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In assembling my guitar, I made sure the cigar box could still open, mainly because I thought that would be cool, and I wanted to install some electronics to mic the guitar and play it with my amp. I learned from the kit I bought at Guitar Center that you can use a simple Piezo element (tape it to the face of the guitar) and wire that to a 1/4-inch jack, which I did. I then cut a special hole in the bottom of the guitar for the jack.

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Finally, I cut a bolt in half and used the two pieces for the nut and bridge and strung my guitar for the first time.

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Then, I drilled three holes for the strings and used a Dremel tool to cut an angle into those holes so the strings aren't stretched over a 90-degree angle in the wood (this could cause the strings to break).

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Next, I drilled holes for the three tuning pegs and cut a groove in the top of the neck for the nut (which is, ironically, a bolt).

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Then, I cut out two depths in the body of the neck piece. I cut down (again with a handsaw) to about 1/8-inch to match the thickness of the face of the cigar box, and then deeper in the middle, to allow the face to resonate when the guitar is played.

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Then, I worked on the neck. This was a little tricky. I made sure the cuts on the neck matched the length on the face of the cigar box, and was able to get a fit that was snug enough, I didn't need to use glue later to piece them together. I cut out some wood at the top of the neck, using a handsaw to make multiple cuts about a 1/4-inch deep, and then a screw driver to chip out the excess.

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First, I marked off the places where I needed to make cuts in the cigar box and used a small hack saw and Dremel tool to make those cuts.

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Once I had I stopped by a couple of smoke shops in my area and explained my project to them. Heather at "Smokey's" on 700 East and 9000 South gladly donated a couple of boxes to me. Then, I stopped by Home Depot for some hardwood for the neck, a bolt, and some tools that I didn't already have. I bought the tuning heads and strings at a local guitar shop named "Wasatch Musician". I also passed by Radio Shack to get a Piezo element and a 1/4-inch jack.

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Next, I searched on YouTube and found lots of instructional videos about how to make a cigar box guitar. I found this one with Glenn Watt to be most helpful. I stopped by Guitar Center to pick up some parts (tuning heads, mainly) but the repair shop wasn't open. I did pick up, however, a kit for making a "cigar box" guitar (the box turned out to be cardboard). The kit gave me some good ideas about dimensions and how to mic the guitar.

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I was first inspired by this video of Jack White making a single-string electric guitar in the film "It Might Get Loud". Then, I stumbled across this video of Justin Johnson playing a 3-string guitar built out of a shovel as well as this video of Justin playing a cigar box guitar. I had never heard of cigar box guitars, but was immediately intrigued when I realized many people build their own guitars out of cigar boxes.

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In this project, I built a cigar box guitar from scratch. I have never attempted to build a sophisticated musical instrument (unless you want to count the beans-and-cardboard-tube maracas I made in elementary school...probably not). I learned a lot about assembling guitars, including the importance of using hardwood for the neck, and a new way to mic a guitar that I hadn't heard of before.