Measure twice, cut once: That’s the rule.
It’s no secret among my
friends that I’m a cigar box
guitar (CBG) aficionado. About
a year ago at a flea market in
North Carolina, I ran into blues
musician Kenny Ford, a colorful
character who tours and
lives in his old truck camper.
He always collects interesting,
oddball guitars in his travels,
but what he brought out of his
camper that day floored me. It
was a Fender Squier Telecaster
that Kenny had sawed up so it
resembled a cigar box guitar. I
really liked the way it looked
and played, and to top things
off, he offered to sell it to me.
But we could never agree on a
price, so after a time he ended
up leaving town, while I ended
up regretting not buying it.
But one day I decided if
Kenny could make one, I could
too. So I started searching the
’Bay for the exact model Tele
that he used, which turned
out to be a butterscotch Squier
Affinity Tele with a maple
fretboard. I studied the market
for a while, and after a few
weeks I snagged a cheap one
for $118, plus $18 shipping.
When I got it, she played great.
There was thankfully no gloss
on the fretboard, so it felt very
comfortable for string bending.
The butterscotch color seemed
a bit too dark, but I could live
with that because the pickups
sounded quite Tele-ish.
Squaring off a Tele body requires that you relocate the output jack.
Here, I use a flat Les Paul-style jack plate, rather than the round,
recessed Tele version.
I took it over to my neighbor
Robert, who has all kinds of
fancy woodworking machinery,
and we went to work. First we
removed the neck and strings,
and then we unscrewed the output
jack. Next we took careful
measurements. Finally we fired
up a table saw and proceeded
to lob off sections on all four
sides of the body until it had
a rectangular shape. The scariest
moment was sawing off the
lower body—I wanted to make
sure we avoided the control
cavity, as that could damage
wires and leave a gaping hole in
the bottom of the guitar. But
our measurements were spot on
and it turned out fine.
So I spent that weekend
playing my Tele CBG and what
a treat it was. The only thing
that bothered me was the neck
pickup. It sounded too wooly
and dark, so I replaced it with a
spare G&L pickup I had lying
around. Now it smokes!
An interesting sidenote:
In the process, the guitar lost
almost two pounds and is now
quite light and resonant. Also,
the dark butterscotch color looks
lighter now with the black pickguard
gone. Keep in mind—if
you ever do something like this,
I’d advise using a cheap guitar.
Hey, Bo Diddley!
So is it a keeper? Absolutely!
Technically it may
not be a CBG, but it’s close
enough for me.
Will Ray
is a founding
member of the
Hellecasters guitar-twang
trio. He also does guitar
clinics promoting his
namesake G&L signature
model 6-string, and produces
artists and bands at his studio in
Asheville, North Carolina. You can contact
Will on Facebook and at
willray.biz.