Hey y'all, I'm Rod, and I'm in East Texas. My story getting into CBG;s is probably different from most. I've been doing bone and antler carving off and on since 1995, and making jewelry off and on since 2003, and was even working on gettin a small business vending at Renfaires going, and then the bomb hit my life in 2012. My youngest daughter at 14 weeks pregnant, after 6 weeks in hiding was murdered, a victim of domestic violence. 5 months later, after my sinking into a deep depression, my wife of 10 years tells me 2 days before Christmas, that she is leaving (to be with the guy she has been screwing around with). For the last 4 years I haven't been able to bring myself to make much of anything. Mostly if i wasn't at work, I was sitting in front of the tube just watching Netflix and stagnating. One day about a month and a half ago, I saw this video on YouTube. It was Justin Johnson playing the blues on a cbg. Then I watched another, and another, Then I saw one of Shane's videos on how to play one. Next up was a video on how to build one, and then another. I'm sure you get the picture of where this is going. I thought..... "I can do that..." I was totally hooked. Netflix hasn't been on but twice for a couple of hours since, but YouTube has... A LOT.

My first build was a fretless 2 string acoustic/electric through the body style, with a prewired piezo pickup(from CB Gitty), out of a small Monte Cristo box, with a poplar neck. I saw every flaw, and thought I could do better, but wanted to build a diddley bow. So my second build was a diddley bow made from a double bit ax handle and an Altoids tin(to house the wiring harness that I soldered myself.) I used antler for the nut, a cedar saddle for the deer antler bridge, a P-90 pickup, and brass tacks for the fret markers. And I've got 2 more in the works. I'm creating again, and the blues on a cbg got it all started. Go figure. So, that is the Reader's Digest version of me, and howIi got started.

So y'all have a great day, and I bid you peace, and the brightest of blessings...