The Reso-Electro Cigar Box Guitar Project - Pt. 1: Intro, Parts and Layout

Shane Speal's latest four-string cigar box guitar combines a wide array of CBGitty.com parts into an alternate-reality, retro blues machine.  Follow along as he describes the gumbo of parts, techniques and creative ideas behind it.  Here's a quick intro video highlighting the fantastic tone of this machine...

Photos, video & text by Shane Speal

Above: A collection of CBGitty.com's resonator covers, displayed in front of the half-built Reso Electro.  A second Hubcap Reso Cone sits to the right, serving as my cigar ashtray at the moment.  The new CBGitty.com mounting rings are beside it.

When Ben "Gitty" Baker approached me about creating something with his new Hubcap Resonator Cone Covers and License Plate Pickguards, I jumped at the chance.  I've built guitars with Gitty resonators in the past and especially liked the combination of a resonator bridge and mini humbucker pickup.  The mixture of the two delivers a punchy blues tone that's percussive, a little brash and shorter on sustain.  This setup inspires a more rhythmic approach to my playing and songwriting.

When deciding whether the instrument should be three or four strings, I usually go with four on a resonator.  The metallic tone seems to favor a wider array of notes.  I also tend to think that if I'm going to take the extra steps to add a resonator to a cigar box guitar, I might as well get fancy and add the extra string.

Two Examples of My Previous Electric Resonator Cigar Box Guitars:

Above:  The instrument above features an Undercrown cigar box loaded with an earlier incarnation of the CBGitty.com resonator cone.  The guitar is loaded with a Snake Oil humbucker pickup and the Black Bird Pies reso cover. A fretless instrument with a yardstick fretboard, this is played with a slide.  

Here's a quick video I made shortly after stringing it up in the woodshop.

Below:  The resonator cigar box guitar below was detailed in my book, Making Poor Man's Guitars (get a copy here).  I loaded it with a CBGitty.com paint lid, a modified early-version Radial Fan cover and a Gittybucker-style pickup.  It's also fretless and played with a slide.    

• Premium Fretted Neck - Oak (substitute with Premium Maple with padauk fretboard)
  
• Shane Speal Signature Tuners - 4 string
  
• Shane Speal Signature Strings - 4 string Arkansas electric
• Hubcap Resonator Cone - medium size
  
• Black Bird Pies Reso Cover for Hubcap - medium size
• Hubcap cover mounting rings
• Juke Shack mini humbucker pickup - gold
• Neutrick 1/4" guitar jack
  
• Wooden jack plate  (substitute with Ovoid metal jack plate)
• Padauk biscuit bridge with threaded rod
  
• Unknown brass tailpiece (substitute with CBGitty.com's 4-string Stainless Steel Tailpiece)
• Salvaged plastic nut from an old lap steel guitar (substitute with CBGitty.com's 2pc. bone nut blank)
• Pearloid drum wrap (substitute with CBGitty.com's "White Pearloid Lap Steel 2.5" Underlay")
• Padron "Executives" cigar box

Now let's dig in to this project.  Watch as I show some of the parts used follow along as I plan the layout and overall design:

Click here for PART 2:  Fitting Neck to Cigar Body & Location of Hubcap Reso