How to Build a Guitar: The String Stick Box Method

Americans began building vintage guitars from cigar boxes around the 1860s. Soon, new and improved approaches emerged in building homemade guitars. These methods made guitar-making quicker and cheaper, and turned it into a well-loved activity in the United States.

Things You'll Need

  • Wood saw
  • Thin saw
  • Plane
  • Mahogany wood, 3 feet long
  • African ebony wood, 3 feet long
  • Wood glue
  • 4 small clamps
  • Hammer
  • Nails
  • Cigar box
  • Guitar tuners
  • Wood vanish
  • Guitar wires
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Instructions

    • 1

      Design one end of the mahogany wood to the shape and size of your palm using the saw and plane. This forms the guitar head. Glue and clamp the 3-foot-long ebony wood to the mahogany to form the neck and fret board. Leave it for 24 hours to allow the glue to dry. Mark both sides of the guitar head and fasten the tuners to them.

    • 2

      Level the neck and remove rough edges with a plane. Smooth it with sandpaper. Use a thin saw to cut a 5-inch diameter hole in the middle of a cigar box. Sandpaper the edges to form the sound hole.

    • 3

      Place the neck's tail on the middle of the cigar box, 2 inches from the sound box. Trace the outline of the guitar neck's tail with a pencil. Cut out the outlined area with a saw to a depth of 2 1/2 inches. Select a piece of wood strong enough to support the neck and nail it using a hammer and four nails.

    • 4

      Place the tail-end of the neck on the cut space of the sound box. Attach it to the piece of wood using glue. Ensure the fret board is 1/2 inch above the sound hole. Hold it together with clamps and hammer in four nails. Nail another piece of wood 2 inches from the sound hole and 5 inches across. Mark six equally spaced shallow notches on it. Ensure these notches are 2 millimeters above the fret board level.

    • 5

      Glue another piece of wood that is the same width as the guitar's neck 2 millimeters above the fret board. This is the "nut."

    • 6

      Screw six hooks in a line 2 inches from the bridge.

    • 7

      Take the scale of 25.5 and use the following formula, Nut to fret x = bridge to fret x-1 / 17.817 + nut to fret x-1. Where x stands for the fret number. This formula is called the rule of "18."

    • 8

      Paint and decorate the guitar in your preferred style and let it dry. Insert 'box' guitar wire 'hammer' to the hooks through the top of the bridge, to run parallel all the way to the top of the neck and into the tuners. Tune your guitar.

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