Project

Cigar Box Guitar

Personal project

A personal project building a playable electric guitar from a cigar box: designing and hand-shaping the neck, fretboard and headstock, calculating fret placement for accurate intonation, and assembling everything into a finished instrument.

Role: Design, fabrication and assembly
Tools: Laser cutting, Machining, Carpentry tools

Mechanical

Low-angle view of the finished cigar box guitar, showing the full length of the neck and fretboard leading down to the cigar-box body — The finished guitar, neck to body.

Problem

I wanted to build a playable electric guitar from scratch, starting from a cigar box instead of a traditional guitar body.

Approach

I designed, fabricated and hand-shaped the key components — the neck, fretboard, headstock and cigar box body — using laser cutting, machining and carpentry tools.

I calculated fret placement and scale length to keep intonation accurate across the fretboard.

Results

I assembled all the components into a functional instrument, with attention to precision and fit throughout.

Gallery

Top-down view of the cigar box guitar's body, painted with geometric color blocks and silhouettes of guitarists, with a wooden bridge and brass tailpiece — The body, with a wooden bridge and brass tailpiece.