How to make a chess box electric guitar

Tools and materials:

Chess box

Metallic guitar pickup

Fret wire

Block plane

No4 hand plane

Soldering iron kit

Heat shrinking tube

Chisel set

Guitar tuning pegs

Jointer planer

Table saw

Bandsaw

Cordless drill

Rotary tool

Volume pot

Output jack

Electric guitar strings

Control knob

Mandolin tuning pegs

Belt sander

Flush trim saw

Wood burner

Flat rasp

Round rasp

Flat file

Round file

Spoke shave

Fret saw

I made this experimental DIY guitar out of beech wood and a cheap chess box. I really enjoy making these cigar box inspired blues guitars. They are really cool for playing slide and kind of inspire me to play guitar out of my comfort zone. 

I begun by squaring a piece of beech on the jointer planer. 

I then took the box apart. With a series of cuts on the table saw I removed wood to make the joints that would receive the neck. 

I then cut the necks’s shape on the bandsaw. 

I cut the neck at an angle to make the joint for the headstock. I finished the cut with a handsaw. I temporarily clamped the headstock on the neck and drilled two holes that would receive bamboo sticks. These sticks prevent the pieces from moving around while glue up. 

I glued the headstock on the neck and cut off the excess wood with handsaws. I also used a hand plane to remove excess material. 

I then used an offcut piece to make the fretboard on the table saw.

I shaped the headstock on the bandsaw. I used a hand plane and my belt sander to finish shaping.

To shape the neck, I removed as much material as I could using my spokeshave. I then finished the areas I couldn’t reach with rasps and files. 

Using a fret saw I opened up  a hole for the pickup. I cleaned it up with my rotary tool. 

I then made the pickup’s case out of a scrap beech piece. I created the holes needed on the drill press and I counter sinked them. 

I then soldered all the electric parts. I used heat shrinking tube in the areas where naked cables could touch each other. As a ground I used an old metal spring which I hot glued in place. 

I then made pilot holes for the tuning pegs. Then I drilled the holes. 

Using a sanding block I flattened the neck before glueing the fretboard. 

I then glued the neck on my guitar’s top. 

I cut the fret slots. With a lubricated saw I cut the slots. 

I then glued the fretboard in place. Again I used bamboo sticks to prevent the fretboard from moving around while glue up.

I glued the fret indicators in place and cut them flush. 

I hammered the fret wire in the slots. I then used super glue to the frets. Then I cut the excess wire and filed the frets sides flush. 

I used sanding blocks to sand the sharp edges of the frets. 

I installed the hinges and the string guides in place. 

I then drilled some holes to place the string holders on the back end of the neck. 

Finally I made a bridge and shaped the nut and bridge bones. 

My guitar was ready. I still need to set up the action a little bit but overall I am really happy with the way it came out. 

But anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this project, because that was it, see you soon with a new project video. 

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