How a Cigar Box Guitar Tuner Works

Improve your cigar box guitars by getting to know the anatomy and orientation of open gear tuners

By Glenn Watt

Ever wonder which way is up on a cigar box guitar tuner?

Would you like to learn how a cigar box guitar tuner works, how you should orient them, and why it matters?

Well, you’re in luck, my friend.

In this article you’ll learn:

  • the anatomy of a tuner
  • how you identify which direction a tuner is oriented
  • and why the orientation of a tuner is important

Plus, you’re going to get a bonus tip on how to flip an open gear tuner for a mistakenly drilled hole.

Let’s start with… Continue reading “How a Cigar Box Guitar Tuner Works”

How to Cut a Rod Piezo

Rod piezos can give you great improvements in overall tone and sound on your instrument builds, compared to a standard disc piezo. However, the standard rod piezo is made for a 6-string guitar, and at 2 ¾” in length, is often longer than a cigar box guitar builder needs or wants for embedding in a bridge. Fortunately, it is a fairly simple process to cut the rod piezos to a shorter length, for 3 or 4-string setups. However, it is important to cut it them in a certain way so you don’t ruin them, which is what this article will show you.

You can get Rod & Disk Piezos and all sorts of other great guitar and cigar box guitar gear over at our C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply Web Store. Browse on over and check it out!

Continue reading “How to Cut a Rod Piezo”

How to Eliminate Hum and Buzz on your electric Cigar Box Guitar

Electrifying your cigar box guitar or other homemade instrument build can be a very rewarding experience. Being able to plug into an amp not only gives you more volume, but it opens the door to a huge range of effects that would not otherwise be available. And it is a proven fact that having a pickup in a guitar makes it easier to sell – being able to plug in and rock out evokes images of Eddie Van Halen and Slash and is sure to get any would-be rocker’s blood pumping.

Our Disc-o-Tone pre-wired harness is a great way to add a pickup to your build.

Our Disc-o-Tone pre-wired piezo pickup harness is a great way to add a low-hum pickup to your cigar box guitar. No soldering required!

In an ideal situation, electrifying your build is as simple as gluing in a piezo (or mounting in a magnetic pickup), wiring it to a jack, and bingo. Continue reading “How to Eliminate Hum and Buzz on your electric Cigar Box Guitar”

How to Ground Cigar Box Guitar Pickups Without a Metal Bridge

Cigar Box Guitar craftsman Glenn Watt shows you how to ground your pickup to reduce humming, even if you’re not using a metal bridge!

Don't Get Mad - Get Grounded!

By Glenn Watt 

The simplest solution to your most maddening problem

For the love of all that’s good, why is my magnetic pickup humming?

You’ve installed a magnetic pickup in your cigar box guitar, and the darn thing is making noise.

“Oh, just ground it to the bridge.”

That’s the advice you read in every online forum.

“I can’t ground to the bridge, ‘cause the bridge is wooden.” you think to yourself, fuming behind your computer, and wondering what your next move is.

Well, you’re in luck. There’s more than one way to roast this chicken.

The solution: Ground to a metal tailpiece.

The point in grounding to the bridge is to connect the strings to the ground loop. Continue reading “How to Ground Cigar Box Guitar Pickups Without a Metal Bridge”

How to Install a Mini Humbucker in a Cigar Box Guitar

Glenn walks you through how he installs the mini humbucker pickup in the “Mi Amor” cigar box guitar he designed for C. B. Gitty.

How I Took This Cigar Box Guitar to a Whole New Level

The Mi Amor meets the Snake Oil Humbucker: A Killer Combo

It sounds raw and dirty.

A single coil pickup in a cigar box guitar has grit and a surly swagger. But for this build, the sound of a solitary single coil pickup is missing something.

When designing the Mi Amor – a recent addition to the C.B. Gitty line of guitars – I wanted it to have a big punch. Picture a cinder block-sized fist, wearing brass knuckles, being thrown into your gut. You know, really taking the air out of you.

Yeah. That’s what I wanted for this CBG.

And the Snake Oil Humbucker gave me just that.

Continue reading “How to Install a Mini Humbucker in a Cigar Box Guitar”

How to Install a Pre-wired Pickup Harness in a Neck-through Cigar Box Guitar

54-020-01 How-to Guide Pages
Click here for the free PDF

This illustrated guide written by Glenn Watt walks you through how to install the C. B. Gitty Part number 54-020-01, “Pre-Wired 4-String Single Coil Pickup Harness with Volume and Tone.” Cutout and drill bit sizes are given and the steps clearly shown for mounting one of these handy pre-wired pickup harnesses into cigar box guitars.

The principles in this guide can also be used for most any single-coil or humbucker pickup with a neck-through cigar box guitar, where you often have to notch down into the neck (and brace underneath it) to get the pickup into place.

 

How to Install a Pre-Wired Piezo Harness in a Cigar Box Guitar (C. B. Gitty Product #50-014-01)

In this article, CBG craftsman Glenn Watt walks us through how he installs one of C. B. Gitty’s Basic Pre-Wired Piezo Harnesses (Product #50-014-01)

So you want to hear that new gitty you’re building through your amplifier that’s been sitting unused behind the holiday decorations in the basement? Do you want to make certain that you can crank that little bad rabbit when everyone leaves and you’re left to your own devices in a quiet home? Or maybe you’re looking to level-up and retro-fit a pickup into a guitar you already have that’s been sorely needing a little volume. In the Pre-Wired Piezo and Jack Harness from C.B. Gitty you have the simplest way to electrify your instrument with the most basic of installation requirements.

Continue reading “How to Install a Pre-Wired Piezo Harness in a Cigar Box Guitar (C. B. Gitty Product #50-014-01)”

How To Make A Simple Cigar Box Guitar (Metric Included)

The ultimate beginners guide to make your own 3-string cigar box guitar

By Glenn Watt

Do you wonder how difficult it would be to make a cigar box guitar?

Are you worried that you don’t have the tools or experience to do such a thing?

Look, not only can you make a cigar box guitar, but you will with this easy-to-follow plan.

This plan starts out by listing the tools you’ll need.

Then you’ll see the resources and hardware that you’ll use.

After that, you’ll follow a clear, step-by-step plan filled with crisp, colorful images to build a 3 string, fretless, cigar box guitar.

Enough with all the talk. Let’s do this!

Continue reading “How To Make A Simple Cigar Box Guitar (Metric Included)”

How to Notch a Fretted Cigar Box Guitar Neck for a Nut

Fretting directly onto a guitar neck is a great option to showcase the natural beauty of the wood you have chosen for your neck, rather than using a fretboard. However, this does make using a traditional nut a bit more challenging. This article shows you one way you can install a bone (or hardwood) nut blank onto your fretted cigar box guitar neck.

Fretting directly onto a guitar neck is a great option to showcase the natural beauty of the wood you have chosen for your neck, rather than using a fretboard. However, this does make using a traditional nut a bit more challenging. Continue reading “How to Notch a Fretted Cigar Box Guitar Neck for a Nut”

How to Pick the Right Strings for your Cigar Box Guitar

One of the most frequent questions we hear from new cigar box guitar builders is what strings they should use on their cigar box guitar, and how they should tune it. This can be very mysterious for a builder, especially folks without a background in music. While it is often said that there are no rules when it comes to building CBGS (and that is often true, which is one of the great things about this hobby), it can be frustrating to hear when you just want a simple answer to a question. In this article, we’ll try to demystify some of the theory behind strings and tunings, and also give some straightforward, clear answers for those who just want to know what to do.

Southbound Strings Open G 3-string SetFirst, we’ll give a clear answer for those of you who just want to know what to do: at C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply we consider a “standard” cigar box guitar to be a 3-stringer with medium-gauge acoustic strings tuned to either Open G (for slide playing), or G-B-E for fretted playing. The strings used are equivalent to the three highest-pitched strings on a standard six-string guitar, and the scale length of the instrument (the distance from the nut to the bridge) is around 25 inches.

This happens to be the most popular set of CBG strings we sell in our shop – our C. B. Gitty 3-String Acoustic Medium Open G/Standard Set. If you are building your first cigar box guitar and have no idea what to do or what you need, start with these strings. These strings are based on a “medium” weight set sold for a standard 6-string but include only the 3 highest-pitch strings (the smallest/lightest ones) from the pack, so you don’t have any leftovers. It can be tuned either in “Open G” for slide playing (G-B-D) or if you have a fretted neck it can be tuned like the 3 highest-pitch strings of a standard guitar (G-B-E).

This “standard” tuning will allow you to utilize partial chords that you might know from a standard guitar. Continue reading “How to Pick the Right Strings for your Cigar Box Guitar”

How to Tune a 3-string Cigar Box Guitar to Open G GDG

In this video, Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker and Glenn Watt show you the basics of getting your cigar box guitar in tune. Both tuning “by ear” and using a digital tuner is covered, so even if you have no experience with musical instruments or tuning, this video will help you get started. At the end of the video, Ben and Glenn even do a little bit of jamming with their newly-tuned cigar box guitars. Continue reading “How to Tune a 3-string Cigar Box Guitar to Open G GDG”

How to Use Hard-tail Bridges

Hard-tail bridges are a must-have piece of hardware for building professional-level electric guitars and cigar box guitars. This article walks you through the different styles and varieties, as well as how to install them on your special build.

What are Hard-tail Bridges?

This cigar box guitar sports a gold-plated 3-string hard-tail bridge. It is a "Metamorphosis" model built by Glenn Watt at C. B. Gitty.
This cigar box guitar sports a gold-plated 3-string hard-tail bridge. It is a “Metamorphosis” model built by Glenn Watt at C. B. Gitty.

Hard-tail bridges are pieces of hardware often seen on solid body electric guitars. They combine bridges and saddles in such a way that the intonation and string action (height over the fretboard) can easily be adjusted post-install. These styles of bridges are best known from Fender’s Stratocaster™ electric guitars.

Because of how they are made, hard-tail bridges work best when used with magnetic pickups (the sort seen on solidbody electric guitars) as opposed to piezo-style pickups. They help with achieving a professional intonation, maintaining a nice low string action, and increasing sustain (due to their solid metal construction).

54-032-01-product-image-1-600px-2
This 6-string hard-tail bridge has an opening for a single-coil pickup. This item is available ready-to-install from CBGitty.com.

Some hard-tail bridges also include openings for pickups such as Fender-style single coils and humbuckers. The basic versions just have the bridge and saddle components.

Although they are best known for use on solid body electrics, hard-tail bridges also work great for cigar box guitars. There are now 3 and 4-string varieties available, which make them even more suitable for electric cigar box guitars that have magnetic pickups.

Varieties of Hard-tail Bridges

Continue reading “How to Use Hard-tail Bridges”

How to Use Sealed-Gear Guitar Tuners

Learn about the “sealed-gear” varieties of guitar tuners/machine heads, and some useful tips, tricks and advice on how to use them properly.

What are Sealed-Gear Tuners?

Sealed-gear tuners (also known as machine heads, tuning pegs and other names) are the type often seen on electric guitars, especially Fender Telecaster™ and Stratocaster™-style guitars.

They are designed so that the mechanical gears of the tuner are sealed into the base, as opposed to open-gear tuners where the worm and pinion gears are visible.


Click here, or on any of the images in this article to see the selection of Sealed-Gear Tuners available from C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply!


Continue reading “How to Use Sealed-Gear Guitar Tuners”

How to Use Strap Buttons

What are Strap Buttons?

Basic chrome strap buttons from C. B. GittyA strap button is a piece of hardware mounted to a guitar or other instrument, as an anchor point for attaching a strap.

A strap allows the instrument to hang from the musician’s shoulders, making it more comfortable to hold and play, especially when standing up.

A strap allows an instrument to hang comfortably from musician's shoulders while standing.
A strap allows an instrument to hang comfortably from musician’s shoulders while standing.

While strap buttons are optional on a guitar, including them will make the instrument much more appealing to a person used to performing on stage, and can lend more of a professional, finished look and feel. We recommend that builders always put them on their cigar box guitars. Continue reading “How to Use Strap Buttons”