54 Australian Wood Review
PROJECTClamp the neck in place lightly and
use a marking knife to cut through
the tape. Set a marking gauge to the
thickness of the neck material and
score the blue tape between the two
marks you made for the neck width.
Now use a square and a knife to carry
the width lines down to the depth line
and remove the rectangular bit of blue
tape. The remaining blue tape will
delineate your neck position.Use a fine-tooth saw to make your
cuts down from the top making sure
you don’t cut into the tape (photo
4 ). Use a utility knife to carefully cut
across the bottom of the notch with
multiple passes until the waste breaks
away. Use the knife to refine the
corners of the notch then place the
neck into the notches to verify the fit
(photo 5).Strut your stuff
Next you will fit the box struts which
serve to strengthen the box. When the
strings are tensioned, they will exert
force on the box and these struts will
help to handle that force. The material
for the struts can be solid wood or
ply and anywhere from 12 to 20mm
thick. The struts should be sized to
the shortest depth of the box. The long
sides of most cigar boxes are usually
narrower by the thickness of the lid.Cut the struts to fit the width of the
box and install them. Use a pencil to
trace the location of the notch then
remove the waste (photo 6). Reinstall
the struts and test fit the neck to be
sure all fits well. Remove the neck
again and attempt to close the lid.
Make any minor adjustments at this2
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1 3
- Mark the location of
the neck in the box. - Find the centre of
the neck. - Score the blue tape
to create a template. - Remove the waste.
- Test-fit the notch.
- Transfer the notch
onto the strut. - Always take the time
to make a pilot hole
for screws. - Decorate your sound
holes however you like. - Transfer the box lid
location onto the neck. - The lid should close easily
when you’re done. - Remove the material
for the head. - The holes will look
cleaner once the
bushings are installed.