How to make a cigar box style electric guitar!

This is a cigar box style guitar inspired from the early blues.

First of all I cut the pieces of the body with my jigsaw. I use a clamped board as a guide. I also use a smooth cut blade.

I will join the body using finger joints. I mark the depth of the fingers with a sharp knife and cut the joints on my scroll saw.

In one side I make a hole with a forstner bit to reduse the mass of the wood. This way the output jack of the guitar will fit in nicely.

I glue the pieces together. I clamp them with a frame clamp and I check for square edges.

I glue some wooden pieces to provide more strength and also mass for the screws of the top and bottom.

I will join the box with the fretboard using a half lap joint. I start by cutting the body and then use a chisel to finish the cut.

I cut the fretboard and clean the cut with a chisel. 

Now I need to remove wood mass from the fretboard in order for the pickup to fit in. I use my saw and a chisel to do the job.

I mark the the fretboard’s back and cut it on the scroll saw.

I use my rasp to shape the neck.  

I make a wooden pickup frame on the scroll saw. I mark where to cut by using an old pickup frame.

Now I cut notches for the keys to fit in. 

I use a fret calculator to find the positions of the frets. My scale is 63cm.

I mark the fret positions on the fret board with a pencil. 

I cut the fret slots. 

I glue the fretboard on the neck.

I trim the fret board flush with the neck using a block plane.

I drill holes on the fretboard for dowels. The dowels will be used as fret number guides.

I use my glue gun and dowel positions markers to find a good spot to drill the top and bottom for screws.

I screw the top and trim it flush with a block plane.

I trim the dowels on the frets with a flush trim saw.

I cut the fret wire to length. I fit in the frets and add super glue to their edges for strength. I trim the fret wire flush with a rotary tool.

I apply two coats of teak oil to all the wooden parts.

I use the pyrographer to burn my name and the guitar’s name on the wood.

For the wiring I used the schematics from Seymour Duncan’s web site. I downloaded the wiring diagram for a humbucker and a volume pot.

I solder the parts together. 

I make a tail piece from a crap piece of metal. I cut it and shape it on the vise. I drill all the holes needed using oil to cool down the parts, to prevent drill bit brakes. I screw it on the guitar.

I glue the nut with my glue gun.

I make the bridge using a scrap piece which I planed on the right thickness. I glue the bone with my glue gun.

I open the channels for the strings with a small saw.

I make the knob of the pot on my scroll saw.

My guitar needs some more fine tunings but at this point is playable and ready for action!