A Few New Creations

I've been building steadily for the last couple weeks, but haven't taken the time to post the new creations.  Here are five that I hope is an interest to you.

The "Piramide" is a 3-string guitar created from an Arturo Fuente 'Lost City' box, which is one of a limited OpusX edition of only 600 released in November 2010 as a part of the special Lost City promotion.  All the AF boxes are beautiful and produce awesome sounding instruments.

The sound holes are fashioned from perforated drawer knobs picked up at the Great Indoors hardware department, and the bridge is created by using parts from a drawer handle from the same hardware store.  I removed the floppy piece between the lions heads and replaced it with a brass rod.  Like most of my 3- and 4-string creations, a Piezo transducer distributes sound to my amp.  Tuners are Gotoh types, which stretch the G-D-g tuned 5-4-3 strings from a 10-46 acoustic set.

The "Rocky" uses a beautiful red Rocky Patel cigar box for the basis of the build. Stainless recessed perforated cabinet knobs cover the sound holes, while stainless drawer pulls are used as string and bridge covers, which provides a 'hand rest' when playing. The stainless features compliment the silver artwork on the box.  A transducer transfers sound to the amp. The 'Rocky' sounds quite different than many of the other boxes, but I like the treble sound the box produces.

The "23 Skidoo" comes from a Perdomo cigar box.  I love the simple design of the box and it lends itself to make a great sounding guitar.  This guitar has a wicked rich sound, and the red-orange color is very attractive.  I used a brass nut and bridge to transmit the sound through the usual transducer, but as an acoustic, this box rocks.

The "Honey" is a 4-string created from a Havana Honeys cigar box.  Again, I used unusual perforated drawer knobs for recessed sound hole covers.  The internal, as well as much of the external creation, is basic TotalRojo design with small variations to set the 'Honey' apart from other builds.  The box is smaller than many others, but the sound is plenty big, especially amplified.

The "Burning Leaf" 3-string guitar is my first Padron cigar box build, but it will not be my last.  This is an awesome box, which produces the best resonance and sustain of any that I've built.  The box is constructed from thin Spanish cedar with dovetail joinery, which I think is the reason for the great sound.

I built this box as a surprise for my friend Jeff, who owns Burning Leaf Fine Cigars, a really cool cigar shop in Columbus, Ohio, where I get the bulk of the boxes I use.

Everything in the construction of the guitar is basic to all my designs with the exception of the woodburned name and leaf cutout soundhole on the front of the box; the larger leaf design burned into the back of the box; and placement of the TotalRojo logo on the face of the box. 

Another exception is that I tuned this guitar to D-G-B, which was recommended by a CigarBoxNation builder-friend (Uncle John), and I gotta tell you, it is by far the best sounding and playable instrument I've constructed.

Well, I gotta get back into the shop, there are more fun things to create, and more music to enjoy.