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100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:59 pm
by CarveOne
While in the local Tractor Supply store before Christmas I saw these commemorative boxes of eight double decker chocolate Moon Pies and bought one. I told the lady cashier that I was going to make an electric guitar out of the box and winked. She laughed at that idea. Probably thought I wasn't serious (maybe a little crazy too).

Today, I took the guitar to show her, but she was not at work. I showed it to the cashier, who told me the manager would probably like to see it. He did, and wanted to take a couple of photos of it with me holding it. He said that he would show them to the lady cashier when she came in on Monday. Then he said that he would send the photos to the Tractor Supply company headquarters. A lady customer and husband were watching all of this and wanted to take a photo also. All of them had never seen anything like this and could hardly believe it sounded so good.

This is my first 4 string guitar, and is tuned like a six string acoustic guitar's four smaller strings (DGBE). 25" tuning length, strings from a Martin Light string set. 1/4" curly maple fret board, 1/8" padauk spacer layer,1/4" padauk tailpiece, Corian nut, Lexan bridge, red oak neck. The Lexan bridge lets the text show through so it isn't hidden too much. The heart tailpiece is my version of "Love them Moon Pies". The tuners and pre-wired pickup are from http://www.cbgitty.com.

The single coil pickup requires a large hole in the neck that results in a very weakened neck where it is located. I made some internal design improvements that allows it to be stiff enough to make this guitar fully playable, not just a whimsical wall decoration piece. Sounds really good with a 25 watt amplifier. Needs no sound holes for good volume practice playing with no amp.

CarveOne

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:32 pm
by Fleming
AWESOME WORK :D

Maybe Tractor Supply will use it for some PR and put some $ in your pocket!

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:18 am
by Savannahdan
I'd send a picture of the guitar to the Moon Pie folks. Sure they'd go bananas over it. I just had to get one of their flavors in my comments. :lol:

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 1:29 am
by CarveOne
Fleming -

I might just go along with that. :D

Savannahdan -

Funny that you should mention that. I had just finished doing that when I saw your comment. I saw a salted caramel version for the first time two days ago. Now I'm torn between banana and salted caramel as to which is better.

CarveOne

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 3:03 am
by Savannahdan
Now I'll have to hunt down some of the salted caramel Moon Pies. BTW, love your guitar.

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:27 pm
by Fleming
CarveOne,

Got notice of you sending private message but my account does not allow me to use that. Please send message to cobblewoodcarvers@gmail.com

Thanks,
Paul

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 5:28 pm
by CarveOne
Sent the message by email as requested.

CarveOne

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 4:13 pm
by mtylerfl
Wow, that is one COOL guitar!! I love it!

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 7:04 pm
by CarveOne
Thank you Michael. The tin boxes for this one and the PEZ guitar I previously posted here are more difficult to work with, but the results are much more unique. When set up for slide playing with distortion turned on in the amplifier they can make some really gnarly music. Without distortion, they have a sound that is more closely related to a banjo. Fun to build them too. Just wish I could play one. :cry:

CarveOne

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:32 am
by CarveOne
Update:

Yesterday I shipped three guitars of a modified version to the Moon Pie Company. They have dual piezo electric disks under the top panel with an output level control and phone jack. The magnetic pickup made the neck overly complicated to make and had a strength problem as well. I changed the tuning length from 23" to 25" to better work with a standard acoustic string set that need 24" to 26" tuning length. The carving on the head stock is what they asked for. They have a good use planned for all three of these guitars. There is a possibility that they will offer this guitar for sale on their website and social media. More on that later when the details are worked out.

Sounds like I really "struck a chord" with this 100th anniversary guitar idea. :D

CarveOne

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:10 am
by Fleming
:D :D :D Job Well Done. Maybe you ought to change your name from CarveOne to CarveThree

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:26 am
by scottp55
Congrats Richard! :D
scott

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:58 am
by Savannahdan
Way to go, Richard. I was in Walmart a couple days ago and forgot to look for the Moon Pies. The guitars look great and sweet!

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:42 am
by Arbo
Very cool. Ironically I have been looking at how to make an electric guitar... these seem a lot less complex... maybe i should go that route.

Re: 100th Anniversary Moon Pie Tin Box - Guitar

Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:39 am
by CarveOne
Savannahdan,

Try a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. My local one has them in cartons. Chocolate, banana, and vanilla. You can order any of the flavors through the Moon Pie website.

Thanks Scottp55.

Fleming,

How about CarveOne-and-then-a-bunch-more? This may get out of hand quick, if they sell well.

Arbo,

These fall into the cigar box guitar category, where just about anything goes. The three and four string guitars use flat fret boards and are easier to build for us beginners. I get better with each one, but in no way claim to be a luthier. There is lots of info available on the web to make the design relatively easy. stewmac.com has an easy online fret spacing calculator, and cbgitty.com has just about anything else you need for lower cost parts. Anything that you can tap on and get any amount of resonance can be made into a working guitar. Look at the cbgitty.com Customer Gallery for good examples. Also look at cigarboxnation.com for more photos and build information.

CarveOne