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Hey, what's up!  I'm interested in creating some unique instruments, but am not mechanically inclined in the least bit.   Would love to chat with anyone who would like partner for some fun and, possibly, profit.  I have a lot of creative design ideas with some visual appeal.  

I'm a better vocalist than guitarist, but am a fan of open tunings.  Strong background in classic rock like the Stones.   Big fan of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and more.  

Hi all, I'm a bit confused as to where to post material as there are so many headings on this site. I cant see the difference in a Forum post a Blog post or Latest Activity post, and I suppose there are other places this would fit, but I'll post it here.

Here's my story about bringing somebody into the guitar building fold using a CBG as the starting point.

I have been working with and building guitars and all stringed instruments for around [long, long time] years, and around 45 years in Australia. And it occurred to me some months ago that my son has never taken it up in all that time. My grandkids having built instruments, and as some got old enough I've built some nice acoustic and electric guitars them.

One would think that as he now lives a 3 day drive away across Aussie things would stay as they are. Not.

So let the story begin.....His birthday was coming so I made one of my basic model CBG's in kit form, all the parts needed from tuners to pickup and sides, top, back and neck etc.. Then I made a video of how to build a CBG, showing all the parts first and then the how to build and why information.

To my surprise he had it built within a week. He said it sounded great and was very loud for the size of the box. He then started making suggestions and plans for the second build, this one would not be from a kit. Well a couple or three weeks went by and he sends me photos of number two, a great looking build with some great features he had thought up and utilised. Now I've just been in formed number three in on the bench. Now when we talk on the phone its not all motor bikes, there's a fair bit of guitar chat as well.

I suggested he post on this forum, I'll have to wait and see.

Cheers Taff

Hey Everyone! First post.

I started building a little over 6 months ago and have learned so much since - a lot by just "doing" but also from all the builders here. Thanks!

My first cbg was literally made from scraps in my garage. And since I didn't have a cigar box lying around, just built my box from 1/2" ply. After scavenging several cigar boxes, I noticed that the nicer ones used box joints, so now, mine do too.

I've settled on a basic design (8x11x3 box - 1/4" ply for the bottom - 1/8" ply for the top) and built 5 for my kids this past Christmas. Also added a 2-degree back angle on the neck to get some bridge height. However, I've noticed that there's quite a bit of pressure on that poor 1/8" top so I decided to try bracing.

Read posts, forums and threads on bracing. Looked at lots of pix and it seems there isn't a real consensus on the issue. Figured I couldn't really do any harm, so I ripped some pine screen molding down the middle, tapered the ends and notched for a very simple x-brace.

Strung the first one up and... wow! This is a totally different animal! It's louder, brighter, fuller and a touch easier to get setup and intonated. I'm sold, but I can also see how this might not benefit a "real" cigar box - at least not consistently.

Just thought I'd share. Thanks to everyone here!

This Old Guitar  By Uncle John

I put my old Silvertone guitar up for sale and advertised it at a hundred dollars in the local Penny Saver. A young guy called about it then came to the house. He could play some. Not stuff I'd ever heard, but not bad stuff. He asked me, “Is there any wiggle room on the hundred? I'd have to put new strings on it.”

I said, “Yeah, I can wiggle down to ninety bucks. And I got a new set of Martin strings you can have. This old guitar has a lot of history. If you wanna buy it, you got to hear the story that goes with it.”

The kid looked a bit dubious about that, but he agreed. I poured us both iced teas and we went out on the front porch and sat on the swing. I use to play that guitar out there a lot. I played the kid a couple verses of 'Step It Up And Go,' and then started in on the story.

Johnny Gillespie and I went out to Rapid City in the summer of 75' for a Waylon Jennings concert and to see the Black Hills. Great concert and I loved it up there around Sylvan Lake and the Custer area. We saw Buffalo, Mount Rushmore and most of the usual stuff.

We came down out of South Dakota through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Not the best place to break down, but that's where the car overheated. We were driving my 63' Chevy Biscayne. Medium blue, four door, six cylinders, three on the tree, upholstery pretty much destroyed by a beagle I left in the car one time. The sides of the body were beat to heck. It had been my grand dad's and toward the end of his driving days, it made a lot of contact with the sides of the garage.

We found a little gas station and bought some radiator stop leak. We filled the radiator up with straight water and made it down into Nebraska. We were heading back to Iowa on Nebraska Highway 20 which runs West to East up near the South Dakota border. Pretty country. A lot of cows and not a lot of people. We were crossing Cherry County, which looked huge on the map. Like a square fifty miles by fifty miles and five piss-ant little towns until we got to Valentine, which was bigger.

Between us, me and Johnny had enough money for gas to get home and to maybe eat somewhere. That was if we had no breakdowns. We had a Styrofoam cooler with five cans of Coors, five hot dogs and four buns. Then the heat gauge topped out and steam started wafting up out of the hood. We refilled the radiator with coolers full of creek water and babied the Chevy into Valentine. Where the heat gauge topped out again. Shit!

We rolled into a tiny little Sinclair station with two ancient gas pumps, An old guy in a faded red cowboy shirt and trucker hat came out and talked to us. Funny, me and Johnny had on cowboy shirts and trucker hats too. That's what the young guys wore back then. Country rock was big.

Gees, this old guy had to have been near eighty. We got the Chevy into his one service bay and he sent me and Johnny into the office which was about eight feet by eight feet and crammed full with a candy machine, cigarette machine, ancient cash register, a few tires ~ and propped against the counter was this very guitar. It had a yellow piece of paper on it that said, ' For Sale - $25 - to the rite byer'.

The old gas station guy, his name was Cecil, was poking around on the Chevy's radiator. I asked him, “Mind if I try this guitar?”

He said, “Go ahead, son. But treat her gentle.”

I didn't have my own guitar but had been learning on Bob Snyder's. I knew a one finger G chord a D and A7. I could play like three songs. You Are My Sunshine was my specialty and I'd been trying to learn Me and My Bobby McGee.

Cecil came in while I was playing and inquired, “You put a bunch of stop leak in that radiator?”

“Yup. Three cans in the last week.”

“Well, boy, it stopped up the whole radiator cept' the one bad leak. That radiator has had it.”

Cecil made a call and found a used radiator and would put it in for us pretty reasonable, but we didn't have the money for that. The Chevy had almost a hundred thousand miles on it and that was a lot for a car in those days. I asked Cecil if he could give me thirty bucks for the Chevy. That's about what the junk yard price would have been.

He said, “Maybe. You like that old guitar?”

I sensed a deal in the making and pictured us hitchhiking back to Iowa with the old guitar in hand. That seemed cool at the time. I said, “Sure.”

Cecil pushed up the brim of his Caterpillar trucker hat, scratched his chin and said, “You might be the right feller for that guitar.”

Then he proceeded to tell me about it. He said, “Well, sir. That guitar belonged to my dear old friend, Shorty Schwarte. His real name was Vernon and he was over six feet tall, but folks called him Shorty. He was a for sure real cowboy, born in a Soddy here in Cherry County in the year eighteen and 99. He wanted to go fight in the first world war, but he had a real gimpy leg from getting hooked by a steer when he was just a little shaver.

Shorty bought that guitar brand new from the Sears catalog. That Silverone was made in 55' in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. of A.  Shorty loved that guitar and played the tar out of it.  He played You Are My Sunshine, just like you was just playing.  He played all them old cowboy songs like I Ride An Old Paint and Streets Of Laredo and Red River Valley. He died this last winter. I know he wanted somebody that would play them old songs to have this. Would you be that feller?”

I picked that guitar back up and played and sang him the first song I ever learned. A two chorder. Down In The Valley.

That did it.  The deal was done. I traded that Chevy for the Silvertone and a five dollar bill.  Johnny and I hitchhiked home.  And that was a whole another adventure.

Figured y'all might get a laugh out of this..true story..

well shucks, was asking some of my pickin' friends about various slides I could use, explained my issues, what seemed to work and what did not, one of the older dudes said; well, go get you a stubby 3/4 inch socket, the old school kind, put that on yo' finger, make sho' it fit real tight like..so I looked out in my tool box, searched the junk box, looked here and there, no stubby socket to be found just the short ones which would never work and then I thought: aha! why heck yes! a deep well socket will do until I can cut about 1/2 an inch off of the length, that will be perfect, so I dug around for a cheap one, no use in cutting up a nice one, I got a little impatient, was dying to try it, see how it sounded ya' know? so I grabbed a cheap deep well socket, cleaned it up a bit and I stuck it on my stinky-pinky, real good n' tight like as my friend suggested, I sat down with my stringed box on a stick, started to slide up and down that neck, hmmm, why that sounded pretty good, smooth action to boot, then this little demon on my shoulder whispered to me, said; psst! hey buddy, go ahead and let er rip, play that son of a gun, so I did..
I played and I played, was so thrilled, yeah I can't wait to cut this socket down to size, was gettin' kinda
tired and noticed my "stinky pinky" was not feelin' so hot, well actually it was hot, just throbbin', bad!
you know like boom-boom,boom-boom,sorta like when you whack a finger with a ball-peen hammer, yeah that stuff right there. well I got up,turned my gear off and put Ju-Ju away,(that's my CBGs name) then I went to take that socket off my stinky pinky, I pulled a little bit, would not budge, uh oh! it be swollen! my blood pressure must have went up a bit from panic I reckon cause that throbbin' pain was twice as bad now, so I gave it a real good yank and I heard this "pop", oh crap! did I just dislocate my stink pinky? lucky me I only popped it right good like, thinkin' oh lawds what have I done? ain't no way I'm gonna go to the ER with this! the first thing to come to mind was; go get the socket wrench and put it on the socket,yeah I know, it is a guy thing I reckon, but no I didn't do that, I remembered my stinky pinky is not threaded so there was that..well I pulled some more and the more I pulled the tighter it got,really swelling up now..oh heck no! followed by lots of cussin', I tried soaking it in a bowl of ice, nope, and hurt like the blazes, cold metal and swollen stinky pinky, not good, so I thought; WD 40! yeah! that will do the trick..again another bad idea, my finger was raw and bloody from yankin' on it and the WD 40 burnt like fire! I think I tinkled a drop or two..wait! metal expands when you heat it up! umm well I can't do that, my pinky finger is inside, I tried some butter, nope just made my other hand slippery, well lemme see, what to do, I thought, hmmm, Tea Bags! yes Tea Bags reduces swelling! I've used them before once on a black eye my woman have me..just not on a socket with my dang finger stuck in it, by the way, all I managed to do was dye my stinky pinky brown, then I realized I had to go pee really bad, socket stuck on my finger, greasy hands and in pain, so I hobbled in the bathroom and there it was, like a sign
from the almighty, my beard butter! that goop I keep on my whiskers, had issues gettin' the lid off the jar, my hands were still slick and all, dropped the jar in the toilet, I fished it out, I did finally get some of my beard butter on my buttery other hand and squeezed that down in the socket, waited a few minutes, took a little effort and skin along with it but it finally came off, whew!
about that time my lady friend called me, told my friend about my ordeal, friend said; why didn't you just use dish liquid?
I just hung the phone up..
Lesson learned..

I recently finished a 3 stringer with 2 pickups controlled by 2 volume pots,instead of a 3 way switch.Thanks to David L.for telling me about this idea (Stracciatella Mod). I used the coils from 2 Gitty Gold Foil pickups.Diodes are soldered between each pot and the jack. Instead of soldering my grounds to the back of the pots, I flattened a piece "tin" from a can and mounted the pots thru the metal and tied all the grounds together with a bolt. It made a nice clean connection.

Just realized the Neck and Bridge #'s are reversed on the 1st 2 titles in the video

Welcome to my journey, just sharing a little bit about what I am doing and learning in hope you folks will jump in and share your tips and tricks with me..My first true serious attempt in the studio with a CBG. having a blast discovering all the things a feller can do on one of these fiddles, running most of my sound through a small Roland micro cube I found at a pawn shop for little of nothing, those fellers did not have a clue what it was worth, nope, I don't feel one bit guilty, diggin' the grit and gravel sound from it, not quite use to the steel slide, I been using a shot glass but I have to play it lap style and pick, need me a glass slide I reckon. using a Cajon with a kick pedal, took an old mic windsock and put over the beater to make it a little warmer sounding, then attached to a piece of siding I grabbed from my neighbors shack after the storm,hey it blew over next to my shack. Ha! sorta holds that box in place when I get to stompin', stuck a kick drum mic in the sound port, I also use an old butchers block with a piezo mic strapped to it for tappin and jinglin'..I reckon all I need now other than talent is a dancin' monkey and start my own side show...

OK now it's going to be more fun :)

This box has been waiting for me to get a little bit of experience, lurking on top of my cupboard. It's aimed as a gift for my daughter so my usual 'oh that will do' attitude will not cut the mustard, so to speak!!

Short trip out the house to get some oak for the neck and fantastic I find some that will do nicely :) unfortunately it came in 4m length! I don't drive and I just couldn't see myself having a conversation with the bus driver saying "honest mate, it will fit lengthwise down the bus, I just need you to open the emergency window at the back because I can't bend it round the door"

So out with a block saw and there's me sitting on the side of the road hacking away.. 2 x 2m.. Done. Now I can walk with it without having many laural and hardy moments.

Next a trip into Glasgow to visit a professional luthier for some fret wire and a bit of advice.. Very very helpful and cool guy, it turns out he is planning some CBG one day classes (but it's a bit out of my price range). The guitar work shop, Glasgow, Scotland. Check out his shop pictures. I walked in and just wanted to run riot in the place. It was CBG heaven.. 

Well anyway.. I can't wait to get stuck right into day 2 .. Neck construction. This will be my first neck build so wish me luck.

Cigar box amp. I had this idea for a long time. So long that I started to notice that some other CBG hobbyists started to make them. The guitar amplifiers made from the cigar boxes for cigar box guitars. Check it out

I have a cigar box that "appeared" to be solid wood. The top looks like a glossy natural oak. When I drilled the sound holes, it looks like the oak is only a thin veneer and the rest is mdf. The holes are beautiful but I am concerned with how it is going to sound. What are your thoughts?

Come join us there or check in on us to see what's going on or what happened this year at the

Well it's done.

I stripped it down, gave the box a lick of varnish. Glued what needed glued and decided to go for screw head bolts for the bowl fixing. Here's the results..

its not entirely finished just now. I have some brass corner protectors coming from China which will arrive next month. But I just wanted to show it off. The electrics need soldered inside the body. I'm waiting on piezos to arrive too so it can wait. But to be honest I like this acoustically. 

A box, a dog bowl, tea strainers, a cupboard door handle, bolts and nuts from here and there, a neck from a busted strat copy and some beer.

Magic.

Howdy folks...

...in case you hadn't heard...last Sunday I release my most current song titled ' Nothing But The Blues ' performed on my current CBG build " Valentine ".

What you will find is a quick little ditty...with an old school sound.

Please take the time and have a listen and drop me a line about what you think and if you have any questions about my CBG I would be glad to respond.

Keep on Rockin!

Peace!.

I finished my 2 String CBBass, and it looks nice and sounds good in my opinion. I put D'Addario Nylon Tape Wound Strings E and A on it. I don't know what tunings to use. Presently, I have the big E string tuned to G. I would like advice on what to tune the A string to; or, for that matter, what to tune both strings to.

The 'thing' has been lurking in the corner like a sexy prostitute begging climax! 

Hahaha, well no not really .. I'll try again.

It kept looking at me! I swear! I could hear it whispering "bring me to life! I'm so close!"

Yeah yeah, none of the above, but it was so much fun the last time that I couldn't wait to get my new dremel stuck right into it.

OK so I headed out the house to get some strings from the local guitar shop and some guitar parts from my new local music shop, the hardware store (B&Q). In the guitar shop I asked to see any cbg's.. "We did have a couple last year but like all fads.. (Fads?? Shame on you) nobody wants one now". Yeah yeah I thought, because we're building them ourselves. Anyway..

Beer, dremel, bits and bobs from the kitchen drawer and bingo! Here's what's poped out at the end of the day...

Here's the juicy stuff and the funny stuff..

Omg the dremel is exceptional. There is no way I could have fitted that pick up without it. The little sanding blocks are just brilliant to make precision holes.. I'm sure when I make my daughter's CBG it will look like it was born complete ! 

So fitting continued.. Sound holes.. An old pickup (so snug with the dremel).. input jack.. Then came my tailpeice.. Went in beautifully.. 

Time to get some strings on the beast and see if my neck bridge alignment was good.. Pulled the base string in and tighten up a bit.. WTF? I look at my tailpeice.. And fell about with laughter.. What I thought was ebony turned out to be rubber! The string pressure just bent into it. It was one of those, only me.. Only me.. Moments.

OK so I just went ahead with stringing it and I will deal with it later (it was only just a cupboard door handle anyway) . but I'm still laughing every time I think about it. 

I still haven't built a bridge so I just popped a bit of offcut wood into it to hear how it sounds.. And it's great! It sounds a bit like a banjo but not.. Hard to describe. I guess it just sounds like itself. I will have a go at fixing the rubber problem and building a functional bridge tomorrow. 

I really must admit that out of all the things I have done with iinstruments this build has been the most fun.

I do still have things with this build that I could use some help with.. I don't think it's practical to screw my bowl resonator and sound hole covers onto the guitar and I think glue is the way forwards.. Has anyone any ideas and tips to do this? I plan to stain the wood then varnish it in something before I put my finishing touches to it (corner protectors and perhaps some type of decal/personalisation. Is it better to glue fixtures first or paint?

Anyway.. Time to build a bridge.