Acoustic Sound

OK,

I'll admit, I got lost for a while, but I'm ready to jump back into discussions.

I've only built one ax, though I am thinking on my second one...

My one guitar is a 3 stringed, fretless monster called "The Ike Special" built about 98% for debris of hurricane Ike. (siding, fence board, carpeting, sticks, etc). It's a bit larger body than a traditional cigar box, and has a pretty rich sound.

But that's where my question comes in. Like I said, I've been lost for a while, so there might be some acoustic guys around here... But looking around YouTube, I find a lot of slide guitar players, playing with a lot of distortion on their guitars.

I am an acoustic player... I might put in the studio a bit of reverb, even some chorus.. but I am mostly an acoustic player who has yet to master the slide. I guess it's a that I come into cigarbox from the acoustic rhythm guitar, but I just feel a bit more feelings for the acoustic sound.

Here's a sample of one of my recent songs (a medley of a couple of old hymns).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9M7Dec0T3g

Is there anyone else who really likes the acoustic sound of the cigar box guitar?

Anyway, glad to find my way back. Looking forward to some great discussion.

Most of my cigar box builds sound kinda doofy unplugged because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I play without distortion quite a lot, especially on the slow blues numbers where I use the tin guitars. They've got a real spiky, warped resonator/banjo kind of sound through a clean amp with some reverb. I'd like to build a box that sounds nice unplugged, though. Maybe with frets and four strings!

I also use different sounds depending on what slide and box I'm playing with. I've got a light brass slide that's sort of general use for clean or overdriven rhythms and some leads, and a real heavy tapered brass slide that I use on the CBG that's strung with acoustic strings, almost always with a clean sound. But if I've got the replica Coricidin bottle on my finger, that usually leads to a tin guitar blasting through a squawky, midranged-out fuzztone amp. The overtones are just stupid with that setup.

Replies

Uncle Gus October 3, 2012 at 11:09pm

Most of my cigar box builds sound kinda doofy unplugged because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I play without distortion quite a lot, especially on the slow blues numbers where I use the tin guitars. They've got a real spiky, warped resonator/banjo kind of sound through a clean amp with some reverb. I'd like to build a box that sounds nice unplugged, though. Maybe with frets and four strings!

I also use different sounds depending on what slide and box I'm playing with. I've got a light brass slide that's sort of general use for clean or overdriven rhythms and some leads, and a real heavy tapered brass slide that I use on the CBG that's strung with acoustic strings, almost always with a clean sound. But if I've got the replica Coricidin bottle on my finger, that usually leads to a tin guitar blasting through a squawky, midranged-out fuzztone amp. The overtones are just stupid with that setup.
MichaelS Country Boy Guitars October 3, 2012 at 3:18pm

I put piezo pickup in most of mine, and they sound pretty good with it. But I find myself just picking it up and playing without. Its easy to just grab it and play and the sound is nice and mellow. Its nice to have it work both ways though.
Randy S. Bretz October 3, 2012 at 10:31am

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/howgoodcanitsoundunplugged
Ron "Oily" Sprague October 2, 2012 at 10:49pm

I like acoustic. Most of my current, unreleased stuff is acoustic fingerpicking. But sometimes, the Crazy Horse side of me needs to play, too. I think many slide players using distortion do it to cover lack of technique ( I know I currently do), but I also think many do it just because they prefer the sound, the same way you prefer full bore acoustic.

There's enough tone in these tittle boxes to satisfy everybody.
Clock The Wolf October 2, 2012 at 7:57pm

Some of my output is acoustic... don't know how much.

Point is, I haven't bothered to think about it.

There is an old acoustic vs electric debate which I, personally, find tedious and unproductive.

If you prefer acoustic, that's great. Let's hear it!!!

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