factory-made instruments were expensive and not widely accessible. During the Civil War era and later the Great Depression, resourceful musicians built their own instruments from whatever materials they could find, such as: wooden boxes, wire, and salvaged parts. These simple handmade instruments helped shape the early sound of blues, folk, and Americana music.

This build is my modern tribute to that tradition combining fine woodworking, traditional guitar-building techniques, and a simple piezo pickup to create a playable instrument with both history and soul. I couldn't have done it without my friend and hopefully now you can benefit from my learning.

CBG diagram added to help with naming items.

Materials

1. Hardwood neck and fretboard stock (similar to mine)
2. Cigar box body Or a CBG Kit
3. 3 guitar tuners
4. Fret wire & guide
5. Fret scale
6. Guitar strings (3-string setup)
7. Piezo pickup element& Output jack
8. Brass plate (string tailpiece)
9. Bone (for nut and saddle)
10. Nylon rods (fretboard alignment pins)
11. Box corner protector
12. Brass grommets for sound holes
13. Internal hardwood support blocks
14. Wood glue, screws
15. Sandpaper
16. Tung oil finish

Or a CBG Kit

Tools

1. Table saw
2. Thickness planer
3. Drill press / drill
4. Head design template (or use these for ideas)
5. Fret saw
6. Fret depth guide
7. Fret leveling tool
8. Fret hammer or also has fret alignment)
9. Files and rasps
10. Clamps
11. Soldering iron
12. Small files (for bone to hold strings)

*affiliate links provided as reference

The first real step was preparing the neck wood. The rough lumber needed to be dimensioned accurately before I could start shaping anything.

Steps:

1. Ripped the stock to the approximate thickness on the bandsaw
2. Ran it thru a jointer and planer until I reached the exact thickness
3. Ripped the stock to the final width.

I did this for the neck and fret board and I picked the best boards for that. I also reduced the neck thickness on the side that fits into the cigar box. (See step 9 for details.)

BTW, the wood we used was ziricote which is very expensive and typically used for high-end instrument making.

Rather than leaving the headstock flat, I created an angled headstock using a scarf joint, a technique used in traditional guitar building.

Steps:

1. Marked the angle carefully
2. Used a Jig to safely cut the scarf
3. Flipped the headstock that was removed
4. Drilled a few alignment holes and small nylon pegs to make glue up easier

This angle helps create downward pressure over the nut, which improves sustain, string stability, and overall tone. It also gives the guitar a much more professional appearance.

With the scarf joint complete, I started turning the rectangular neck blank into something that actually felt like an instrument.

Steps:

1. Used a template to layout the headstock profile
2. Cut out the headstock on my scroll saw
3. Used a chisel, files, and a drum sander to shape the neck and head stock

This part required patience. Too little shaping and the neck feels bulky. I constantly checked the feel in my hands so playing would be comfortable and natural.

Next came the fretboard.

I took the milled board chosen for the fretboard (It was a beautiful piece.) Then I carefully laid out the scale length and fret positions using a guide. This is one of the most critical parts of the entire build. Even a small measuring error can cause notes to play sharp or flat.

Steps:

1. Marked each fret slots position using the guide
2. Double-checked measurements
3. Used a radial saw with a 6" blade that had a kerf the size of a fret wire (or you can use fret saw) to cut the fret slots
4. Used a fret gauge to make sure the slots were cut at the right depth
5. After the frets slots were cut, I place the fret board on the guitar neck and drilled registry pins.

Without these pins, the fretboard can slide slightly when clamps are tightened, ruining alignment. This simple trick ensured everything stayed perfectly centered.

To help locate positions on the fretboard while playing, I added yellowheart markers which looked great against the ziricote.

Steps:

1. Marked the fret mark locations using the guide
2. Cut shallow recesses on the table saw (1/4" long, 1/8" deep)
3. Cut the yellowheart fret markers
4. Glued the markers into place
5. Trimmed the markers with a chisel and sanded everything flush

Besides being functional, the contrast added a lot of visual character.

Now it was time to install the fret wire.

Steps:

1. Cut each fret wire slightly oversized
2. Pressed or seated them into the fret slots (I used a fret press)
3. Used a fret leveling tool to make sure each fret sat fully and doesn't rock over the near frets
4. Trimmed the ends
5. Filed and smoothed all edges

A properly installed fret should feel smooth enough that your hand never notices it. Also it's very important that all the frets are the same height to prevent high spots that cause notes to fret out or buzz, avoiding the need for excessive leveling and ensuring the neck feels comfortable.

This step took time, but it makes all the difference in playability.

The headstock template provided correct spacing pattern for the turners.

Steps:

1. Marked the tuner locations
2. Center punched each hole
3. Drilled carefully
4. Once drilled, I installed the tuners and secured with screws

For this 3-string build, I used, two turners on one side and one on the other. With the neck now complete, I glued the fretboard to the neck made easier due to the registration pins we made in Step 4.

With the neck fitted, it was time to prepare the cigar box body.

Unlike a decorative cigar box guitar where the neck is simply attached to the outside, this build used a through-neck design. That means the neck actually passes through the cigar box and carries the string tension through the wood structure and not the thin walls of the box.

First, I carefully measured the neck dimensions and cut a notch in the cigar box so the neck could pass cleanly through the body. I dry-fit the neck several times, making small adjustments until everything fit snugly and square.

To help the guitar project more sound acoustically and to give it a finished custom look, I added sound holes to the cigar box.

Steps:

1. Mark the neck hole in the the middle of the box and lower by the thickness of the fretboard
2. Carefully cut out this hole and square of with a file or sandpaper
3. Drilled the sound hole openings to match the grommet size
4. Cleaned and sanded the edges
5. To finish them off, I installed brass grommets into each open.

The grommets gave the guitar a vintage industrial look and allow the internal air resonance to escape, acting as a crucial component for natural acoustic volume and tone.

With the neck, fretboard, frets, and headstock completed, it was time to join the instrument together.

Inside the cigar box, I installed hardwood reinforcement boards. These internal blocks served several important purposes:

1. They supported the neck under string tension
2. They reinforced the cigar box walls
3. They created solid mounting points for screws and hardware
4. They transferred the string tension into the neck structure instead of the thin box itself

Steps:

1. Cut and install support boards in the sides of the box with dado joint to hold the neck
2. Checked that the fretboard centered perfectly over the body
3. Verified the headstock, bridge, and future tailpiece would all line up on the same centerline
4. Permanently secured the neck to the internal reinforcement structure

This step forms the backbone of the entire instrument. If the neck isn’t straight and solid here, everything that follows (frets, saddle placement, string alignment, and tuning) will suffer.

To amplify the guitar, I installed a piezo pickup. A piezo pickup works by converting vibration into electricity.

When the strings vibrate:

1. Energy transfers into the bridge and box
2. The piezo senses that vibration
3. It creates a tiny electrical signal
4. That signal travels through the output jack to an amplifier

In a way, it turns the entire cigar box into a microphone.

Steps:

1. Drilled hole for the piezo close to where the bridge will be placed (for Step 11)
2. Carefully soldered the piezo and amplify jack wiring, making sure every connection was clean
3. Before final assembly, we tested everything through an amp to make sure there was no humming or buzzing.
4. Once the electronics passed testing, I mounted the output jack permanently to the box
5. Also attached decorative corner protectors on all box edges.

At this step, I also added brass tailpiece on the outside of the box to anchor the strings.

Instead of using premade parts for the bridge, nut, and saddle, I shaped both the nut and saddle from bone which is a traditional material used in instrument making for centuries and excellent at transferring string vibration. I also fashioned a bridge out of leftover piece of ziricote with a slot down the middle for the piezo pick to sit underneath the saddle.

Making the Nut

The nut sits at the top of the fretboard near the tuners and controls string spacing and playability at the top of the neck.

Steps:

1. Shaped the nut to fit into the slot in the fret board
2. Marked the string spacing carefully
3. Used fine files to cut shallow string grooves
4. Checked the height so the strings would clear the first fret without buzzing

Positioning the Saddle

The saddle sits on piezo pickup and the bridge, and its location is critical. Before cutting or mounting anything, I measured from the nut down the fretboard using my selected scale length. Using that measurement, I marked the correct saddle position on the neck/bod. We checked it multiple times because even a small error here can cause the guitar to play out of tune up the neck.

Steps:

1. Marked the bridge location on the cigar box at the correct location
2. Shaped the saddle to fit on top of the piezo pickup and pushed them into the
3. Taped the bridge on the box at its correct position
4. Used fine files to cut shallow string grooves

Correct bridge-piezo-saddle placement, height, and string spacing all work together to determine: Action, Intonation, and overall playability. This was one of the most critical setup steps in the entire build.

With everything fit and tested, we sanded all surfaces smooth. Then we applied multiple coats of Tung Oil. The oil brought out the natural beauty of the wood while protecting it at the same time.

Then I installed the strings and brought the guitar up to tension. This locked the bridge in the correct location so I removed the tape.

Steps:

1. Install 3 strings
2. Stretch and settle strings
3. Confirm bridge is in its correct location
4. Checked that the strings would run straight across the nut.
5. Tune to Open G (G–D–G)

A tuning app was used to ensure accuracy.

What started as a woodworking club challenge turned into something much bigger. This project connected me to over a century of musical history while teaching me new skills in woodworking, electronics, and guitar building. I have massive respect for instrument makers especially luthiers.

Cigar box guitars began as instruments of necessity back in the days. Today, they remain instruments of creativity… especially for wood workers and their teachers.