This week I've been hard at work building a cigar box guitar.  I'm a lucky chap to be able to waste so much time on such things.  It plays well, has quite a nice tone and holds its tuning.

There's loads of good advice on building them online, especially at cigarboxguitars.com.  I got the idea from Make magazine initially, and then found out that- of course- there's a load of people making them, from the most basic up to the Stratocaster-with-a-cigar-box-stuck-to-it level.  My fave builder is Chickenbone John.
I was worried about fretting it for fear I'd get the intonation wrong, but I think I'm going to go for it, because I want the sustain that frets give.  I had a load of friendly help from the guys at Deimel guitars in Schöneberg, who have made axes for no less than Sonic Youth.
I've got lots of instruments already, but building a simple guitar was a wonderful thing:  It's all your creation, from the look to the sound, and you feel that you have to work with what you've made.  You can have the limitless capabilities of Max/MSP, but  there is also power in having a limited palette.