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Want to build better cigar box guitars? Looking for some solid advice on how to build CBGs that sell?In this post, we have three short videos from Shane Speal with insanely useful tricks and hacks to build your best cigar box guitars. After each video is a step-by-step breakdown done in pictures of Shane's years of hard-won advice. Insanely Useful Tricks & HacksHere's just some of of the CBG-building tricks you'll learn in this post:How to quickly and efficiently repair trim on pap …

While a lot of cigar box guitar builder attention goes to disk piezos and standard acoustic guitar-style rod piezos, there is another option that can be a great addition to your toolbag: the violin-style rod piezo. These little pickups sound great in cigar box guitars, especially when put through one of our pre-amp units.While standard rod piezos have a lead that comes off of one end (shown to the right), the violin-style (shown above) has a central lead that sticks straight down from the m …

What exactly is a rod piezo? And why should you consider using one to electrify your next cigar box guitar build?To answer those burning questions, in this article you’ll... discover the differences between disk and rod piezoslearn the anatomy of a rod piezograsp the importance of a rod piezos constructionunderstand why rod piezos sound great in electric cigar box guitarsAnd after reading this instructive article, you’ll gain the confidence to build with rod piezos, thereby raising the level al …

So you want to electrify your cigar box guitar. Should you use a piezo pickup? How about a magnetic pickup? Exactly what are the differences between them, anyhow? To better understand how to electrify your cigar box guitar, this article will teach you about piezo and magnetic pickups, and the differences between them.Differences between Piezo & Magnetic Pickups When it comes to electrifying a cigar box guitar, there are two basic options: either a piezo pickup (sometimes called a contact …

In this post, you'll learn what to do if your preamp-powered cigar box guitar sounds muddy or distorted. Hi all! It's Shane Speal. Two weeks ago, I started having trouble with my main 3-stringer. It's a rod piezo-electrified build with a pre-amp that allows me to sculpt the CBG tones beautifully.But what I was experiencing were distorted tones and an overall crappy sound. I thought the problem was that the rod piezo lost contact with the box top.To improve contact with the …