Cigar Box Ukulele

Concept

Due to their simple, lightweight construction, nylon strings, and lack of pretension, ukuleles are an excellent choice for a first handmade instrument.

Members Interested

Sacha (instigator)

Ingredients and Suppliers

• Cigar Box
  • Tesa Cigars (Grand and Milwaukee)
  • Binny's Beverage Depot(213 W. Grand)
• Ukulele Strings
  • you want nylon soprano strings, not tenor or bass
  • elderly instruments sells decent sets of strings for about $3
• Tuners
  • There are two major kinds of tuners: friction and geared
    • Friction - old school, (sometimes) cheaper, can be built by hand/lathe
    • Geared tuners - easier to use, keep their tune longer, (not necessarily) more expensive
  • Elderly instruments sells a set of geared tuners for about $8.85 and a set of friction tuners for about $8.95
• Neck
  • Preferably hardwood (like maple), but poplar works too - nylon strings are pretty gentle.
• Frets
  • Hardwood or metal
• Bridge
  • can be made from scrap from neck manufacturing

Directions and Plans

• Excellent website - scroll down to find PDF of (really nice) vintage plans from 1910-1920 for making a cigarbox uke: [1]
• Fret calculators (for figuring out fret placement...):
  • Stewart-Macdonald [2]
  • EMI [3]
  • Fret calculation theory: [4]
• How to actually cut frets - involves a jig and a Gent Saw
  • Fretboard slotting [5]
  • Project Guitar [6]