I've got a two day slot for a couple of hours a day to build CBG with some kids in our summer recreation program at the Quadra Island Community Center. This was day one, tomorrow we will string their creations, tune them and play some licks together. Had a great time today ! Here are a couple of kids hamming it up with my builds. I think the looks on their faces tell the tale!....LOL
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The boxes were mostly cardboard so scissors and a razor knife were all that was needed, so the kids did most of the cutting. One lad's was pressed hardboard so I used the saw in my Leatherman multitool to cut his .
Pick away all you want Jon....I've got my number of braincells down to a managable level now so it's easy to pick through the stuff...LOL!
The kids were 8 years old up to 13. We used cardboard boxes and Poplar 1x2 necks 24inches long. The boxes averaged 8-10.5 inches in length. I used scew eyes for machine heads. The biggest hangup for the kids was using the ruler to get the center of the box figured out and measuring for the depth the neck was to be set into the box. After they saw me do a couple they caught on enough to get the job done. They loved the decorating part the best (as I figured they would) we used felt pens, paints and stickers. I made a template to mark their frets on their necks and got them to use a square to make them as close as possible to perfect. We are using monofiliment 35lb test for the strings. Kids take to this stuff naturally but have the attention span of a fly sometimes so you need to give them a break every 20 min or so.
That's very cool! I was invited to do the same type of program in my daughter's music class next year - if you don't mind I'd like to pick your brain a bit for some more details about the builds, what age the kids were, and what type of things they had difficulties with.
It was! I made up the necks ahead of time so that they were a basic drop into place with a little fine tuning with a razor knife. Each box was different so had to be trimmed different. The kids were real keen but I had to work hard to explain when it came to slotting the boxes, about measuring with a ruler, some of the kids were lacking in that knowledge due to age. But we worked around it and a good time was had by all. We'll hear the fruits of our labours tomorrow!
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The kids were 8 years old up to 13. We used cardboard boxes and Poplar 1x2 necks 24inches long. The boxes averaged 8-10.5 inches in length. I used scew eyes for machine heads. The biggest hangup for the kids was using the ruler to get the center of the box figured out and measuring for the depth the neck was to be set into the box. After they saw me do a couple they caught on enough to get the job done. They loved the decorating part the best (as I figured they would) we used felt pens, paints and stickers. I made a template to mark their frets on their necks and got them to use a square to make them as close as possible to perfect. We are using monofiliment 35lb test for the strings. Kids take to this stuff naturally but have the attention span of a fly sometimes so you need to give them a break every 20 min or so.
Thanks!