papasboxes.com

Have you thought about building your own cigar box ukulele but you’re unsure if you have the right stuff? You may have looked at all the Ukuleles for sale at multiple online sites. Maybe you don’t need a professional instrument, but just a beginner ukulele, and with the wide range of prices, maybe you’ve thought it’s time you considered building your own.
A cigar box instrument can offer the best of both worlds, one that is simple to make and at the same time offers a high quality, well playing instrument. Check out these insider techniques and you’ll see that you can put together a beautiful, good sounding, acoustical instrument, provided you start with the stuff presented here.
The most unique part of a cigar box instrument naturally is the box, so I’m primarily concerned in this article with attention to the box. You can successfully build any of the basic ukuleles—soprano, concert, tenor or baritone; if you pay close attention to these four key elements in choosing and preparing the box:
1. Use the right box
2. Reinforce the box
3. Use the right hardware and attachment methods 4. Follow the rules

Let us start with #1 “Use the right box”. Cigar box ukuleles originated as an outgrowth of the “tramp art” culture where the idea was to build with discarded materials, or at the least to use leftovers that were meant for a completely different initial use.
So bear in mind that your sound box, that most basic element of any ukulele building kit, depends in this case on using discarded, although oftentimes extravagant, very well constructed and enchantingly beautiful, packaging material.
Cigar boxes come in a very wide range of sizes, shapes, length to width ratios, thicknesses and materials (don’t use all-cardboard boxes), not to mention how well, or not, they are constructed. Pick whatever suites your fancy, but bear in mind the following guidelines for optimum size depending on the instrument you are building.
Soprano Ukulele use a box between 7” and 9” long
Concert Ukulele use a box between 8” and 10” long
Tenor Ukulele use a box between 8” and 10” long
Baritone Ukulele use a box between 9” and 11” long
The width of the box will usually follow a good proportion of the length, but anything less than 6” in width will have a tendency to reduce the acoustic effect. As a rule wider is better, and the same is true for depth, up to a limit, with a minimum depth of just less than 2½”.
Regardless of the box you choose, don’t overlook the need for reinforcement. Using ¼” x ¼” blocks glued inside the corners of your box will extend the useful life of your finished ukulele immeasurably. Use top-quality wood glue, i.e. Titebond II or equal. Spread a thin, even coat of glue on two sides of each block and hold in place for half a minute or so, one in each corner inside the box.
Place these blocks so they don’t contact the bottom of the box. This box bottom, usually consisting of + or – 1/8” thick solid or laminated wood, will act as the sound board for your instrument, and “floating” the blocks in this way prevents any interference with its free vibration.
Depending on the size of your box and the tension of your strings, you may consider ¼” flat poplar, spruce or any other tone wood around the inside perimeter of the box. String tension tends to force a slight indention of the soundboard at the location of the bridge over which the strings will rest. For this reason you should consider a 3/16” x 3/8“ support block glued on its edge inside the soundboard directly below or very near the location of the bridge.
Note that any paper that’s inside the box should be removed at blocking locations so you get a firm wood to wood glue line at all blocking. Use a damp cloth and a straight edge, scraper or single edge razor blade to remove the paper.
With regard to hardware and attachment methods, the main thing to remember is not to skimp on these components. Use only the highest quality screws and other fasteners. These components are only a fraction of the cost of the completed instrument, and you can therefore justify paying additional cost for exceptional quality in this area.
Mark all fastener locations very carefully using a template and marking each with an awl, nail set or any tool that you can use to press an indentation in the wood at the fastener location. Pre-drill appropriate pilot holes to receive fasteners and use only hand tools (no drill motors) to drive screws or tighten nuts.
Finally #4 on the list says to “follow the rules.” This step is equally important as any of the other three. You may have heard that in the cigar box ukulele and banjo world there are no rules. Actually there are two. Rule #1 is “Do it your way,” and rule #2 is “Don’t forget rule #1.”
After conscientiously attending to the basic box preparation steps above, you can let your imagination run hog wild with added design and fabrication techniques using the same two rules outlined above. Good luck and good building.