Weeping Goddess Construction Notes
Someone emailed me wanting more details on how the Weeping Goddess CBG was constructed. 
So here's the scoop:
The basic construction is similar to the CBG plans here: cigarboxguitar.com
Beyond those basic plans, there were a few changes:
1. The neck was made from a wider piece of poplar so it could be cut down to a funky shape - the trick to the shape is to keep the bottom edge pretty straight so it doesn't interfere with strings - then you can do just about anything with the top edge - including making a bump to support the fourth string (the half-length drone string that makes it a banjo).
2. I used a 1/4" piece of red oak glued on to the neck as a fingerboard. This makes it unnecessary to carve out an inset for the box top in the neck.
3. It has frets - regular fret wire - installed in a chromatic Pythagorean pattern. I have a spreadsheet available for calculating Pythagorean frets at Pythagorean Fret Calculator (xls) at DoctorOakroot.com.
4. There is a fourth half string. The tuner for this string is at the "wrong" end - otherwise, the tuner post would interfere with the slide when playing (a problem I had with the original diddley jo).
5. In the original configuration (which was used for "Snake in the Grass"), there were two EM pickups made from plastic sewing bobbins - magnet wire from Radio Shack was wound onto the bobbin using a sewing machine. Then a 1/4" x 1/4" cylindrical magnet from Wondermagnet was pressed into the hole in the bobbin. The two pickups were wired in series straight to the jack.
6. Since then, I've changed the strings from the original electric guitar strings to Nylgut banjo strings - which rendered the EM pickups useless, so two piezo pickups from Digi-key were added - wired in series to the jack. The EM pickups are still on the instruments, but disconnected.
So here's the scoop:
The basic construction is similar to the CBG plans here: cigarboxguitar.com
Beyond those basic plans, there were a few changes:
1. The neck was made from a wider piece of poplar so it could be cut down to a funky shape - the trick to the shape is to keep the bottom edge pretty straight so it doesn't interfere with strings - then you can do just about anything with the top edge - including making a bump to support the fourth string (the half-length drone string that makes it a banjo).
2. I used a 1/4" piece of red oak glued on to the neck as a fingerboard. This makes it unnecessary to carve out an inset for the box top in the neck.
3. It has frets - regular fret wire - installed in a chromatic Pythagorean pattern. I have a spreadsheet available for calculating Pythagorean frets at Pythagorean Fret Calculator (xls) at DoctorOakroot.com.
4. There is a fourth half string. The tuner for this string is at the "wrong" end - otherwise, the tuner post would interfere with the slide when playing (a problem I had with the original diddley jo).
5. In the original configuration (which was used for "Snake in the Grass"), there were two EM pickups made from plastic sewing bobbins - magnet wire from Radio Shack was wound onto the bobbin using a sewing machine. Then a 1/4" x 1/4" cylindrical magnet from Wondermagnet was pressed into the hole in the bobbin. The two pickups were wired in series straight to the jack.
6. Since then, I've changed the strings from the original electric guitar strings to Nylgut banjo strings - which rendered the EM pickups useless, so two piezo pickups from Digi-key were added - wired in series to the jack. The EM pickups are still on the instruments, but disconnected.
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