There is nothing technical about this discussion/question at all. This is meant as kind of survey on the emotional side of the CBG obsession.
I am a woodworker, a furniture builder, a boat builder and an artist. I've played numerous instruments in my 49 years, some better than others. I NEVER showed ANY aptitude at stringed instruments but in the last year I have made about a dozen CBGs and intend to make more. I wonder what it is that compels me & other people on this forum to do the same. Dozens of my musician friends, serious guitar players, going back 35+ years to childhood have reviewed my efforts, they know that I am 'stringed instrument challenged' and have wondered about this new obsession of mine. The best answer I can give them is that I'm in search of making an instrument that I can produce one particular sound that I am haunted by. The best example of that sound would be this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIwYGZlBw9Y
I guess that sums it up for me. What's your excuse?
Oh and if you never watched the rest of the movie 'Crossroads' with its lame plot but incredibly good soundtrack that the above song is part of I can save you 2 hours of looking at the Karate Kid play air guitar and 'cut to the chase' part that people talk about in that film. Here's the final headcutting segment if you're bored this evening but would like to listen to some of Steve Vai's very talented playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaxJ7WO7REg
Again, why are YOU spending your free time building cigar box guitars? I'd like to hear what your motivation is.
Thanks,
Scott
Replies
"The truth is that only a year before my first build I would have turned my nose up at the thought of building something so primitive..."
That's an interesting revelation Dave. I have heard similar things before from a friend Dave in my hometown. He's a guitar player and collector. Initially he too turned his nose up at the CBG thing. I think his comment was something like "Oh, I guess Gibson will be going out of business soon then." [or something to that effect]. He's since listened to many youtubes I've sent him that shows the sound quality that can be achieved with a CBG and he's looked into the forums and galleries more and his recent comment was "Wow. I had no idea this cigar box thing was so huge." You just wait. Within a year or so he's going to start hinting for me to build him one.
I like your thoughts about not just copying other guitars and just letting the thing design itself as you go. I am interested in turning cigar boxes into other instruments too. My avatar is a small version of this photo. It's an African Sanza I built from a beautiful CAO cameroon box. I want to try and build some more of those.
I built my first one for many reasons but all of the reasons lead to the same answer - I had to devolve so I could evolve.
The truth is that only a year before my first build I would have turned my nose up at the thought of building something so primitive but realized that primitive was exactly what I needed at the time. I've built solid body electrics for a number of years, some for money and some for fun but I just grew tired and uninspired of the same old cherry sunburst, perfectly book matched maple, chrome plated, ivory bound, factory made, waaaaaaaaaaayyyyy over priced fiddle sticks that everyone else built. Even the reliced thing got boring after a short while. So I went to the shop one day and said I'm gonna completely abandon my old ways and make something that nobody else has because I really need to.
I'd have to say that the whole process taught me a great deal about myself. I went forward on every step. If I screwed up, well then that was the way it would have to be because that was the way it was meant to be. I joined Cigar Box Nation less than a year ago and literally every time I go to this site I see something new, something real with tons of heart, lots of imagination and more evidence that building a musical instrument has much more to do with your intension than your ability.
No friggen' clue. I have the guitar-playing skills of an armless man coupled with the spastic woodworking skills of a rabid racoon in the terminal stage..also, my most advanced tools are a pocketknife and a Dremel. My glorious(HA!) achievements so far are:
A fiddle which collapsed(my own fault for adding a second string to a one-string design)
A 4-string Ukelele with too little space between the strings and not enough angle to the head(not a total loss, i'll restring as a 3-string guitar and rework the head)
A Romeo and Juliet Double box Mandolin-style 3-string...wood bottom and bord sides and top-i've lost my worst boxes if I fail, and if it works i'll reface with 3/16" Red Cedar craft panel for better sound.
Not a great resume so far-what's worse, my swollen, noisy fingers will make guitar lessons a joke for me...so why am I doing it? http://www.instructables.com/ that's why-the assorted lunatcs over there bit me with the DIY bug-and several of them visited Cigar Box Nation and came back with CBG's and Ukes in tow...
Eventually i'd like to try my hand at a large box (or multibox) two string Folk Cello whe i've gotten enough experience...I can't play that either but at least there's no arthritis in my wrists yet. Any playable units of any type I make in the meanwhile are going to be gifts for friends, with one going to every music store that gave a complete amateur loads of free advice-and one to every Cigar Store that volunteered my first dozen free boxes, in the hopes of fostering my own local competition and helping the tobacconists get rid of more boxes...
Er, see you later, my hands are beginning to itch for some wood glue and sawdust... :D
Wow,
I hear you Ron,
I build furniture for me and my friends but I have several friends who do the "Pro" furniture building gig for a living and I know what they go through. Friends and family have told me I should do the 'pro' furniture thing myself for a living but I know guys who do it and I said "No Way". That's not as easy a life as it sounds. You got to work long hours to make the bucks. The guys I know who do it successfully put in, on average, 70 hours a week. I would rather work 40 for the MAN somewhere and just build furniture or CBGs or whatever on the side.
Like others have said, it's the joy of building what you want, when you want and digging how it sounds when you're finished. If you can sell them, great, but that's the fun. Making a job out of it....well, some folks might like that, but it's more fun to make CBGs as a hobby I think.
I have always been creative but it was always hard to find a hobby I liked and wanted to continue with. There are only so many tables or shelves you can build before you get bored. I have always been into music and sang in a few bands but I've never been much of a guitar player but I do my best. Then the guitar player in my band showed me a CBG and I have been hooked.
There is something about the no rules and do what you want with it that I just love. No one can tell me it is wrong and no one can stop me....kinda like that. I think making something out of things around the shop or house that sound like these do is magical. There is nothing like it.....I will do these for the rest of my life. If I make a few dollars along the way that would be great, but I will probably end up giving many away to close friends and family. I will never give a lame gift away at christmas again.
CBGs Forever! Keep smoking ya'll!
WOW, what a thread, yes I could not play anything or carry a tune not even able to hum to save my life, that would even rule out Kazoos.
I was looking at Hank drums on youtube to build one for my kids and on the list to the right was Keni Lee playing a CBG. I could not believe what I was seeing, it was deep calling to deep.
I had to make one, why not cost diddly so to speak. When I fist heard the sound of the one I made it had me hooked. So then a pair for my kids and few for friends......
I am a ex furniture maker and have a full shop to make whatever I want to, so I have been loving making them. When I was a furniture maker I use to think someday I will just make nice things for myself and whoever else I choose, being a pro is a grueling schedule to make ends meet.
I ordered a few how to play disk from Keni Lee and really like plunking away at it. I figured if I was making them how would I know if they are playable if I can not play. I feel this is a significant thing in my life to be able to say I know something, as in anything about guitars and that I would even attempt to try and play one. I really still can not play much but spend 15 min to 30 min a day trying, just having that slide on my pinkie and thinking about the blues is my happy place. I have to say if their is something I am so untallented at it would be playing music, but I still enjoy my level of .
incompetence, which is the oposite of my ability to build them.
I have to thank Keni Lee and all of you at Cigar Box Nation for helping me along with my somewhat secret passion.
Cheers Ron.
As others mentioned, the rules don't exist and the sky is the limit and any weird s--t you can dream up is fair game for a CBG. Your hands are kind of small? Your fingers are a little bit larger than other folks? You like the string height kind of high, kind of low?....make it custom Baby!!!
I have a buddy back in Maryland who has a basement room with about two dozen BEAUTIFUL, classic guitars, and he plays them all, quite well. Mostly Gibsons but some other brands snuck in there too.
Initially he 'Poo-poo'd the CBG thing I was doing as novelty but instruments that really wouldn't be worth a serious guitar player's time. He has since taken some interest and is quite intrigued by them. He asked me if I thought of building a double neck. Told him others have been there and done that already in any variation one could dream of. Here's an example of that.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/double-neck-cigar-box-guitar
A solid body, double neck guitar, made with hand wound pickups from another CBG guy. I mean how cool is that? And how un-commercial is that?
A CBG is anything you want to try and if you can't make it work, take the expensive bits back off and throw it in the woodstove and keep your family warm on a cool evening and try something different.
I've always wanted to play guitar, but my fingers seemed too fat and I could do more than one or two chords without accidentally muting extra strings. When I ran across the idea of Cigar Box Guitars I was immediately obsessed by the idea that I could make a guitar where the strings were spaced wide enough for my fingers.
And 13 or 14 guitars later I think I almost have that perfect spacing for me figured out. Now I just need to learn how to play. :)
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