Step One: Measure Three Times, Then Cut

As I mentioned earlier, the basis for the whole CBG is that there is a plank of wood running all the way through the middle with things joined to it. The cigar box is pretty and works as a soundbox, but the wood is king and so seems the best place to start.

Before we do anything, there are a few decisions to be made.

The first thing to decide is what your scale length will be. i.e. How far it will be between the nut and the bridge. This varies even for 'real' traditional six stringers, and in the CBG world anything can go. Personally I chose 24.5", although I couldn't honestly tell you why.

After that of course, you need to decide on the number of strings. Again, people make all sorts of different guitars, so it is up to you. Personally, I've gone traditional and am building a three stringer, mainly because that is nice for slide, and enough notes to fret a chord. It will also fit onto a two-inch neck easily enough.

Thirdly, and another fundamental question, is whether to fret the guitar or not. Obviously, fretting is a whole can of worms, but means that it will make the guitar more playable. I've decided not to as I want to keep the CBG as trad as possible, and only play slide on it. Also I can't see me pulling the fretting bobbins off at the moment and would rather get a CBG built then wreck dozens of necks with my dubious woodworking 'skills'.

OK then, we've gone for 24.5" scale, unfretted with three strings. Decisions made.

Now that we know what we are dealing with, the next step is really important and one that you need to get right if the guitar is going to work at the end of all of this. Basically, we're going to mark up the neck in the following ways:

a) Headstock:
At the top of the neck we need to decide how big the headstock will be. I've gone for five inches, but as long as there is room to put the string winders there it is entirely up to you. Once you have decided, use a pencil and your best paw and draw a heavy line horizontally across the guitar.

b) Nut:
Assuming you aren't going for some weird contraption and are either using a bolt or a proper guitar nut, you will need to be cutting a slot across the neck. This will be directly below the headstock, so counting down from the line you just made, draw another a 1/4" further down. Later on we'll remove some wood here, but for now just colour it in so that you remember why it was there.

c) Nut to Bridge:
Nobody is going to hold you to it, but at this point I found it strangely calming to measure 24.5" down the neck from the nut slot, and draw a line. This is where the bridge will be placed on the top of the cigar box. (At least notionally, I'm sure we'll move it around a bit once we are trying to get the guitar in tune.)

d) Tuning Peg Holes:
As I said, I'm going to be using three guitar tuner things, but whatever you will be using to tighten your strings, now is the time to decide where you will drill the holes.

As we are having three strings, it might not be a surprise that we need three holes. On the headstock then we need to mark two on the left and one on the right. These I'd just space evenly and if you are planning to do something fancy with the headstock, take that into consideration. One tip is that the two on the left should be slightly out of line, maybe half an inch, so that there is room for the strings to pass each other. Makes sense, I guess.

e) String Holding Bits:
As with the tuner holes, at the other end of the neck we need three holes to thread the strings through. At this point I'm still not sure whether to go with a hinge or a through neck kind of arrangement, but the latter is the easiest, and so I'm going to simply mark the holes.

To do this is easy. I've marked off a few inches at the bottom of the neck and drawn a line. This will be the part that sticks out from the bottom of our box. Measuring the width, I've divided the neck into four and drawn vertical lines on the face of the neck below the imaginary bottom of the box.
Between these four lines, we have three gaps, and it is in these gaps that I will drill my holes. Easy peasie. Unlike the headstock, these can be in a line.

(As it happened, I used a hinge instead, but I figured that somebody might find my line drawing and measuring expertise a comfort if they went this way. Well, you never know.)

f) Frets:
Yep, I know I said we wouldn't be using frets, and this part is optional, but despite the fact that I won't actually be using fret wire, I would still like to be able to see where I am on the neck, so I am planning to at least mark where the frets should be. Even if it is using a marker pen.

There is a good reason why I left this to last.

To calculate the gaps between frets is an arcane art and something that I think will involve runes and human sacrifice. Luckily, other people have done this for you and there are a number of places on the web where you can find the measurements. (I’ll put details at the end of the article of good places to find this out.)

The secret to getting these marked accurately is to measure every single fret from the nut. It seems easier to do it fret-to-fret, but that way you will introduce multiple 'thickness of the pencil line' errors, which on their own aren't bad, but collectively can put you well out of kilter by the time you get to the twentieth fret.

Other than that though, it is as simple as measure, draw a line, repeat until you've done them all. Oh, and check, check and check a wee bit more. If you have some kind of set square, that will save you measuring both sides of the fretboard, but then so will anything with a 90 degree angle.

So that is the measuring, and I really would recommend that even though you are happy with them, go and check them all another couple of times. When you start cutting and drilling, it is going to be a bit late.