I just finished cutting a hole in a Fuente box for a paint lid resonator. My wife looked at it and said I ruined the art. So I guess the question is....Where do you draw the line between having a working CBG or a wall hanger? I have some really nice boxes that have great art on them and know they would sound great. Should we slice up the art in favor of getting the sound we desire or have a cool looking box that makes people say wow? As a working muscian I know the value of a fine sounding instrument. As a builder I also know the value of something that catches someone's eye. I'm torn...
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The thing I would say is this: If you are making it for yourself to play all that matters is that you like its look and you like its sound. If its for someone else, you should like its sound and subtract anything that would make anything look as if it didn't fit in the build. No one likes something that looks slopped together and like a stream of second-thoughts.
That being said the most important aspect is that is makes music. If someone wanted wall art they could have gone out and printed out one of our pictures in 22 x 36 inch size, framed it and hung it up.
I want it to look like I just pulled it out of the junk heap. I like the idea of using everyday objects on my builds.
Man, what you don't realize there is that there shows clear intention of artistic direction in the build. We've all just been taught 'Artistic' means 'artsy fartsy' and therefore uncool so we try to distance ourselves from the term. But look at the stuff that wins Featured Instrument of the Day; its always stuff that makes us go "Dang that is the most creative use of a sink drain cover I've ever seen." That's just someone being the artist and us being the folks at the gallery right?
Lots of good opinions. I agree that the finished guitar is the art. Think I'll just let the chips fly and see what comes out at the end. My background is in creating electric guitars as far as making instruments. Problem is there are to many "standards' in that market and people that buy them are not always open to new styles and shapes. I need to get that way of working out of my head and get back to my Southern Cracker yard art roots! Think I'll hit the flea market this week and see what kind of things I can find to compliment the box art.
work around the box theres no reason you cant have your cake and eat it too in this situation. try building abox with out a sound hole if you are amplifying it then it doesnt need one any way. (take a look at some to the modern acoustic electrics) or put the sound hole on the top and bottom or personaly i like electromagnetic pickups so any holes are just to for looks to me i dont want the top to resinate at all so i glue as much wood as i can to it.
As an artist here is my 2 cents. I think the finished CBG that can play music is a functional piece of art, be it a finely finished instrument with lots of polish and shine or one that is a bit rough around the edges, both are valid. As for incorporating the box art, form follows function so if its in the way of a bridge, so what its still a cigar box and the art is still part of the guitar. Play on people. I enjoy looking at them all.
To me in a way a cbg is like the atoms that makeup water, separate them you just have gases. But together they can be so much more beautiful and useful than in the original form. The completed instrument makes for a good story well beyond the any loss of the art work on the box.
This box is very old. S.S.Pierce was a major importer located in Boston.
"The 1886 catalog for S.S. Pierce & Co., Importers and Grocers lists myriad items for sale in its Grocery, Wine, Cigar, and Perfumery Departments: gelatine; isinglass; chutneys; French vegetables in glass jars; Alghieri's soups; Wiebaden goods; wines; Russian cigarettes; Egyptian cigarettes; quadruple essences; tooth brushes; soaps assorted; inexhaustible salts; and much more."
I will move neck position for a nice bridge placement.(if its fretted) To keep the box as pretty as possible. Or try to install the pickup with less damage to the artwork on the box by adjusting it a lil this way or that way. But once I built a Partagas Box for the local Cigarstore, The wood was thick. The bridge was a copper pipe. I concentrated more on the looks than the guitar sounding good. Even though it turned out a pretty build. When I was done I was disappointed in the volume of the instrument. And felt as though I wasted my time. I decided that if I am ever going to build again just for looks. that that would be more like work. and Though I would do it,I would want to be paid properly . Instead of doing what I love. And getting pennies for my time.(which is how I feel about my prices now). So its your choice. Do you enjoy the artsy side of the CBG more. If you were building for the pure look you could be more creative in choosing bridge and nut material or tuners. Save a bunch of money on strings by using thick fishing string.Or whatever you got simaler. For me I want to be able to play it and be proud of it. So I may adjust a bridge or soundhole for looks. but the instrument must be an instrument worth playing if Im taking my time building it. And if they think its pretty enough to hang up in the end. Then I hitt both sides of the fence!
My latest, I tried to make the holes around the art. Tho I didn't completely miss the box art, I did manage to balance the f-hole art/function as much as possible.
Also another point of view is that the f-holes are as much a part of the art as anything else -- they are then adding to the whole rather than being a necessary evil.
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That being said the most important aspect is that is makes music. If someone wanted wall art they could have gone out and printed out one of our pictures in 22 x 36 inch size, framed it and hung it up.
Man, what you don't realize there is that there shows clear intention of artistic direction in the build. We've all just been taught 'Artistic' means 'artsy fartsy' and therefore uncool so we try to distance ourselves from the term. But look at the stuff that wins Featured Instrument of the Day; its always stuff that makes us go "Dang that is the most creative use of a sink drain cover I've ever seen." That's just someone being the artist and us being the folks at the gallery right?
"The 1886 catalog for S.S. Pierce & Co., Importers and Grocers lists myriad items for sale in its Grocery, Wine, Cigar, and Perfumery Departments: gelatine; isinglass; chutneys; French vegetables in glass jars; Alghieri's soups; Wiebaden goods; wines; Russian cigarettes; Egyptian cigarettes; quadruple essences; tooth brushes; soaps assorted; inexhaustible salts; and much more."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikqSVj9WviI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onXcQirQMok
Also another point of view is that the f-holes are as much a part of the art as anything else -- they are then adding to the whole rather than being a necessary evil.
-WY
THENUGE said:
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