Boing Box
By Mark Frauenfelder 1+ 2+ 3
Build a fun, one-stringed instrument that packs a mighty twang.
You will need: A cigar box, 6' length of ½"×¾" wood, 8' of 20-gauge wire, 2 eye screws, wood screws, L-bracket,
scraps of wood, drill, saw, screwdriver
A 1951 book called Radio and Television Sound Effects, by Robert B. Turnbull, shows how to make
a “boing box.” (It’s reprinted at bizarrelabs.com/boing2.htm.) I made a modified boing box using
a wooden cigar box and some scraps I had around the house.
1. Drill resonator holes in
the cigar box as shown.
Screw an L-bracket to
the neck, then screw the
neck to the cigar box. To
prevent structural failure,
put a ½"-thick scrap of
wood under the lid and
drive the screws into it.
This will keep the screws
from pulling out when
the wire is tightened.
2. Insert eye screws into
the cigar box and the end
of the neck. Use another
wood scrap on the inside
of the box for the eye
screw. Tie and tighten
wire to both eye screws.
The wire should be tight
enough to cause the
neck to bow slightly.
(I used an eyebolt with
hex and wing nuts to
make it easy to adjust.)
3. Pluck the string and
gently shake the boing
box to vary the pitch.
Boing!
Listen to some
sample twangs of the
boing box at makezine.
com/12/123_boing.
Photography by Mark Frauenfelder
Mark Frauenfelder is editor-in-chief of MAKE.
116 Make: Volume 12
