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You might be a cbg builder if....

1. You drive past three local lumber sources to go get the "good" wood for your builds.

2. You go to flea markets/swap meets, pass up the better stuff, and scrounge through the "scratch and dent" bins at the back of the spaces looking for old hinges, bolts, hardware, metal scraps to restock your building inventory.

3. As you ponder a household purchase, you mentally calculate how many pickups, pots, tuners and fret wire you could buy with that money.

4. On the night before trash pickup, you glance around at other local household recycle bins on the block for prospective git parts and ornamentation (or is that just me?)

5. When a friend who knows about your hobby says "you want some wood?" you always say "sure", knowing that most of it will be fireplace-grade, but you don't want to miss out on the occasional gem.

6. When you see a desk, dresser, table out by the curb with a "free" sign, you have to stop and look to see if it's oak, or pine, or MDF, and potentially usable.

7. When an acquaintance tells you "My uncle has a bunch of old cigar boxes he needs to get rid of" you bite your lip while you try to steer that person into letting you drive them over there Right Now!

8. For those of us in the U.S.A. - you had a vague recollection of being taught the metric system as a kid, but now you own a bitchin' metal ruler in millimeters after you discovered that string spacing and fret spacing, was much easier using the metric measurements.

9. You delight in finding a cheap, beater, no-name, Strat-style knockoff in a thrift store as a treasure trove of parts for several future cbg builds.

Must be a couple of dozen more...what are yours?

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on November 13, 2016 at 5:48pm

When the guy at home depot asks you how much rebar you need, and what concrete project you're working on and you give him a puzzled look... Oh.. right... no, it's for a guitar...

When you're wife is shopping in the housewares section and is annoyed by you picking up every pan and flicking it with a finger to see if it would make a good resonator.

#4... Forget the neighborhood... been dumpster diving at Guitar Center for random strings and broken electronics.

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on November 13, 2016 at 6:00pm

When your son asks, "do you want some free wood?". you say yes, and he comes home with a 1/4 tonne of laminated hardwood beams

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 13, 2016 at 10:46pm

Guilty.

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Hunter on November 13, 2016 at 11:57pm

you might be a CBG builder if you ... stop at ever op shop,st vinnies, red cross etc store you drive past and look for boxes...

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Permalink Reply by lawntrout guitars on November 14, 2016 at 3:19am

You are at Home Depot and check out with a dozen shower strainers.

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on November 14, 2016 at 4:09am

You are addicted to the free section on Craigslist.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on November 14, 2016 at 4:31pm

Road side shopper here. You know it's bad when you race the trash truck to beat him to the next street. Always keeping an eye out for furniture from the 80's it's real oak.