My name is Duncan Lloyd and I live in Aberdeen Scotland, after seeing a Shane Speal video in guitar world I was more than a little impressed with the lovely noise he could make with a cigar box and a of bit wood. For the next two weekends me and my mate spent hours making contraptions that looked like mutant longbows and made a noise that you instinctively just wanted to get away from. It must have been a testament to how good Shanes simple fretless CBG sounded because I kept going and did a bit of much needed research, and found cigar box nation. After correcting my mass of design flaws I have made something that I am unsettlingly proud of. So simply put, a big thank you to all the people at cigar box nation for the much needed help.
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Hello Duncan, a fellow Scot! I'm from Perth so not entirely far away from you. It's a proper addiction, I'm onto #25 now. Best part is stringing it up and seeing how it sounds.
I can see it going that way, the last CBG I strung up I was so chuffed with it I played solidly all evening I have never played a 6 string for that long :) Hi Clarky maybe you can help me out I have cleaned out the local tobacconist in Aberdeen and the cigar boxes seem a bit pricy on eBay. I have bought a few off www.cgarsltd.co.uk but at £5 a box they seem a bit pricy as it’s a lucky dip and some of them have been pretty small. So is this just the going rate up here in bonnie Scotland or is there somewhere you know of that you can get them a little cheaper?
Haha! Yeah mine thinks I'm a looney. I tried to explain to him what I was doing with them but he just gives me a look like I may be using them for a satanic ritual or something ;) Anyway I have called a couple of tobacconist in Edinburgh and Glasgow that seemed a bit keener. If I managed to get some at a better price I shall let you know.
Welcome to CBN Duncan. There may yet be a bit of value to your horrid sounding "mutant longbows", Just because they sound different doesn't mean they can serve no purpose. Music in many ways is an Exploration of Discovery. Enjoy.
My Dad bought me a book on CBG building recently and my favourite quote goes something like this “in CBG building there are no mistakes, just unexpected opportunities.”
I could not agree more, I did manage to reuse all the parts from my first failed attempts. Another thing I love about CBG building almost nothing is scrapped. Although you could argue most of it is scrap to begin with ;) But as soon as we tried to tune it you could see the neck was a bust it was lesson one, use proper hardwood not a 1" x 2" piece of pine you got at your local hardware store which unfortunately in the UK is all they tend to have. The upside is it took a few phone calls but I now have a nice cheap source of hardwood and learned a few good lessons on the way.
hi Duncan - i've made myself a lot of "unexpected opportunities" - i'm on build #30 and my best favourite sounding guitar was made from a cheap box and a neck pulled out of the wreckage of an earlier build - you never know! (-:
to me the anticipation of stringing up your own build and hearing it for the first time beats spending £1000 on a factory made "copy" - that's what separates us from the mainstream! (-;
I think most of us have managed to bypass the "mainstream" and swim directly up the uncharted waters. The best part is we don't really care to be mainstream. Otherwise we would be building "normal instruments". Life is good on the lunatic fringe!
Glad to be here buddy :) I have been wittering on about cigar box guitars for months to my poor friends and family. It will be nice to talk to people who understand the joys of making and playing your own instruments.
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