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Permalink Reply by Boxy Music on November 23, 2012 at 9:44pm

That's rough, being told that in a shop. I've had the "not a real instrument" thing from guitarists, which is just rude, but I think there have been more who have genuinely liked the whole idea of it. For the detractors, maybe it's simply because it's not what they are used to. They also say things like "have you ever thought of making a tapered neck" and on my dulcimer guitars "there aren't enough frets to play it properly." I guess that many guitarists will have invested a lot of time (and money) into their hobby over the years, and to see something which bucks that trend may be somewhat difficult, so I agree with what others have said here in that people may feel threatened. But I do know this - I am always genuinely thrilled when I hear a good guitarist pick up one of my builds and play the hell out of it!

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Permalink Reply by Old Man Vinegar on November 24, 2012 at 2:07am

Kevin, i am a carpenter that loves music. So when I saw a CBG for the first , I was looking at it from the perspective of " I can make one of those" . Then I produce one as a gift for a friend. It stays at my house for three weeks before I give it to him. Well , hell , now I got to have one :-) because in that three weeks I was making music on this thing. Then I started really prowling the Internet and came across musicians like Keni Lee Burgess, Shane Speal , Ben Prestage, Pine Cone Fletcher, HollowBelly and ChickenBone John. These guys are really playing great music on these and the beauty for me is I can produce the same instrument that they are playing on. ( don't know that I can ever achieve ChickenBone John quality instrument though ) I guess in the CBG community there is something very appealing about making your own instrument or making music on something that might have otherwise been discarded :-)
Old Man Vinegar

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Gus on November 24, 2012 at 12:33pm

That's the whole beauty of this scene for me...I've always played pretty beat-up, janky guitars (my main electrics are a '93 LP Studio that looks like it's been in a rock tumbler, and a '00 Danelectro that behaves like it was re-wired by a drunken one-eyed chimpanzee), so this was sort of the ultimate extension of that for me...you can't get much jankier than a stick of poplar, a cigar box and no frets.

Especially when I'm the one building it, since I am very much not a carpenter. I'm massively impressed by some of the woodworking skill I've seen around here, but I really dig listening to someone bang it out on a CBG that ain't all that pretty.

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Permalink Reply by Berengario Tetaflor on November 24, 2012 at 4:27am

My own and personal opinion about this is...: 2012 is comming to it's end and one of the good things that hapened to me during this year is getting hooked on this stuff of the CBGs. I've been playing guitar for about 20 years (since I was 9) and I made the mistake of believeing in marketing, so I "had" to have a Gibson. And I had it. Then I realized my hand wasn't confortable on the neck of that SG, so I sold it and bought a cheaper Schecter, that made me happier.
The same approach is valid for the CBG...
They might say they're not real guitars, they might say they're not expensive enough, whatever... "The unique truth is reality", used to say a guy from my country, and I say "the unique reality is that CBGs make me happy and a bunch of guys play awesome music on them". All in all, that's the point of music

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Gus on November 24, 2012 at 12:38pm

I first became aware of the CBG "thing" this year, too, and it is hands-down the best thing (musically) that ever happened to me. I've never met so many good and decent music people in one place, nor have I ever found so many people who seem to "get" the music I'm making. Open-minded, grateful, creative and a little sonically perverted...what more could you want in folks?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Lindsay on November 24, 2012 at 4:58am

I guess I'm lucky, or I just haven't taken any of my builds into enough guitar shops, because I haven't had the "not a real instrument" experience yet. I've taken a couple of builds into 1 or 2 shops, but that was only after I had talked to the people there a bit about them, and they wanted to see one. The general consensus is that CBGs in general are pretty cool. I'm pretty up front about them though. Before I even take it into the shop, I let them know that it's not a Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, or anything else even remotely similar. I let folks know right off the top that they're primitive, primal, rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, but you'll never get this sound out of anything else.

What I've most commonly heard is, "I don't play slide." My reply to that is "I can't play anything, and I can get music out of it." That usually gets a smile, and they at least try it.

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on November 25, 2012 at 2:06pm

Interesting story and comments.  Yes.  I've had similar experience.   Some folks get it and some don't.  Their loss.   Lots of music snobs and guitar snobs out there.   Screw em.   And don't be that way. 

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Permalink Reply by Seaman Jay on November 26, 2012 at 1:59am

"3 strings? Well, but if you want to go beyond the power-chords..."

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Permalink Reply by wormil on November 30, 2012 at 11:17pm

Took a CBG to a music festival, just a small one, a party really to celebrate the passing of a local musician, and you would have thought I brought a box of snot as far as the guitar players were concerned. None of them would touch it, literally wouldn't touch it and looked disgusted. The kids all had to try it though.

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Permalink Reply by joe cerroni on December 1, 2012 at 7:02am

Tell them you Thought this was "A real music store" but since it isn't you'll buy your stuff elsewhere. I've had plenty of snobbery thrown my way, I live in austin tx,( the inflated ego musician capital iof the world). I think the're intimidated by such a cheap looking thing that makes original sounds.

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