its a 3 string, oak neck. Can't wait to learn how to play it! I play electric bass and sing some, but I've always wanted to play slide. Love Ry Cooder, Leo Kotke, ZZTop, John Lee Hooker, BB King. Really just saying hello here, it's my first post as well.
Adding pics when I can figure it out!
<br /><small><a href="http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/photo">Find more photos like this on <em>Cigar Box Nation</em></a></small><br />
It seems to me that China is now the only place to get various parts at a realistic price. Now with the demise of Dick Smith Electronics and Tandy being long gone, when it comes time to find a replacement chassis mount female RCA jack the only place is Jaycar.
Now you might be thinking if I can get them from Jaycar why the post? Well I'll tell you. I compared the Jaycar version with an eBay Chinese version and in short I wouldn't be surprised if they came out of the same factory. The only difference I could see was Jaycar's version was just under 2 bux for one and the eBay Chinese version I could get 10 of (5 black & 5 Red) for an additional 97 cents (free postage).
I'm not saying that Jaycar shouldn't be making a profit on the goods they sell but that sort of markup is the reason people buy from places like eBay. If the jack was 50c or at a stretch, a dollar I would have bought 10 from Jaycar and not have the extended wait time to get them from China.
I support local business as much as I can but there comes a time when I need to draw the line. $20 versus $2.97. I suppose I could go the cheap way at 95c each and not use gold ones but again why if the originals are gold.
Oh and I'm not raggin' Jaycar, bought from there before and will again, just not in this case.
Has anyone tried these 3 string pups?
Want to bue the Russian Balalaika?
Russian 3-string balalaika for sale!
The balalaika (: балала́йка, pronounced ) is a Russian with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.
The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest: the piccolo balalaika, prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika, and contrabass balalaika. The prima balalaika is the most common; the piccolo is rare. There have also been descant andtenor balalaikas, but these are considered obsolete. All have three-sided bodies; spruce, evergreen, or fir tops; and backs made of three to nine wooden sections (usually maple). They are typically strung with three strings, and the necks are fretted.
The prima balalaika, secunda and alto are played either with the fingers or a (pick), depending on the music being played, and the bass and contrabass (equipped with extension legs that rest on the floor) are played with leather plectra. The rare piccolo instrument is usually played with a pick
VIDEO HERE https://youtu.be/i8O55eLI90Q
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Scale 450 mm
Frets 16
Neck - beech
Body - mapple + beech
Sounboard - rezonanse fir
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Shipping to USA 3-4 weeks
David Bowie has died aged 69 after a battle with Cancer .
R.I.P Dave x
Hi,
I'm on my first build, a three string, I'm a complete beginner, my favourite sound is finger style slide blues, I have been researching lessons and courses to get me going and have come across learncigarboxguitar.com can, any body recommend this site?
Regards Garry
After spending some time tinkering with the latest CBG build and all the stereo systems I was given, I thought it was time I did a bit more in regards to our 10th album.
I'd already sorted one track 'The Dance of Smeagol and Gollum' - 'Drifting on the Periphery of a Dream' is all but finished so I decided to to go back and have a look at 'Disturbance in the DNA of the Gods'.
There was a little something missing at the start, I'd say all the musicians here have hit that or something like it so I trolled through what I thought were old discarded (sort of) pieces I'd done and came across a piece that just fell in to place, sort of a Eureka moment - except after sending the completed track to my guitarist who is currently in New York he pointed out something that I'd missed. The piece I'd just included was actually the intro to 'The Dance of Smeagol and Gollum' - hence the post title of "Things that go Wrongly Right!"
Talk about semi-gutted, I'd now finished 'Disturbance' only to put 'Dance' back on the "Need to do" list.
The C.B.N. has given me masses of inspiration though. Like two or so minutes of party styled slide CBG's as an intro drifting off into a mass of synths and reprised at the end seeing as Smeagol/Gollum is a tad psycho so nothing is not where it's supposed to be.
Now to either convince Alex he needs to learn the CBG, get some practice myself as in short I am hopeless at the moment or find someone else.
The mind is boggling again!!
Cheers All
Carl
The cajon is a Peruvian percussion instrument, and a favorite among hipsters and poor college students at the moment. Simply put, it's a box that you sit on and with your hands. If you look up some videos of folks playing the them, you'll quickly see that they can produce a variety of sounds, especially considering the fact that it's just one box. A blue grass group played at my church a few months ago and they used one. I looked at it and thought, "I could build one of those..."
So I did.
Since I'm a guitarist and a member of the Cigar Box Nation, it features a license plate (which can be slapped for a kind of cymbal sound [by which I mean a cheap, trashy cymbal sound just perfect for playing with a CBG]) and f-holes:
The construction was pretty simple. I opted for an external license plate vs an internal snare, so it didn't take much to put it together.
Hopefully I'll post a video sometime of me on a CBG and some one who can (unlike me) play drums on this new fangled old fashioned license plate cajon.
God bless.
After designing a few CBGs and lap diddley bows that my husband brought to life with power tools, I made my first solo creation this week, and I'm smitten with my guitar style diddley bow.
While I've made 2 lap diddley bows and 4 CBGs with 3 strings with my husband on the power tools and me on design, this is the first one I've made on my own and first one with a round neck. The pickup is a piezo disc pickup pre-wired to a jack from cbgitty.com. I used 1/8" pop rivets for string ferrules, a Ping tuner, 1" pine dowel, a craft box (I know some purists may be annoyed by that), a slotted screw for the nut, a lamp nipple for the bridge, and tarp grommets for the sound hole covers. I sawed the dowel with a hand saw for creating flats for the tuner, then I used a drill with regular bits and Forstner bits for all the rest.
I've been a hobby guitarist for 16 years, but I'm totally new to slide guitar. This is so fun! I love the simplicity, and there is something amazing about playing music on an instrument you made yourself.
This video is a demo of a diddley bow (1 string cigar box guitar or CBG) I made on 12/30/15. https://youtu.be/vNHkUX8UAJI ;
I had to turn off the Christmas tree lights while using the Mustang amp because they were causing some electromagnetic interference and creating an annoying hum on the amp. Most of the music I played I learned from Juston Johnson tutorials. The long song I played was based on a tune by Elmore James.
Well I got busy and made a couple of canjos for the great niece and great nephew. Since the are 4 and 3 years old respectively, they will probably need adult supervision to start with. They are diatonically fretted with the 6 1/2 fret. I tuned them to D but since they are one string it really doesn't matter until they try to play with someone else.
One of the biggest problems for a new slide player to overcome is “slide rattle” and clang ,when the slide catches the wrong string in the wrong way and the string rattles against it . it can make your tune sound like 2 skeletons humping on a tin roof using a tin can as a condom . ;-)
So, I pondered for a while on what would help new slide players avoid this discouraging hurtle.
I came up with an idea.. and thought , “that might work” , but I never really got around to trying it out . till last night . And guess what? It not only works,… but works damn well!
I figured guitar mutes have a felt or furry surface , but I would need something that the string could cut through or find its way through to get to the hard surface of a slide, yet dampen it on the way in, and out ,and to a lighter accidental touch .
The solution ?....wrap the slide in yarn . in a spiral fashion , no glue , no cross-knit , just wrap it like a string on a tuner . the string gets through the “fur” and hits the metal , but is buffered on the way in and out . and any accidental contact with other strings is hushed , as is open ringing . Giving you a warm , clear, un-klangy sound . it’s actually hard to make it rattle deliberately it works so well.
I could not believe this worked so well and after a google search is seems nobody else has tried it .
I could sell these like hotcakes , but the concept is so simple to diy. . so , I am sharing it with you . anywho , this is how I made mine .
Use “SWIRL” type yarn. (normal yarn may work but, this is what I used . )
Pull out a long piece of yarn about the length of your arm x3 and cut it .. run a piece along one side of the slide , hold the top , take the other end of yarn and start wrapping around the slide (leave the short piece running along the slide and cover it as you wrap it .
Full wrap then cut and tie the ends in a double knot .
Tada ! try the witch wrap . you will be glad you did , and your rattle is gone / cured ! but you can still play slide as usual . (maybe pushing a bit harder or you may loose some sustain , but you'll get it, , and eventually it will train you to not need it by adding natural confidence )
Yer welcome ;-)
Hi all, just joined this group after taking for a while I thought I would try to give some back. I have made a few projects so far, this is the first....
My First Cigar Box Guitar
After stumbling across the whole Cigar Box Guitar thing (not sure where I originally found it) I decided to make one. I got into making bows a few years ago and while I still enjoy it there comes a point where making another meets the quantity I already have x the effort x skill and so on. Having said that, I am making another over this winter, just slower and less urgently.
For the CBG, I had a decent stock of wood for necks and such and a trip to a cigar store got me a Underhill box. I kept it fairly simple with a 1x2 oak thru neck, rivets to secure the strings, cheapo tuners, a eye bolt for the bridge – later made into wood – and a sawed off screw for the nut. Fairly plain overall. No frets. Spray varnish on the box really made the wood look good. It sounds good but a little quiet, no action at all, slide playing only.
Goals – make a CBG that actually played.
Good – it was fun and a lot of small problem solving for various design elements. I was happy how it turned out.
Bad – nothing really bad, although it would have been great to be able to fret a note. I wanted to keep it simple the first time.
Learnings - The eye bolt had coarse threads and the strings buzzed a bit. The wood bridge sounded a little better I think. I originally tried a low G and D with high upper G and didn’t care for it. Using the 3, 4, and 5 strings from a regular guitar set was better for me. In hindsight I didn’t need the corner braces, and didn’t need to screw down the lid. Add I wanted to make more! And use blue tape on everything while filing, measuring, drilling etc, it lets you write freely with big marks while protecting the rest of the wood.
I’ll work my way through the builds I have made so far, let me know if more or less info is better.
The song from the Beatles, but I am trying to be a nicer person...
I've been trying again to find the melodies of the songs by playing the chords but for many of them I still do not have the strength, dexterity or patience soooooo I wonder off into Strawberry Fields or find myself floating on a River with Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies. The last time this occurred I found myself "picking" out the tune ALL MY LOVING by The Beatles (found attached, below).
It's not in the correct key but it does sound a bit like what the song does, only in another key...
If you can put the melody behind these single notes then please share with us and hopefully one day I will post a song that is strummed properly like a C.B.G. is meant to be played. In the mean time, I'm enjoying what I am getting out of it ;-)
Enjoy!
I recently finished my 1st CBG using 2 pickups and a 3 way switch. In the neck position is a lipstick tube(4.52 ohms) from Gitty.. A single coil(9.04 ohms)) from Guitar Fetish is at the bridge. The neck and bridge position sound like I expected, the neck is subdued and the bridge is harsh. My question is about the middle position. Both pickups are active but the neck pickup is dominate and the ohms drop to 3.05. I was expecting more of a equal blend. Any ideas? At the top of this page is a video http://bscbg.com/for-sale
thanks jeff
So, you have finished all the hard work of shaping the neck. Fit the box snugly to the neck. Added a very nice mahogany fret board. Installed the piezo pickup, sound holes. Everything is done, now string it up and give it a test drive. Whats that? Fret buzz!!! On not one, but two frets. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!
Why can't there be a way to test for fret buzz BEFORE the absolute last step? Now I have to unstring, reseat those two frets, hope it's right this time, and stress over the process.
Just a crazy rant, sorry. In 35 plus CBG's I have never actually had frets buzz before. I guess I should be thankful for my luck so far.
To all, have a Merry Christmas and a fret buzz free New Year!!!
Phew, another year end nearly come around, and I’ve kept myself busy again. 2014 saw me consolidating my guitar making and music business…with only the odds and ends of my day job as an architect to deal with, putting my elder daughter Anne to work, helping me around the workshop and in the office, a few festivals, workshops and so on. 2015 has moved up a gear, and has been a full-on year of getting the business on a serious footing.
My daughter Anne at Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival
Anne has moved from part time to full time, dealing with all the sales, the website, packing, shipping, prepping for workshop and festivals, running workshops with me...and working on the guitars too...designing artwork, painting, finishing, soldering, fretting. It’s meant I’ve had to up my game to pay her wages, but I couldn’t do it without her…and my wife has retired, so the pressure to keep putting bread on the table has increased.
Blue Sugar Skulls designed and painted by Anne Zilpha
We’ve had to do forward planning, task allocations, weekly progress meetings…in short, we’ve had to get really serious about things. It’s meant registering the “ChickenboneJohn” name as a trademark, getting public liability insurance, product liability insurance, employer’s liability insurance, setting up trade accounts with suppliers, striking deals with overseas suppliers, and joining the Musicians’ Union…yes I’m now a card-carrying member! All of this is the stuff that you don’t see that has to be done when a hobby changes into a business…the most obvious outward sign of this change is sitting on my driveway. I sold my car and acquired a 2.7 tonne Mercedes van, as it had come to the point when doing festivals was pretty much impossible with my little Vauxhall Meriva.
The new Mercedes...how did we manage with my little Vauxhall?!
Inside the van...getting a bit more of that lived-in look.
We’ve bought a big, serious “Ezy-Up” marquee that in itself weighs in at around 80kg, and that together with tables, lights, PA system, banner and all the other gear needed to sell at a festival, meant that it simply wouldn’t fit in the car. Of course, buying the van means bigger bills and business insurance on the vehicle, and it’s part of the cost I have to factor in of running a business.
3 days of this is hard work....but there are worse ways of making a living.
We’ve done fewer workshops this year, but dipped our toes into selling at Festivals, which has turned out to be pretty successful. Not everything worked out, perhaps biting off more than I could chew, and I’ve had to pull the plug on a few things…a midlands guitars show that I’d planned didn’t happen, neither did Boxstock, I missed out on 2 decent festivals. It’s impossible to do everything, it’s all been a learning experience, and now we are already planning out the 2016 season, with bookings for gigs and festivals already confirmed and more workshops and tours being planned. In 2015 I aimed to double my 2014 guitar making target…and although I’m a little short of the projected figure, we’ve made more guitars than ever, just coming up to 200 for the past 12 months.
A few new guitars ready for the next show.
Nijdrop, Belgium, Hollowbelly finishing off the day's Make 'n' Play workshop
Typical Belgium bar gig...with Hollowbelly at Westerlo.
Back at the Roemer in Bremen for a workshop & gig with Hollowbelly.
Chilling outside The Roemer, Bremen with the boss, Christian
Beorma Morris outside the stall at Moseley Folk Fest
Here’s a sample of some of the things I’ve been up to...on top of all that there’s gigs and guitar making which were fitted into the schedule. February - Students visited the workshop for filming, workshop in Calne, Birmingham Guitar Show. March - Swindon Retro and Vintage weekend workshops with Hollowbelly, Newcastle Guitar Show, Southside Blues residency at in Birmingham. April - Holiday in Japan to visit our younger daughter Lizzie. May- Thirsk Guitar Show, beginners’ learn to play workshop, visitor from Sweden comes to learn CBG with me, Swedish guitar magazine interview, pro workshop photoshoot, Up North CBG Fest, Haydock Park guitar show, Kettering Workshop, Oxford Workshop. June - Lunar Festival, Intermediate CBG Workshop, Headlander festival, Milton Keynes Workshop. July - Mostly Jazz Festival, Upton Blues Festival. August - Cumbria Guitar Show. September - Moseley Folk Festival, Bremen Weekender workshops with Hollowbelly, Nijdrop workshop, Westerlo and Dark Star Hopfest weekend with Hollowbelly, Leeds Guitar Show. October - New Southside Blues residency, Cheshire Guitar Show. November - Recording session, Aintree Guitar show. December - Christmas Party for Dark Star Brewing, “A Winter Less Ordinary” alternative Christmas fair.
Already for 2106 I’ve been asked to go to Sweden and Germany to do more workshops, I’ve got a visitor from Germany flying over for an intensive course of how to play cigar box guitar, a nice “boutique” festival confirmed, we’ve applied to trade at a mega festival...but whether anything comes of that, it’s another matter…the 2016 wall planner is already looking pretty busy. I’ve got a stack of vintage USA made acoustic guitars to restore, Harmony, Airline, Stella, Kay, and some beautiful pre-war Oscar Schmidts..keep in touch if you fancy one of those, and I’m also hoping to be stocking an amazing range of French electric guitars.
Pre-war Oscar Schmidt Stella -if you want it, don't be afraid to ask!
How about this French beauty?...Oh la la! Scheduled for early 2016
None of this would be possible with a great network of contacts...friends, family, customers, musicians, suppliers, venues, promoters...the boundaries blur between the categories, but the kindness, enthusiasm and support of all these people too numerous to mention here have made it all happen for me. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Hey all,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
I have used more than a single note and wrote the Tab for the Willie Nelson version of:
A HORSE CALLED MUSIC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Hc8cEplSQ
I have linked the YouTube Video of the song so that if you don't know it you can find and hear it.
