Blogs

This is a bit different - using a public forum community instead of my own domain for my Cigar Box Guitar Journey.  Cigar box Nation seems to be the place to be so why not use the resources here?

I am starting on my first Cigar Box Guitar.  I bought some boxes from the local cigar store (they have a pile in the corner - $1 each), a neck fro cbgitty.com, amp parts from Guitar Fuel on eBay, and I will make the rest.  The second one will be with my son for a home education industrial arts class this winter.

Yeah, normally I would create a catchy domain name and put up my own website - this is fun too - learning how to fit in here where I don't have complete responsibility or flexibility for the site.  Pictures soon - as soon as I have something .  I guess the first pic will be just my amp box with a hole cut in it for the speaker!  I am looking forward to it.

Now, most of my friends don't have a clue what a CBG is yet, but they will now!

Anyone putting truss rods in their CBG builds. I have been thinking about playing with it. Just wondered if anyone else was going through this process...

An all electric 5-string. It will be useful, I hope.

 Im building a new box and wanted to know if anyone had any tips on installing a lipstick pick-up?

Hey there friends and cigar box music lovers, The Budrows is putting out a Brand New Album and we need your help to get it finished. I have launched a Kickstarter Campaign to help with the production of CD and LIMITED EDITION VINYL....that's right, I said VINYL!!!

Please check out our Kickstarter Page and make a pledge to get our new album plus a bunch of other great rewards.

We have 11 great new songs all recorded, mixed, and mastered just waiting to pull the trigger to get the physical product done. If you liked our first album, "100% foot stompin' cigar box rock n' roll", and our newest FREE EP, "Four Old Songs", you are gonna LOVE this NEW album, there are a few surprizes, .... ughmm, TUBA...yeah a Tuba. I know you will dig it and please help spread the word for the Kickstarter program, it's ALL or NOTHING on the funding and we have 13 days left.

Thanks in advance,

Jason Farthing

www.thebudrows.com

www.soundboxguitars.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc_r44FXGJY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUop_vjC9dma9CKrMnJCTrPw

I've made 2 guitars for my daughters with a lot of their help.  Both are tuned the same so they play together.  Yesterday they sat out and gave the neighborhood a sort of concert.  I couldn't be happier.

Both girls selected the materials with a little guidance, assisted me with the drilling and cutting and pounded in some or all of the frets.  Too much fun not to share the result.

Hello to the Cigar Box Nation !!!

My primary instrument is the guitar.  I also play drums, keyboards, and bass.  I played professionally for 13 years with the same 5 guys.  I now have my own project recording studio where I record my own music.  The studio name is "Blue Guitar Studios".  While playing live music back in the 70's, I learned to play slide guitar for certain classic cover songs.  I have continued to love and practice this art form on my Les Pauls and Strats.  I also have a strong engineering background with a pretty good understanding of the physics of sound and guitars.  I recently caught the bug for CBG's and amps. My  hippie Mom handed me a giant bag full of cigar boxes she had been saving for years!!!  She is 88 years old !!! She told me that people are making guitars using these boxes and she had been saving them for me.  The boxes struck me as pure art.  I took one look online and found your websites.  I was hooked !!! I am now researching and designing a 6-string electric.  After that, my next project will be a high quality 4-string bass version. 

Peace and Love to All !!!

I had an interesting revelation the other day when I saw the wiring for an American Strat side by side with the wiring for a Mexican Strat both with bridge position humbuckers. What was immediately grabbing my attention was that on the American version the volume pot was 500k with 2 250k tone pots where the Mexican had 3 250k pots. The switch is 7 way on the American and splits the bridge position humbucker to a single vs the 5 way on the Mex. 

SLIDE INVITATION  

Hi . First post on this site . Have just finished my first cbg and tuned it with a stagg tuner . All sounds ok until you try to play it.As soon as you touch the strings they sound dead.I have gone off the charts for fret distances and bridge distance.

It is unfretted by the way with only pencill marks at moment.

Any advice welcomed please

Chris

I'm working on the first of what I hope are many box guitars. I read a post by Ted I think, with a diagram of a single coil PU, that he had supplied, with two volume and one control hooked to a 3-way switch. One volume control was for the single coil, the other pot was for a Piezo.. This is a config. I want to use. But, because I;m not electronically inclined, I don't completely understand it. my question is probably going to sound dumb to many of you, but here goes...on the volume 1 control (single coil), he shows a neg. coming from the pot and it is labeled "Bridge ground. Where does that ground go to? Thanks for the help. What a great site!

First up is Heavy Rider, with a Swamp Witch guitar

Next up is A Bad Man, with a Hoochbobble guitar

Next up is An Evening With Bela Lugosi, with a Smokestack guitar

Next up is Who Is It?, with a Swamp Witch guitar and a 1 string bass

I get over to the UK on business 2 or 3 times a year, but I've never taken my guitars with me until this trip.  I'm glad I made the decision to do so this time as it was one of my best trips out of many.

I arrived at Heathrow fairly early Saturday morning since a heavy tailwind reduced the flight time to just over 5 hours.  That left little time for any sleep.  I made my way by train up to St. Neots, near Cambridge and then on to the house in Kimbolton where I was staying.  Dropped the bags and headed into Cambridge in order to see StumbleCol on stage at the Portland Arms.  Despite parking about 3 miles from the pub, I arrived just after they started playing their 45 minute set.  The crowd was sparse early in the afternoon, but the guys put on a great show.  I chatted with the guys after their set and my brain was turning into jet lag mush with each passing minute.  I decided to leave while they were loading out since I had a 40 minute drive back to the house.

Col gave me one of the band CDs and I listened to it all week.  "Work Song" is one of my favorites along with "Stink Eye."

Ate something I don't remember at the Cambridge Services on A14 and parked safely at the house (surprise!).  Crashed in the bed and didn't move until 9:00 the next morning.  Feeling great I had some toast and headed into Cambridge again with my guitars.  It was a beautiful day and everyone was in the city for picnics on the green and shopping.  Here's my wheels for the week and my gear for a day out.

I got a real coffee since the house only has instant and wandered around the city looking for any familiar faces among the buskers at each street corner.  There were a lot of great performers out on about every corner and I left my share of tips scattered around, but didn't play at all.  I got a pasty for lunch and decided to head out to Jesus Green to sit by the River Cam.  It is one of my favorite spots in the city.

I got out a guitar and decided to play a bit, just for myself.  Soon after, a local artist and musician, Banjo Nick turned up and wanted to check out my guitars.  He had a banjo and uke with him and we swapped for a few minutes.  I have never played a real banjo and it was a lot of fun.  I think with 15 or 20 more minutes I could have really done something  with it.  Nick asked me "Do you know Belinda?"  Who would think that two strangers could meet up from 3,500 miles apart and know of the same person by first name only?  Another tick in the box for "small world."

Nick asked if I sang any tunes.  I reluctantly offered that I did have one song, but I had never sang in front of anything other than a camera.  He suggested I should just sing to the Cam and if it was really bad the worst that would happen is the water would roil violently and that would be a good show to watch.  So I played out 16 Tons to a level that satisfied me then went over the chord progression so Nick could play along on the banjo.  It was a great time.

He went on his way to collect tips in town and I was about ready to call it a day.  Col from StumbleCol rang my phone just then and invited me over to his place to hang out a bit.  Since I had a 6PM dinner meeting with my colleagues it was going to be a short visit, but I drove across town to meet up.

Col had our picture taken together with my guitars after we swapped some design ideas and discussed how we go about our crazy obsession with box guitars.

I continued playing after work during the week.  I had some time to kill at Paddington Station before taking the Heathrow Express to the airport so I pulled out a guitar an played a bit.  The station noise is way too loud for anyone to hear, but a woman stopped to take my picture and mentioned her boyfriend builds cigar box guitars.  So I guess I'm about to be famous at least in one household.

It is great that we have this website as a hub of sharing and communications related to CBGs.  I've met some great people from here and will continue to cart my guitars around with me when I travel.

Recording artist George Worthmore picking at his Cottin Pickin Blues Cigar Box Guitar....Ocean Blues.....Sarasota Fl. Cut and Paste to view 
file:///C:/Users/Steve/Desktop/george%20ocean%20video.htm

This is my son playing my CGB. His band has just finished rehearsing. We played a few blues songs then he started playing his style of music on it.

He uploaded it to youtube

Cigar Box Experiment