Cigar box question?

[Bobby Ratliff]

Hey everyone,

I recently bought a Cigar box off ebay. The seller said it was a paper covered wood box. The inside and out is covered with paper, except for the outer bottom, and it is wood. I've got my neck nearly ready to attach to it, and when I cut the opening for the neck, I noticed the side was the compressed paperboard type stuff.

Getting concerned I sanded the paper off the inside of the lid, and it's the same compressed paperboard too.

I'm making a tenor guitar and putting a rod piezo in the bridge so I can have something with a little more volume when I go to the local nursing home each month to play. My question is:

Is the paperboard box going to be durable enough to last a while? It has a really thick lid. That's why I decided to make it electric.

Thanks in advance!
Bobby

[Randy S. Bretz]

Bobby usin a rod piezo bridge on the compressed paper lid really doesn`t matter. Your other option would be to replace the paper lid with a piece of real wood, say 1/8" western cedar if you want to get a better acoustic sound. Those rod bridges work even on solid body builds, so all an all everything is good to go.

[Ted Crocker]

It should be plenty durable to last.  You can apply a finish to protect the paper/graphics, but the box itself should stand up to years of abuse.

What box is it?

[Bobby Ratliff]

Thanks guys!

Well, I had to go out to the shed to get it, and see what kind it was. Actually, I got mixed up. I got this box from CB Gitty, and I was thinking I got it from Ebay.

It is a Romeo Y Julieta Habana Reserve box.

And the outside of the bottom is covered with paper. I mentioned above that it wasn't. But the bottom is a wood bottom. I'm working on 5 projects at once and my mind is jumbled..... LOL!

I knew this box was a paper box when I ordered it from CB Gitty. I just forgot where I got it from, and thought it was a box I ordered from ebay.

But I'm glad it will be durable, even though it's paper. As long as it's got some sound while plugged up is all I care. I'll just brace it good and make it a semi solid body! LOL!

[billy freedom]

welcome to the downsized box. even on a wood box the back of the box is usually thinner and sounds better as a soundboard. lately the press board is really crumbly. what you could do is get some spanish cedar and have it milled down 3/32" heavy (an eyelash under 1/8") and replace the sides and top with real wood. but yeah its a sour grapes thing youll hear press board sounds great acoustically but the fact is a cardboard dutch masters box sounds better. oh and btw the cedar plywood on the bottom that makes the cigars smell so nice doesnt sound as good as solid cratewood pine. i think the bleach bottle banjo with 200 dollars worth of guitar parts in it is the future of hand made instruments. good luck on your build.