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Cigar Box Nation News: Mud Pie Canjo, New CBG songs in Tab, DIY Christmas, much more...

Muddy Waters? How about "Mud Pie?"

Robert Brenner of Abingdon, MD (USA) has a diverse lot of instruments on his Cigar Box Nation photo page, but this Mud Pie six string is the most striking. Mmmm...mud pies!

More Cigar Box Guitar TAB music added - Christmas Music!

Here's some quick clicks to get you started:

CHORD CHARTS!
We've developed these great chord charts that simply show you where to put your fingers on a 3-string cigar box guitar. You'll be playing in no time at all!
Cigar Box Guitar Chord Forms in the key of G

More Cigar Box Guitar Chord Forms

And check out our ever-expanding selection of songs in Cigar Box Guitar TAB notation:

Christmas songs added! Blue Christmas (Elvis!), Silent Night,...

We've got so much more for you coming down the pike: Jam Sheets showing all of the most commonly used chords in the most common keys; MP3 sound clips of each chord form so you can hear what they sound like; demo videos showing you the chords, and talking about how to string them together to play actual songs; more song tabs (with demo videos) of songs ranging from classic rock to country to blues to instrumental pieces... Whew.

Soldering the back of a pesky volume pot!

Have you ever had to wire up a guitar and struggled to solder those black wires onto the back of the volume pot? Nation member, Jon Lesley posed the same question here and got some great responses. Here's a few:

Use some 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper to sand the back of the pot. This will remove any oils that might keep the solder from sticking. Then use tape to temporarily hold the wires in the spot that you want them. Solder the wires and remove the tape. Voila! -Skeesix
My technique is to sand the back of the pot, as already suggested. Then, smear some flux on the spot you just sanded. (Just use a little teeny dab, you don't need much.) Make sure you have a beefy enough iron and melt enough solder onto the tip of the iron until you have a blob of solder that is just about ready to drip off. Very slowly touch just the bottom of the blob to the back of the pot, and just hold it there. As soon as the back of the pot is hot enough, the blob of solder will just flow off the tip of the iron and you should have a nice shiny solder joint. -Dan Sleep

You never know what cool tips you'll find on The Nation.

2014 Cigar Box Nation Christmas album (free download) in the works!

Shane Speal and Dan Sleep have organized the Christmas album in previous years, Dan asked me if I would like to help co-ordinate it for this year!

For any of the new folks here on the Nation, we have compiled an annual album of songs played, composed and sung by our members. The primary requirement is that the recording be of good quality, for example, If you are singing, we want to be able to hear your voice!

There has been a tremendous response to CB Nation Christmas album submissions in previous years, let's top this year off with with a CRACKER CHRISTMAS ALBUM!

You can submit a cover of a traditional non copyrighted song, or ideally you can do something you wrote/composed yourself.

Please respond in the official thread if you would like to participate and include the song that you would like to have included in the album. Once we have the final album compiled, it will be posted as a free download, and anyone will be able to download it. So, you will be able to pass the links along to your friends and family!

Completed MP3 files can be emailed to ... steventrowbridge@btinternet.com

DIY Holiday Gifts - Christmas on the Cheap!

Are you giving holiday gifts that you made yourself? Post your pics in the new DIY Holiday Gifts group!

These can be anything... NOT JUST CIGAR BOX GUITARS! We're all looking for a little inspiration as we try to make Christmas on a budget. Homemade toys, cool furniture, instruments...what is it that you're making as gifts?