The Friendly 12bar Blues Guitar Forum

Well, I've been wanting a resonator guitar for years... I finally decided enough is enough and made one, well kind of made one. I scraped all the spare junk I could find and made the cigar box my friend Eve gave me into a Cigar Box Resonator fretless 3-string! I had to buy two used 1 quart stainless steel mixing bowls (.99 ea) for the cone and trim ring which is the bead off one of the bowls. The cone cover is a cooking range drip plate. The "puck" that the bridge sits on is part of the beautiful scene I had to cut out of the cigar box for the resonator assembly. The bridge is a 1/4"x20 bolt. The nut is a 5/16" coarse thread bolt. The cable input jack is mounted in an inverted strat jack mount (gave me a little room "outside the box"). The volume and tone pots are out of my used pot bottle (500ks). I don't know what the cap is but it's probably a generic humbucker one (.047?). The pickups are piezo disks from doorbell buzzers. These are usually somewhat shrill so I covered them with leather. One is mouned inside the cone under the bridge and the other is mounted to the inside of the back. They are connected in series for lower impedance contrary to most CBG Gurus. They advise wiring multiples parallel to increase the impedance, yet they have trouble with feedback(?). I thought series sounded sweeter, so I went with my ear. The neck is knotty pine backed with 1/4" aluminum to keep it pointing the way it should.

I still want a resonator guitar. This little guy however is very hard to put down. 3 strings is more than enough!!

I apologize for the lighting in the video. I'll try to upload some pics in a bit for more detail.http://youtu.be/hR1b7FSNRII

That's pretty sweet, Oneyedslide. Nice playing and the tone is killer.

As posted on YT: you're getting the most out of 3 strings - great Delta-ish sound!
A resonator has been on my wish list for years...

Beautiful sounds (a lot to do with the player too of course) - to get this from 'spare junk' is just astounding!

I can understand and sympathise with the GAS for a resonator

If, as you say, 'this little guy however is very hard to put down' it'll hopefully keep that GAS just gently simmering for a while.

You has post it. I like it gread job
Sound very nice and ofcourse the player as wel




Send from galaxy

Thanks guys. I have a Luthier friend who has been claiming his next project will be a roundneck resonator (with me in mind of course). That was months ago. I have no doubt he will build it. I just wonder if I'll still be alive when it's done. He's a meticulous craftsman and takes his time. Then there's the economy to think about...

Anyway, here's some better visual detail of "lil' Reso". Turned out longer than I wanted, but hey, kick back and pour yourself a beer.
http://youtu.be/RDhlM-pWnok

Hey, that's some awesome playing and tone from that thing!!!