Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by t-belly johnson on May 1, 2014 at 12:49pm

John, you don`t need any space to build a 3 stringer as good,if not better,than the 2 shown.

Summer is coming and you can pretty much make a nice build of your own in the garden with a workmate bench and a few tools.You`ll be able to build one as good for a fraction of the price and get the added benefit of the achievement of making your own.

Permalink Reply by Malcolm Wright on May 1, 2014 at 12:59pm

T-belly is right, if you've got space in the yard for a workmate you can build your own. But that's not answering your question.............I'd definitely go for the cheaper cigar box guitar rather than the dulcimer. It'll give you a much truer idea of what this lark is all about, ie: basic rough handmade instruments made from odds and sods that sound fricken' awesome!

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on May 1, 2014 at 9:09pm

Are you sure you want to go for a dulcimer (diatonic) fretted instrument? They are fun, but more suited to folky, country  & Americana type stuff rather than blues & rock...that's fine if that's the direction you want to go in. From the pics, the Punch one looks like it has unplayably high action...a very common problem with cigar box guitars where the builder really doesn't know much about playing - there's no point in having frets if the strings are so high that it's nigh-on impossible to get the strings down to the fret. Here comes the shameless plug..check my new "Workshop Series"  guitars... fully fretted, simple piezo pickup...totally playable and not that pricey. 

http://chickenbonejohn.myshopify.com/collections/guitars/products/w...

...or come to one of my make & play workshops and make your own and learn to play it for £40!

http://chickenbonejohn.myshopify.com/collections/workshop-tickets

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on May 1, 2014 at 10:04pm

*blues and rock is only a capo away on a strummer ;)

if you've struggled to learn music i n the past id actually really recommend one, strumsticks are super fun, it all just works!  This can be really liberating for a lot of people and may give you a lot more hours of pleasure and with a lot less frustration.

Permalink Reply by john mackay on May 1, 2014 at 11:00pm

 dulcimer (diatonic) fretted instrument? now you've got me baffled johnny.

I've seen you Webb site and I don't mean to be rude john but I just don't like the look of them.

I'd sooner have a plain wood one with 2 violin holes. other than them John I'm sure you make good cbg's.

I missed your venue in Thornaby ,I just live up the road.I thought it was 27th may.

I'll take on board what you guy said about working out side.I've got most of the wood working tools.

I've got a lovely biscuit tin and my son has a few oak floor boards and he is giving me them.

so I'll have a crack at it when it get warmer. 

I would love just to play a simple tune. Red dog has what look to me a simple and slow tune blues of 20's 'n' 30's.

if the slaves of old made these cbg can play these tunes with out any musical knowledge as Shane speal mention on his Webb surely I wont need to learn them thoroughly..

I'll probably need to know the basics,hell whats octave,reverb etc!!

I've got an accoustic 6 strings and a Bass,I'm selling the 6 string and giving my son the Bass.

my son can play them both and again he doesnt know much about theory ,he just play by ear.

that I can't do due to hearing impairment  if thats the word,I do have hearing aids though.

catcha all later.john

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on May 2, 2014 at 2:32am

Look at the frets on those guitars..they are spaced diatonically, like a dulcimer..ie do-re-me-fa so etc..no sharps or flats...playing with a slide is OK, but if you try fretting them you won't get all the notes you need for blues & rock...like trying to play something with only the white note on the piano, a bit limiting.

Permalink Reply by john mackay on May 2, 2014 at 9:37am

I wouldn't know the difference john.

I will rely on you guys to keep me on the right track.

had another at your lower priced guitars and I found one that I like.

but why mdf john surely it doesn't cost that much more for thin plywood.

http://chickenbonejohn.myshopify.com/products/workshop-series-3-str....

it seems a lot of money £85 for a cbg made out of mdf.

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on May 2, 2014 at 8:49pm

Cigar box guitars can be very counter intuitive..MDF - it actually works and sounds better than plywood (and lots of cigar boxes these days are made out of MDF or some sort of compressed particlebard) on these simple guitars (and I've helped over 1000 people make their first guitar this way)..I know because that's what I used to to use on these workshop guitars at first. My "workshop line" guitars are made from what I use in my "Make & Play" workshops...at every workshop I always make a part-built guitar which I use to demonstrate the building process. Rather than scrap them, I rework them into a fully fretted instrument with a properly profiled neck. As for cheap materials, Danelectro guitars  are made exactly the same way..except they use even cheaper hardboard (masonite) to stapled to a pine frame to make their guitars.

I'm not after selling you a guitar, but I can tell you, I've seen a lot of £150+ cigar box guitars which to be frank are unplayable cr*p...yes, my guitars aren't the cheapest...and most of them are in £200-300 range, some of my aluminium body resonators are much more than that. Some people get lucky and get a decent eBay cheapy, but it's a bit of a gamble...but the alternative is,  as some people are suggesting...get outside and put one together, it's not that hard.

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on May 2, 2014 at 10:10am

Yes it is exactly like playing something with only the white notes on a piano..

And yes that is a limitation. But sometimes limitations are liberating. We're here talking about a guitar with LESS strings than is standard, no? A limitation. Which is liberating.

Oh I'm playing a piano with only white keys, I have no 'blue notes' to play blues or rock...

But what if I shift my tonal centre to D?
Wow everything sounds like blues and rock.. Cos I'm in the Dorian mode.

What if I shift my tonal centre to E?
Hmm it all sounds spooky Spanish / heavy metal...

What if I shift it to F?
What is this, cartoon land? Wow there's super mario, there's Bart Simpson..

What if I shift it to G?
Hey here satchmo :)

What if I shift it to A?
Eleanor rigby, picks up the rice in the church, where the wedding has been....

And the B?
Hey why are these toothless banjo wielding hillbillies trying to stuff me in a soup pot?

Like I said mate, the blues is only a capo away from a strummer.

Permalink Reply by john mackay on May 3, 2014 at 11:45pm

gone and bought this one but with frets,so we'll see how things go.

he's a member on here.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121318001581

Permalink Reply by Ben Reed on May 7, 2014 at 5:20am

it will be great - personally i dont care for frets and a low action on a cigar box guitar. If you want to play the frets, may as well be using an electric guitar.

Playing with just the slide is only restrictive if you secretly yearn to play it with your fingers! Treat the cigar box as a totally different instrument  - a slide guitar - and learn to play it - you'll be amazed how quickly you pick it up and free yourself from the need to play with fingers on the fretboard

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on May 7, 2014 at 10:10pm

It's a personal choice, but I believe that slide guitar technique is misunderstood by many people. I like to use a combination of slide, bass figures, chords and fingered partial chords - maybe that's not for everyone, but it's the technique I've developed.  I thought I knew how to play slide guitar until I started being taught by some seriously good players...and that changed everything for me. I'm not old enough to have played with any of the old-time blues greats, but certainly my mentors have, so it's really cool to have a connection in this way, and certainly puts things in perspective. I was certainly knocked off my perch when I first when to a slide guitar workshop and had to totally re-appraise my whole approach to playing...there's always something new to learn.

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