I play fretless slide guitar just a hair better than I play The Great Stalacpipe Organ, which is an electrically actuated lithophone located in Luray Caverns, Virginia. I bring to fretless slide the same technical proficiency I bring to the Glass Harmonica, which was invented by Benjamin Franklin during a period when he wasn't fooling with electricity or otherwise busy inventing the odometer and the flexible urinary catheter.
I play fretless slide guitar almost as well as I play professional football.
So, you have probably gathered that I really don't play fretless slide guitar all that well. Because of this glaring character flaw, I was compelled to build the cigar box version of an electric, fretless, slide guitar.Your first look at this instrument's 1.5" diameter, oak-dowel neck (finished to a fine shine with Tru Oil), and its carefully selected hex-bolt bridge/saddle, will confirm that you've entered a world of heretofore unknown quality. A gander at the way in which I cleverly attached a traditional headstock to the aforementioned oak dowel (I do like my scarf joints) will leave you semi-agog with amazement.
What's more, since this thing has no frets, I thoughtfully pasted some "Ying Yang" stickers as position markers for the spots where the third, fifth, seventh, and twelfth frets should be . . . but aren't.
We're talking three strings of slidey goodness here, a real, live, screened soundhole cover, a trio of economy tuners, and an uber-nifty, handmade, itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, credit-card-thin humbucker painstakingly wound in Austria by a guy named Elmar. I'm actually not even making that last part up (Elmar calls his invention a "Flat Pup").
Here are the details . . . as if you need them
Neck: 1.5" diameter oak dowel
Position Markers: Yin and Yang stickers (from China, I think, which means they're culturally sensitive)
Strings: 3 of 'em
Body: Punch cigar box - 8" x 11.5" x 2"
Bridge/Saddle: A big ol' hex bolt from Lowes
Nut: a chunk of surgically shortened all-thread (also from Lowes)
Pickup: A "Flat Pup", credit-card thin, humbucker made in Austria by a guy named Elmar
Total Body Length: Just shy of 36”