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  • kent robbins March 31, 2025 at 9:06pm

    Hi,

    Some of those groups looked to be a good place to find out specific info, but things do change, and a lot changed in 2020.

     

    I enjoy coming up with ideas for things almost more than doing them. Line drawings, (doodling) helps me get an idea of what might be possible.

    Not just banjos or guitars, nearly anything. Then those rough sketches become the 'blueprints" I've used to build things.

    I didn't see any place here to share some of those I've had for CBGs, but I've had some allready.

    Here's one. While i had not seen the pic of that blue parlor guitar set up for slide steel yet, i was given a genuine tossed out 'First Act" parlor guitar

    and set it up for steel. it had a very sweet sound for what it was. Short scale and tuned to A , dobro style, To combat string tension, I cut a plywood back that included

    a brace for the peghead. That made the guitar easy to hold on lap or a table as well.

    Then when I heard about using dog bowls for resonators, I went out the shop and retrieved a small bowl that was used for washing small parts,

    To use in the first act, it would need to be inverted. It's just a bowl, straight sides, about 3" deep.

    I used a 3 1/2 " piece of 3" PVC pipe, cut the bottom to clear the wood braces, and notched the top so the bowl would be resting on "points" and be

    suspended like a bell. The top,( the upside down bottom,) is right where it is needed to support a bridge. Then a 1/8" ply ring helps to cover the gaping hole.

    It was all just an experiment. now have $10 invested.

    We are both amazed how much sound this now has, and being small, light, and near free, it's fine to take around to places no respectable instrument would go.

    i see that someone has allready built a tri. That's cool, and I was wondering if that could be done.

     

    How about suspending a dog dish from a support ring with small  springs ? Like about 20 or so 1" long springs. Just an idea.

     

    I did a small repair job last week, reset a bridge and refit a small piece of pearl that fell out, and for part payment for work done, I now have a genuine

    homebuilt CigarBoxguitar. 4 string, thru neck, no back angle, box is 6x10x2, has piazo and looks fine, just can't be played until the action is fixed.

    I'll hope to make and add a brace for the neck, but otherwise leave it "as is'. It ws built by the uncle of the man whose guitars I fixed. A fun addition.

    Thanks for your replies, kentr

  • Taffy Evans March 31, 2025 at 6:43pm

    Hi, good question, Kent. I visited a couple of those sites, and on one I had posted in 2016, and there were only 3 posts since that time till now. In another group, no posts have been made since 2018. As Brian says, people's interests change. I'm not interested in searching all over the place for posts, if they do not land here, I don't see them. It may be a busier place if there were not so many different groups, and most posts related to building appeared in the same Forum, just saying.  For instance, a post about a solid body guitar would still be newsworthy to a CBG builder, but they miss out.

    Cheers taff

  • BrianQ. March 31, 2025 at 2:07pm

    Also in those few years we lost a lot of members due to a glitch that made posts disappear, it was very frustrating for new members to get their questions answered! Then, after we upgraded to the modern version of this platform last year, we lost a lot of old members who do not like change. Another reason is that it's no secret that people come here looking for plans & then bail, but the smart ones stick around & ask questions like you? I actually wish there were more members participating to tell you the truth.

  • BrianQ. March 31, 2025 at 12:12pm

    Short story, a whole lot of people joined here, built some cbg's, then moved on?

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