James Neligan Cask Hogscoal

I was looking for something better than an entry-level DIY kit and this is an ideal option. As I studied decades ago keyboards, a wanted a four string model to play chords for home recordings.

The neck was practically straight, I had to loosen the truss rod a bit. I also lowered the action slightly, to my surprise I found a small strip of metal between the plastic bridge and the floating wood support. Got the action at the low string to around 2.6 mm, I am ok eith that. The bridge is indeed a floating piece of wood, pushed down by the strings. So adjusting intonation is a bit tricky, but doable. A mechanical bridge would be better.

The string spacing is about 12 mm, perhaps 1/2 inch. As the neck and fretboard are probably from some standard guitar, outermost strings are about 10 mm inwards from the edge of the neck at the 20th fret.

The box is rather good, but not perfect quality. The finishing shows certain spots where the treatment is not equal, but nothing drastic.

The tuners are ok, but not perfect quality. I can get the guitar tuned ok and it stays in tune for long enough, but somehow there's a bit too much loose action the turning the heads, maybe it is the strings, I don't know.

The acoustic sound is not spectacular, but electronically ok. Definitely not to replace an acoustic guitar, for less money one finds something better.

In conclusion, a reasonable entry into the world of cigar box guitars.

Acoustically sounds good despite of it's irregular body shape. The action sits quite high so that needed addressing with some some files and sandpaper.

Quality control leaves a lot to be desired. Under the tailpiece, there were misaligned screw holes, which are covered by the tailpiece so nothing too serious.

The finish has a rustic, DIY feel to it; the colour on the edges started to rub off which accentuated the guitar's shape.

The electronics are the cheapest you can find, however it's not difficult to rewire the whole guitar with decent parts.

Overall, the guitar has a lot of fun factor going for it, and if you're handy with some spanners and a soldering iron, it's a very good starting point for any decent project.