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NASHVILLE builders and players ATTENTION!

We can all get together and join in as an association of Nashville area CBG. Artist to do charity work including building CBGs for worthy causes. We could put on concerts, donate time to teach the art to children and each other, do all kind of neat things. Heck we could even have regular meetings with tea and crumpets.

I have tried to look all of you up and send all of you a friend request. My motive was mainly selfish. I am a total novice and I do need a mentor and guide to just be able to learn what a chord is. However, I made a discovery. Do you know how many CBG entheusaist are in Nashville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Brentwood, Fairvirew, or Dickson? Did you know we have professional players, builders, songwriters, and shop owners, as well as novices like me? We have guys however there were a surprising number of gals also. We make up a very large group!

Go to community AND DO AND ADVANCED SEARCH USING TN IN THE STATE SEARCH AREA. Since I live in Fairview I did not look at Madison, Gallitin, or points east but there were many out there. There are many in Morrison - yeah - as small as it is they could have their own club!

MY rallying cry is CBGers UNITE! Form clubs, associations, local groups!

Nashville "Are you ready to r-u-m-b-l-e?

Note: I realized after posting that the links will take you away from this page.

Hey there! This is the first post in a blog I will be keeping to document my first CBG build. As many of you reading this from Cigar Box Nation have been through this process many years ago I thought it would be fun to include you in my account of earning my 'strings'. (hahah.. strings, wings,that was good right?) Hopefully I can show other new comers that anybody can indeed build something that is useful and beautiful. I must add that I was an industrial design major in college, so I have a little more skill then the average person in building things. But my knowledge of these instruments is the same as anyone who has never seen one in person. Hopefully I will recruit several of you to assist me in my process. I will be taking as many pictures as I can and keeping the blog updated at least once a week.

As I learned in Design School several years ago, the best place to start is with an idea. Since I do not have an extensive background in instruments, specifically guitars, I knew I needed to look at as many examples as possible to get the idea in the first place. A quick run on Wikipedia.com produced a nice little history of the CBG and a picture that I found really useful.

I knew that this style of guitar could be made in many different styles, but I did not expect to find the traditional versions so simple. I do find the idea of a simple build pleasing because the chance of success would be improved. However, I do not wish to construct something from a kit or that would not gain the attention of a seasoned vet. Out of all the simple builds available on the internet my favorite so far has been by GuitarIsMyLife with a nice breakdown of the several components. I also came across the documentary  Songs Inside The Box which I will definitely look into, although there are plenty of pictures of these amazing instruments there is little about the people who build them.

So my first task is going to be to design my CBG and see if it would be functional and what elements of the design would need to be changed. I'm also going to begin putting together a parts list with prices to develop an overall idea for the cost of the build. Again my goal here is not to produce a 'how to' but to document the process one would go through when attempting their first build.

Until next time.

-Stone 'Barnyard' Barnard