The most popular discussion this week has been what people don't like added to cigar box guitars. The dogma has been running all over this neighborhood. Somebody get the pooper scooper!
But seriously, I have seen these arguments pop up within the online cigar box guitar community ever since its inception around 2003. I would usually just start screaming, "No Rules!" over and over to squelch the dividers.
I guess I've mellowed with age. I'm not going to scream anymore.
Instead, I've posted a picture of four cigar box guitars I just completed above. If you look closely at them, you'll notice that they contain:
- Found objects such as yardsticks, door handles and a stove burner cover
- Decorative parts I purchased online, including box corners which do nothing at all to enhance the tone...but they look cool.
- "Despised parts" made from a laser-cut CNC machine, including the rectangle sound hole covers which were originally humbucker pickup rings.
Let's talk about those laser-cut parts, shall we? Several members on here are deriding the use of factory made, laser-cut parts by C. B. Gitty. The notion is that these parts take away from the handmade aspect of the instruments.
But maybe the focus should be on us as builders and not the parts themselves.
My workshop is filled to the top with various cigar box guitar parts. Some I scored at flea markets and yard sales. Others I purchased directly from ol' Mr. Gitty. To me, they're all part of the exciting gumbo I cook when I step into the shop.
Laser-cut parts are exciting to me because they offer shapes and inspirations that I may not find in a junk store. But I almost never leave the parts as-is when I build. The soundholes in this guitar above are a prime example.
In the guitar above, I used two C. B. Gitty humbucker pickup rings as the basis for the soundholes. I added metal "confessional' screen (painted with rust paint) behind them to give a unique look.
So did I 'cheat' when I used the pickup rings? Quite honestly, I'm not concerned. I love the outcome.
And that's the key right there.
Why should we be concerned with other peoples' dogma when it comes to building these things? Each one of us is an artist when we build. Some of us work only with a found-object mentality while others enjoy making them from kits or purchased pieces.
In the end, we're making our own instruments...each one crafted in somebody's woodshop. We're reinventing the guitar building process and taking it back to the individual.
Just remember, while you're getting irritated with somebody making guitars from processed parts, millions of guitarists are still brainwashed into thinking that the major guitar companies are still creating magical instruments.
The truth is, they're all churned out 100 at a time.
Go build something. While you're at it, encourage somebody else to do the same today.
-Shane W. Speal Sr. Dec 14, 2015
Replies
They are all art and I like them all. Shiny, new, high tech, switches, pickups, doo dads and decorations, dirty, poorly constructed, spit at and insulted.
I have been thinking about the different views on these things. To me this community is a lot like a car show. When you go to a car show you can expect to see a little bit of everything right? You will have the purists that believe there's nothing like the original thing right down to the license plate and the cloth covered wire harnesses. They will scour their resources to find parts that are not recreations but actual correct era produced parts. Then you will have the guys who make the chopped and dropped "Rat-Rod" creations. Where you have a mix of old and new. These cars may show a bit more of the owners own personality and not something that necessarily fits into a historical recreation. Big pipes and flames look good on an old T-Bucket roadster, am I right? At most car shows you will find an old car that looks original until you pop the hood and find that it that has a modern powertrain or suspension for the sake of having the look of the older cars with the performance of something new. Kind of like making a CBG with a hidden piezo pickup inside. Maybe even an import tuner car or two would be the equivalent of a CBG that is completely created from sourced parts with more attention focused on a theme. Is this any different than what we have in our CBG community? I don't feel that it's any different. People have different personalities and different tastes in guitars. Most guys at a car show have different visions of what their dream car would be. They typically still show respect for the other guys that are there. Me personally, I like the Rat-Rods. They have the taste of the old cars but are super customized. They may have scratches and dings and some rust, but they also have tons of character and tons of performance. It might not be comfortable but it sure looks good and sounds awesome when you rev the engine. If you are nostalgic about the sputter of that old Model-T. Go for it! It takes a whole different level of commitment to restore something like that. There's room for everybody. Be it the Beverly Hillbillies car or a Ferrari, it's still a vehicle that draws attention for some reason or another. I like all of them... what kind of CBG suits your taste?
Good point and well said. I like almost all of them, but for myself to play, I like a much used relic look. And if I was a good enough mechanic and had the money and storage for a car - it would be a cross between a oldy with patina and a bit of rat rod.
Right on Uncle John! I think most of my builds fall somewhere between Rat-Rod and Tuner Car. I've cut necks from oak 4x4's out of pallets and I've purchased manufactured boxes from hobby shops. I've used parts that shouldn't belong in a guitar like a harmonica for a tailpiece to .45 cal casings to plug holes that were intended for a bridge that was too tall. I just like to create something that didn't exist and will never be recreated by myself. In all honesty I have yet to use an actual cigar box. My local cigar shop rarely has boxes that are big enough for my taste so I substitute the cigar boxes by building my own or buying premade. I still put a lot of effort into them. Enough to call it my creation when I'm finished. People like them, I like them...It's fun!
Laser cut sound holes and decorations are art? Well, shit. Aguing what is and isn't art can piss a lot of folks off. And hurt their feelings. Are paint by numbers paintings art? I'll say yes, but kind of a lower form of art. In the purest spirit of making our own instruments and music...... The more an item is home made... then the more it is art. Using found and re-purposed parts is a bonus.
I found CBGs on the net around 2007. Using online instruction, I made a fretless cbg with scrounged, used tuners. I electrified my build with a piezo from a door bell. Manufactured parts for CBGs were rare. We used tent grommits, closet rod holders and sink drains for sound holes. Found stuff.
Maybe it was Pick that I first saw use a yard stick for a fret board. J.P. Swensen used a pot lid. Crow and others showed us how to make home made tuners from eye bolts.
Now we can get lazer cut sound holes and decorations. We can get pre-fretted fret boards and pre-wired pickups with housings or covers to cover it up when we do a poor job cutting a hole for the pickup. Manufactured items make our builds look slicker and more professional. They save us a lot of time. I use and appreciate that stuff.
But I will say it again. The more an item is home made... the more that it is original and uses found and re-purposed parts.. then the more it is art and our own art.
I have to agree in large part with Uncle John.
Look at the difference between someone making a part by hand using raw materials vs. someone using computer aided machinery, home-based or not. Say, for instance a pickup ring. One made entirely by hand tools vs. one programmed and made with a laser cutter or maybe a 3D printer. Which is art and which is technology?
Another way of looking at it is buying a piece of art vs. something mass produced in the hundreds to millions. I'd almost always prefer to have something made by an artist that is one of a kind vs. something produced in a factory by the millions. Having the same pickup ring on my guitar and knowing it is on many other guitars is not quite as satisfying.
Think about it. >:-E
Now, Shut Up, And Play Yer Guitar!
Looks like this has become a contest. Go here for contest rules..
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/traditional-vs-new-fangl...
Brainwashed ? Not Really . Depends on how broad your interests are and how you view CBG's within the bigger picture. Nobody forced me to buy Fender, Gibson or Rickenbacker guitars. Apparently legend has it that ALL the old Blues guys played home made instruments. Maybe ,some of them did but let's face it even the ones that did "learn their craft" on Diddley Bows etc , All recorded their records using Stella's , Kalamazoo's, Gibson and so on . Were they brainwashed too?
The major guitar manufacturers in the world are Americans, They mass produce to an extent with a lot of hand work still involved . They have to have a consistent product to stay in business. Nothing wrong with that is there?
I love playing my 3 stringers just as much but sorry, I don't IMO , think of them as guitars in the traditional sense, To me it is a different instrument . A Rickenbacker 330 is a guitar whereas a CBG is a CBG. Not "better" or "worse", Just a different instrument.
Sorry if I have offended anybody. I just saw red at the "Brainwashed" comment. As a teenager in the 80's I remember being just as pissed off when people started refering to some musical genre as "Alternative" and thinking to myself ,if you have to be told what the alternative (to the mainstream) is , then you are being brainwashed.
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