i wake up in the morning to the sounds of a japanese phone made in korea, my coffee is made by a german machine made in korea that makes better coffee than me? i drive a japahese car made in a far off land (tyneside), my 5 string banjo was made in eastern europe... when i play my 3 string guitar i know where it came from, i know intimately every part of its person because i built this instument. it is local to me, an extension of myself, part of me...mine :0)
discussion is good craig, i think it's a bigger than the sum of it's parts thing coming into play. i sold a tenor cbg a while ago and when the buyer came to pick it up my girlfriend had to prize my fingers from it lol:0)
I didn't mean to be critical, b/c I agree with you Steve. These are one of a kind, hand-made pieces of art, craft, and science, something increasingly difficult to find in this world of mass-produced garbage. Even my American tele and Canadian acoustic came from factories (though with some "hand-made" activity in each case). Neither has the same hand-built-by-me quality of my cbg's. As you say, they are part of me, very personal in a way mass produced instruments could never be.
i know what you're saying craig and i agree that while the parts may come from far flung parts of the world, it's the process of building, the personal input, all the little decisions you make in a build that make the guitar so personal to the builder and such a joy to play. think that's what i think...today.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, folks, but I'd venture to say that lots of the parts of our beloved, home-built cbg's come from afar. Start with the cigar box. Inexpensive tuners are likely from Asia. Many string manufacturers now have factories overseas. Even the lumber may be from our good friends to the north. So, unless you're putting it together from timber and hardware you found buried in the back of an old barn, your cbg is an international ambassador of music, which is not a bad thing at all.
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i know what you're saying craig and i agree that while the parts may come from far flung parts of the world, it's the process of building, the personal input, all the little decisions you make in a build that make the guitar so personal to the builder and such a joy to play. think that's what i think...today.
interesting thoughts here
cheers, steve:0)