New Summer Strummers $85 Includes US Shipping and a Bottle Neck Slide. They wont last long. Click here to go to our online store . 
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   Still working on this guitar, but here is some helpful info on making a bottle neck slide.    http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Guitar-Slide/ 

Some CBG artist offered to record some custom lessons for Guitar World. 
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     Click on the photos to take you to the items on CB Gitty's site!

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Tips
    Make your own sanding block - Use some of the wood that you cut for your headstock as a sanding block.  Its Free!

    Belt-sander - This can save you a lot of time when sanding down your neck, you have to have a light hand and keep it moving, but its gets a nice finish quickly. 

    Rasp - Its a great tool.  I make all of my cuts a little shy and use the rasp to cut them the rest of the way.  That way I get a nice tight fit. 

    The Everything for a $1.00 store - I always check there before I visit other stores to pick up some gear.  It is surprising what you can find.

Offset Neck
An offset neck is pretty simple to make it just takes some more time.   Hopefully you have not cut your wood for the neck yet.  

Set your wood next to your cigar box.  leave a 1.5" overhang for the tail and on the other side of the guitar make a mark on your wood 3" outside the box. This will be the bottom piece of the off set neck.  Cut the wood on the mark you just made.  With your rasp round the corners and sides on what will be the bottom of the neck, leave the top part (the side that will be glued to the top piece of the neck flat so the glue will bond correctly.  Sand the area you rasped till it is smooth.  

When you make the notch cuts in the sides of the box for the neck you will need to cut them 1/2" deeper than the orignal thickness it should be 1 1/4" deep( this makes up for the offset neck and you will have proper string action.

Now place the bottom piece of the neck (the one you just sanded) back in the box flat side up.  Line it up so there is 1.5" hanging over the end for the tail. make a mark on the neck side where the bottom piece of the off set meets the lid.  Remove the wood from the box.  Place a small amount of Titebond III glue on the bottom piece of the neck from rounded end to where you made your line. Spread evenly. Place your larger piece of wood on top and line it up with the line that meets the lid.  I use bar clamps for this but large spring clamps will work too.  Place 2 clamps on top and 2 clamps on the sides, make sure the neck is straight from all sides (you don't want to have a bent neck.) Let set according to instructions on the glue.

Once the glue is dry sand the sides where the two pieces of wood meet.  If you have a good tight bond it will almost look like it is one piece of wood.  I usually put 2 or 3 wood screws from the bottom piece up just for insurance, but the glue is strong enough to hold the bond. 

Measure 32" from the tail of the neck (total length) make a mark and cut.  The total length of the neck should be 32". 

Now you can continue to follow along the blog at guitarworld.com and finish cutting your headstock and shaping the sides of your neck.

Once we add a fretboard in the future blogs, you want to save your scraps to use as shims between the neck and the box so you can glue the neck to the lid.  But we will do this after we cut our fretboard. 

If you have questions please leave a comment and Ill answer them as soon as I can.
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If you want to buy every thing now here is the full list for the classic fret-less acoustic cigar box guitar ( options are too many to list but will be listed as we go along)

You will need everything in the first list too.

• Wood - The same type as your neck but in a 2X1/4x24 inch  (for a fretboard)

• Tuning Pegs - 3 Each -  I would recommend the individual ones and not the ones grouped together (like in classical guitars). Check out your local Music Shop, Ebay and CB Gitty

• Wood Glue - Titebond III works best for me.  It forms a bond stronger than wood, is water proof and drys clear.

• Some Sort of Sealer - Shalack,  linseed oil (careful linseed oil is highly flammable storing your use rags together will catch fire!), Polyurethane, etc.. And Brushes or Rags to apply it.  I use Polyurethane, I just like the results but others work well too. 

• Strings - Acoustic Guitar Strings using the A,D and G strings good Gauges for slide guitar are 46, 32 and 25.  Some Music Shops sell individuals and CB Gitty has 3 string sets too.

• Nuts and Bolts - #8 1 1/2 Machine Screws and #6 8 1 1/2  Machine Screws for your Nut and Bridge.  I use these to get  pretty clean look.
  
• If you wan to keep the DIY look then pick up a 3/8 (or thicker) x 2 1/2 in I-Bolt

• Make a Slide - You can use a Wine bottle and Shoelace to make a slide, or cut  some Copper Pipe, a 3/4 Socket from the hardware store or your can purchase one.  I would buy a stubby slide something around 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length, it just makes playing individual notes on the guitar easier.
  

• Tools - 6each 2inch Spring Clamps, and at least 2each 4inch (or larger) bar clamps.   A good place to find these is in your Everything for a $1.00 Store.  A Sharpie to make fret markers.   A Hack Saw,  Wire Cutters or Fret Nips (if your going to do frets).  Torch Tip Cleaners (to file down your frets). If your are panning to make your guitar electric you will need a Soldering Kit (the local Radio Shack has them for around $10.00 and they include solder), Electrical Tape, and Duct Tape, yeah Duct Tape.  (these tool arnt included in the budget so find a friend or borrow them)

Here is your recon mission until next time-

• Cigar Box-Find a WOODEN cigar box, yes it has to be wooden at least at the sides and the bottom of it. But if you can score an all wood one, all the better. A good size to look for is 10x7x1, bigger is better but if it is a little smaller it will still work. The thinner the wood the better tone it seems to have (at least in my opinion). The best place to get them is your local tobacco shop. Most stores give them away for free, ahhhh free is good. If you can't find one for free then take a look on eBay check out CB Gitty

• Wood-You will need to find some hardwood for the neck, a good size is a 1x2x32 (it really measures 3/4 x 1 ½ inches) and it needs to be at least 32 inches long. Most home improvement stores sell them in a 36 inch length. It has to be a hardwood. Poplar is a pretty inexpensive choice, but Red Oak, Maple, Ash, or Mahogany look great also but cost a bit more. I go to the local mill and get a batch of rough cut hardwood and mill it down myself but this requires some more tools and a bit more time. I wouldn’t recommend this for your first guitar. The stuff you will find at the local home improvement or lumbar yard is good, I’m just obsessed with finding the best. Photos of Hardwood

• Tools- You will need a coping saw, tape measure, pencil, drill with 3/8, 9/32 and 1/8 bits, rasp (or one of those rasp/chisels are pretty good for the money) and various grits of sandpaper. If you have a belt sander it will save a lot of time but it isn’t necessary. Finally, you will need an old fashioned miter box and saw. If you don’t have these tools borrow them or make this guitar with a friend that has them (tools are not included with the $25.00 budget). If you don’t know how to use these tools, read up on them or look them up via YouTube. I don’t want any of you guitar players to loose a digit while making one of these. Photos of Tools
• Tension Pins – You will need 3 each 1/8 x3/4 tension pins or roll pins – These can be found in almost any hardware store.
  
• Safety gear – You will need a dust mask, work gloves and safety goggles. 

A big thanks to Hollowbelly and Shane Speal for being apart of out first blog at guitarworld.com

More news soon....
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