Blogs

Here's the tub, its 18" in diameter

Here's the tub with the sound board anchors in place

Sound board ready for mounting and paint

The neck glueing, it will be red oak with maple

....stay tuned!

Sound board base coated, penciled in design...ready for 3D paint

Now the sound board is ready for paint.....

Almost where I want it too be

Neck Brace

Hello,

Thanks for asking about my project.  I finished it last night and  it actually sounds like a guitar.  Now I need a slide.  I was using a metal ruler for a slide with the guitar laying flat on the table.

I took a few pictures of the parts along the way.  I will take a few pictures of the finished project and put them on here this weekend.

Have fun,

Paul

Small Town Hero by John Bolton

Goodland County, Oklahoma.

I picked up the Sunday paper and read the front page headlines.
Oklahoma won its bowl game. Football is big here in Oklahoma. As I started to dig for the funnies and sports page, a photo on the bottom of the front page caught my eye. It was Travis Erbeck, my old friend from Clayton. The bold print read, ‘Small Town Hero: Good Samaritan Dies Saving Girl And Dog.’

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. It was an old story that we seem to hear every year or two; a kid falling through the ice. Marisol Hernandez, age twelve was walking her little pug dog on the Crescent Lake walking path. Puggy saw a duck on a patch of openwater and somehow got free of Marisol to chase after the duck.

Puggy slid into the water. Marisol had the sense to drop down and belly crawl, but the ice broke and Marisol went into and under the frigid water. She came up intent on her mission. She saved Puggy, shoving her onto the ice. But she could not escape the water herself. Each time she tried, more ice broke and her frigid muscles were soon giving out.

Trav Erlbeck was driving by when two women walkers waved him down. Trav was a plumber and handyman. He had an aluminum ladder on his truck. A wood ladder would have been better in this case. The walkers called 911 and watched five foot nine, two hundred and sixty pound Trav grab the ladder like it was surf board and lumber onto the thinly frozen lake. He extended the ladder to Marisol and she grabbed it for dear life. But as Trav was pulling her to safety the ice gave way beneath him. Trav was still able to save Marisol, but he couldn’t save himself.

I never thought of Trav as a hero before I read that article. But looking back, he always had it in him. We met in third grade. He was the new kid in school. The teacher, Miss Meyer, put Trav in a desk next to mine. We got to be friends pretty fast.

We had a kid in our class named Mike Rau. Mike was a truly bad kid. He later got sent off to reform school for vandalizing a school bus. Trav got into a fight with Mike that first week he came to school.

It’s a better story if I tell you about Mike. Mike was a year older than the rest of us. He was skinny, but tough. He was interested in girls before the rest of us boys were. He was the first kid I ever heard really cuss. I mean really cuss. Mike told us a lot of things, including how babies were made. I remember a kid named Marlon saying his mom and dad would never do that.

The worst thing I remember Mike doing was something he did to Miss Meyers, our teacher. Mike said she had falsies. I didn’t know what that meant and of course, Mike told me.

One day we were taking a test and putting the papers on Miss Meyer’s desk when we were done. Mike got done early, which never happened. He put down his test and then pushed in Miss Meyer’s breast with his pencil. It stayed dented in. She got up and turned her back to us and fixed herself up. Then she hauled Mike off to the principal’s office. He got suspended for that.

Mike came back to school the same week Trav started. On Thursday or Friday, Miss Meyer was out of the room and Mike was picking on Marlon Meyers. Marlon was okay, but he was the kind of kid that got picked on. Trav stepped in and said, “Hey, leave the kid alone.”

Mike threw the first punch and then he and Trav went at it pretty good. But it was grade school punches without much damage getting done. The fight ended as abruptly as it started. Trav’s parting verbal shot was, “Don’t pick on kids.”

I remember looking at the door while they were slugging and saw Miss Meyer peak in. She kind of dodged out of the way so I wouldn’t see her. That surprised me. The only person I ever told about that was Trav. We figured she wanted Mike to get beat up. He didn’t really get beat up, but he got stood up to. That was the first brave thing I saw Trav do.

The school bus thing was not long after that. Mike did a bang up job. He climbed a cyclone fence and got into the bus yard. He cut up the seats, spray painted obscenities and peed and crapped on the driver’s seat. I never heard how he got caught, but he did. We never saw him or heard news of him again. I figure he’s most likely dead or in prison.

Trav was a fun kid and we were friends on through junior high.
We drifted apart in high school. I took college prep classes and Trav took shop and auto mechanics. He didn’t take well to coaching and dropped out of sports to focus on cars, beer, girls and making money.

Trav got to be a hell raiser as a teen and young adult. He drank too much, got in fights, drove like a maniac and had a temper. He partied and trashed a couple of apartments. The cops go tired oh his act and he did jail time and a short time in prison for assault and destruction of property. I had moved away by those years, but kind of feared Trav was headed for more jail or an early death.
                                                                            ****

I made the two hour drive and pulled into the funeral home on the night of Trav’s visitation. The parking lot was packed. Inside, a greeter handed me Trav’s obituary. I signed the funeral book and looked over the obit. Aged forty eight years, four months and five days. Survived by his daughter and two grandkids, his mom, brothers and sisters, many friends and his cat, Clyde. Trav always loved his critters.

Everybody had to file up to the front to be greeted by Trav’s daughter and mom. Lots of hugs and tears and an occasional quiet bit of laughter. Trav’s mom looked old.

It was an open casket and Trav looked like Trav, too good to be dead. He had on a red Oklahoma football shirt and tattoos on his arms. There were barb wire tats around both biceps. There was one for Chelsey, his daughter and several big words in Chinese.

There was a nice bunch of flowers including a wreath that said hero. Photos of his life and family showed on a screen. There was one of me and Trav and Jimmy Adamson with a stringer of fish. Jimmy had a black eye in that photo.

I knew most of the people there and it was good to talk to people I hadn’t seen in years. The service started and the minister opened with saying, “I never had the pleasure of knowing Trav, but I have heard a lot of good things about him. You know, Trav lost his way for a while and did things he was ashamed of. I’m told he got to be a good man.

“People say he was strong as a bull. And it surprises people that strong as he was and a good swimmer too, that he drowned in that cold water. I want to make a point about that. Who among you will be the next to die? Will it be the strongest or the weakest?  Will it be the youngest or the oldest?  Will you be ready to meet your maker?”

Wow, great minister. Made me think. He kept it short and about mostly about Trav. Then he said, “All right. Now you get the opportunity to stand up and tell us something about Trav. This is a celebration of his life. Trav’s mom and daughter Chelsee, want this to be as happy a time as we can make it. They say there are lots of good Trav stories and lots of funny ones. They hope you will tell both kinds.

Now I know that some of you don’t want to talk because you’re afraid you’ll cry. That’s no excuse. Say what you want to say. If you get to crying too much, just stop for a bit we’ll wait. Good people cry. Manly men cry.”

One of Trav’s older sisters went first. “Most of you know that those Chinese tattoos on Trav’s arms say, ‘Big Brother.’ I’m older than Trav, but he was my big brother. He was my big bear. He was the one that took care of us and the one we went to…..”

A lady stood up and said, “I’m Cindy Swanson. A couple of years ago my sewer line plugged up and we couldn’t use the toilet. I was laid off and pretty broke and with two little boys. Trav came over and helped us out and wouldn’t let me pay him any labor.”

Mike Stone was next. “Trav helped a bunch of us. If you needed something hauled, Trav and his truck were there. If you had car trouble Chad was the man. That guy could fix most anything. And he was so funny. Always makin’ me laugh.

I’ll tell you one story. I came home from college for Christmas vacation the year I was twenty. Trav and I and Willie T. got two cases of Shiner Bock and set to drinking. We were driving down a country road in Trav’s pickup and throwing out the empties in the pickup bed. Willie made a bad toss and the can went on the road. Bad luck, man. A deputy saw us. The deputy’s cherries lit up and Trav hit the gas.

Trav had that old GMC truck with a Chevy 396 V8. I remember the speedometer showing one hundred miles an hour. This was on gravel roads. That’s fast on gravel. We were outrunning the cop and Trav asks, “Hey. Do you know what GMC stands for?”

“No.”

“Get mechanic cwik.”

That got a good laugh and next up was Jimmy Adamson. “Did you see the photo of Trav and John Richards and a guy with a black eye? And a stringer of fish? I was the guy with the black eye. We were fishin’ on the river and there was a fresh plowed field there. We had a dirt clod fight. There was a junk car there with no window glass. I was on one side of the car and Trav was on the other side. He winged a clod right through the windows and got me in the eye. Man did he ever feel bad when my eye swoll shut.”

A guy I didn’t know got up and said. “You know Trav and his pranks and jokes? Did you ever see him laughing so hard he couldn’t stop? That was the best. This is a dumb story. Trav and I were working doing phone sales. We both hated it and didn’t last two weeks. Well, I had a new camera and I took it to work. This was back before digital, when you took film to the drug store to get developed.

“I had a new girlfriend too and we took pictures. We picked up the pictures and were sitting in the car looking them and there’s a picture of a toilet full of crap. That girl saw that picture and looked at me like I was the weirdest, dumbest guy in the world. I knew right away Trav did it. That’s the most embarrassed I ever got.”

There were a bunch of good stories and funny stories and then there was a lull. I got up and introduced myself and said, “Trav and I were good friends in from fourth grade on through junior high. I could tell you a funny story or two. But I want to tell you a story I’m ashamed of. But Trav comes out the hero again.

“It was eighth grade and there was a girl in some of our classes. I won’t say her name. The truth is that I can’t remember it. She was skinny and quiet and to tell the truth, I hadn’t really noticed her. She was shy. She wore old clothes.

“I don’t think I knew back then what it was to shun somebody. But somehow it was getting so that girl was shunned. No good reason for it. Just dumb kids. One day the teacher left the room and we were supposed to split up into groups of four with two boys and two girls. A girl in one group said, ‘Oooh, we don’t want her.’

“There was a kind of murmur and somebody else didn’t want her either. I remember this sad and distressed look on that girl’s face. Good old Trav yells out, ‘Come with us. Screw those stuck up bitches.’

“The teacher showed up just in time to hear that and to haul Trav off to the principal’s office. Trav didn’t seem to get in much trouble and before long that teacher approached every kid in small groups and talked to us about being good to that girl. Things got better for her after that. I remember a popular girl named Shirley Wingert kind of taking that girl under her wing.

“I remember that incident and I wish I would have been the kid who stood up for that girl. I was too slow to think of it and I wouldn’t have had the guts. Trav had the guts.”

A couple more people told Trav stories and then when no one knew stood up, the minister stood and said, let’s close with a final speaker.

A pretty lady stood and wiped her teary face with a purple bandana. “My name is Toni Hernandez. I did not know Trav Erbeck, but it’s my little girl he saved. My Marisol. She’s not here tonight. She feels so, so bad that Mr. Erlbeck died saving her life. She’s a good girl, my Marisol. And thanks to Trav she can have a good life. I am so thankful to Trav and to all of you here tonight. God bless Trav Erlbeck and God bless you all.”

I think Trav would think what he did was worth the price he paid.

Even though I have only made 2 CBGs so far, I am somehow bolstered enough to want to try the electric version.  Is there anything I need to know that I might be overlooking?  I mean...it seems pretty simple to me, so I pretty much figure I'm leaving something out, lol.  Anyone that wants to chime in with advice or let me in on any mistakes I can avoid, your experience is MOST welcome!

The first ever chicago cigar box festival is coming on november 10! get details here http://rootsriot.com/Chicago_CBG_Fest.html

I am working on CGG #1.  The neck is almost ready to go and the box has its notches cut.  It may be able to make music by the end of the week.  I am getting excited.

My article on how to make a uke'n'paddle got front page treatment on Duckworks boating magazine.

link to artical on Uke'n' paddle

I have no musical training or ability, but the thought is interesting and maybe possible via the cigar box guitar.

A standard 5 string banjo is often tuned to Open G (gDgbd). Disregarding the high drone g string, using a 4 string CBG, I usually use Dgbd tuning (CD 5). This is also the highest strings of the full 6 string tuning on guitar for Open G - DGDgbd (CD 2).

This banjo simply reduces the standard banjo tuning down by elimating the two highest strings. gDgbd into gDg. I use this GDg tuning on 3 string CBG too (CD 4). The only difference is the (banjo) tone created by having a high drone g instead of a lower g on CBG.

(Note: I am tuned up a full step to aEa on this banjo. Due to the fact the relationships between the strings are staying the same, all the finger positions will be the same.) A fundamental understanding of musical theory can go a long way to seeing the various possibilities of playing in different keys. (CD 7)

In a future video, I will present a more traditional approach by alternating the high drone a and E strings while playing a melody line on the first a string. Keep in mind, 5 string banjos are usually fingerpicked (Earl Scruggs 3 finger style) or use the claw hammer method. 4 string tenor or plectrum banjos are played with a flat pick.

Another interesting possibility would be an altered 4 string banjo. A high g drone and Dgb. Dgb is the same string relationship from the major scale (513) as the ADf# tuning I use on CD 6 for 3 string CBG. Using the movable chord method that this tuning offers could make for a very versatile instrument. (Note: This instrument could be tuned up a whole step to aEac# and all the fingering positions would remain the same.)

Enjoy your practice. http://youtu.be/o8PKhCCcA44

Well, here it is. There wasn't much more to do after part 2, just string it up and close up the box with screws. I did make a higher nut to raise the strings a bit and get them parallel to the neck. I had planned to build an amp with one of CB Gitty's kits, but it sounds so good acoustic, I'm going to put that off for another day.

Let's play the blues again...

Si il est vrai que l'on peut jouer tous les genres musicaux sur une CBG, c'est tout de même le Blues qui lui convient bien si ce n'est le mieux.

Pour inspiration il y a bien entendu des centaines de disques ou CDs à se procurer selon ses préférences car le Blues a plusieurs visages: Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Chicago Blues, Country Blues, Blues Rock, etc. Difficile d'en faire une liste exhaustive et définitive et difficile de tout se procurer.

Radio gaga Blues

Heureusement il y a les radios Blues qui diffusent non stop notre musique préférée. Voici une première liste de celles recensées sur les ondes et la toile:

• Blues Web Radio W3 blues Radio est la première radio blues française, du blues 24h /24 et 7j /7.
• Jazz Radio - Blues  Le meilleur du blues sélectionné par Jazz Radio.
• Le Collectif des Radios Blues francophones (CRB) réunit une cinquantaine d'animateurs en France, Belgique, Québec et Afrique, autour de l'idée d'échanger autour du blues et de sa diffusion sur les ondes.
  
• fr.Delicast est un  répertoire de radio blues à travers le monde.
  
• Blues radio UK est comme son nom l'indique une radio web blues anglaise
  
• Live 365 est une autre point de découverte de plusieurs radio blues
  

• Shoutcast Radio Directory recense les radios de la toile par genre et donc le Blues est bien entendu présent avec des radios classifiées en sous genre : Accoustic Blues, Zydeco & Cajun, Chicago Blues, Contemporary Blues, Country Blues, Delta Blues, Electric Blues. Mes coups de coeurs:
  

1. KOQX Radio Blues
2. GotRadio - Bit 'O Blues
3. BellyUp4Blues - The Only Ass Kicking Blues Radio
4. Radio Derf Blues Delta

          A vous de faire votre propre marché.

A suivre...

Écouter & enregistrer

          Il existe des centaines de lecteurs audio suivant votre type de machine (Windows, Linux ou Mac - téléphone ou tablette) et autant de logiciels pour enregistrer ce que vous écoutez. Voici quelques pistes

1. Pour Mac iTunes est le player (gratuit) de référence et peut être couplé à des logiciels (payants ou gratuits) comme TuneIn, fstream, etc.
   
2. Pour Windows il y a parmi d'autres Winamp que l'on ne présente plus couplé à Streamripper pour enregistrer en direct les fluxs de vos radios préférées.
   
3. Pour Linux il y a l'embarras du choix (gratuit pour tout), pour ma part j'ai choisi Radio Tray couplé à Streamripper.
   

A suivre...

I want to make a strumstick out of my old electric guitar. How do I go about doing that

Ou trouver des pièces des éléments nécessaires  pour la constructions de nos CBG?

L'un des gros pourvoyeurs est notre hôte C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply. Des manches en passant par les micros, les frettes, les chevalets, etc, on peut trouver tout ce qu'il faut pour construire des CBG dignes de ce nom. Seulement voilà, c'est aux USA donc loin, et les ports + frais de douanes peuvent être en fonction des commandes: conséquents,  tout comme les délais de livraison. La solution "nationale" ou "européenne" (sans être protectionniste) peut être alors une bonne solution à envisager pour trouver des pièces surtout en petite quantité.

Ce qui suit est un catalogue non exhaustif par catégories et aussi par thèmes de recherches et qui je l’espère rendra services et grossira grace à vos propres contributions.

Manche

Difficile de faire une CBG sans au moins un manche! Voici quelques pistes:

• Blues Guitares Une boutique à Paris spécialisée dans la CBG. on y trouve toutes les pièces et bien entendu des manches frettés ou non de 45 à 75 euros (vente en ligne possible)

• Toujours pour les parisiens le "quartier des guitares" (plutôt électriques mais sans oublier les sonos, pédales et autres instruments...) entre le Métro Blanche et Pigalle (dans le triangle constitué par le Bd de Clichy, la rue de Douai et la rue Victor Massé sans oublier toutes les rues adjacentes et parallèles) ou le "quartier des luthiers" rue de Rome et rue adjacentes sont de véritables Mecque. Il faut se déplacer et chercher la bonne affaire. Beaucoup de ces boutiques offrent des services de vente en ligne. Consulter les pages jaunes et la toile.
  

• Les sites de ventes en ligne comme eBay, leboncoin ou encore PriceMinister offrent de belles opportunités sur les manches de guitares électriques mais ils sont généralement pour des 6 cordes.
  

Pourquoi ne pas alors construire son manche? Si vous êtes bricoleurs et avec un minimum d'outillage, construire son manche sur mesure peut être, non est, une aventure et à la portée de toutes et tous. Surtout que les CBG ne sont pas difficiles en matière de "manche".

• Le plus simple, le manche à balai pour les "One" et "Two " voire" Three String". N'importe quelle grandes surfaces en vends, mais les meilleur sont ceux des grandes surfaces de bricolage ou de jardinage comme Truffaut, Jardiland, etc, destinés aux râteaux ou balai d’extérieur, binettes,et autres outils, car généralement en hêtre (un bois dur).
  

• Toujours dans les grandes surfaces de bricolage type Leroy Merlin, Bricorama, Castorama, Mr Bricolage etc, les tasseaux,  planches et autres ramins en bois tendres (pin, sapin généralement) ou durs (chêne, hêtre, bois exotiques). Si vous possédez un coin atelier et une scie circulaire stationnaire ou non, et/ou une scie à ruban vous pouvez découper vos planches, poutres, de bois durs à la mesure. Si vous avez un tout petit espace de bricolage et peu d'outils,  Orville Grant sur son site http://www.cigarboxguitar.fr à montré comme faire du "lamellé collé" avec des tasseaux et des ramins en pin plus faciles à travailler (ou en bois durs pour ce type de profilé de bois c'est facile) avec le strict minimum.

• Négociants en bois - menuisiers ébénistes - Scieries. Une recherche dans les pages jaunes de votre département vous donnera une multitude d'adresses de professionnels à contacter. S'il n'ont pas ce que vous recherchez demandez leur ou le trouver, ils sont toujours de bon conseils. Ici ont peut trouver toute sorte de bois du local à l'exotique, brut ou rabotés et en différentes coupes (planche, poutre, tasseau) la difficulté va être d'acheter des petites quantités et petites largeurs ou longueurs qui n'intéressent pas forcément ces marchands.
  

• Bois de lutherie. Pages jaunes là aussi et internet ou on trouve pas mal de références sur des marchands spécialisés en bois de lutherie. Les essences locales et courantes sont aussi bien représentées que les exotiques (et surtout moins chères) .
  

• Bois de meuble. Et pourquoi pas! On peut trouver de belles choses en bois noble à scier, de la table en chêne ou un pied de chaise en châtaignier, chez Emmaüs, les brocantes et vides greniers et journées des encombrants (voir avec votre mairie les dates de ramassage). Il faut juste être prêt et le premier! ;0)

• A éviter: couper des palettes de manutention pour en faire des manches. Ces bois sont imprégnés de produits hautement toxiques pour résister au pourrissement. En les sciant vous dégagerez des poussières pas du tout sympas pour la santé.

Boites

• Boites à cigares: premier réflexe demander aux débits de tabacs et marchand de cigares. Problème il y a des collectionneur de boites (les boxophiles!) que cela intéresse aussi et depuis l'explosion des CBG un commerce apparemment lucratif des boites de cigares donc paradoxalement ce qui était la matière première et gratuite  du pauvre joueur de CBG dans le temps devient de nos jours la partie la plus chère à obtenir! On peut toujours essayer les sites de ventes en ligne comme ebay, leboncoin, PriceMinister et autres.
  

• Boite déco: une alternative aux boites à cigares. Souvent similaires en taille, épaisseur elles sont faites en pin et ne résonneront peut être pas de la même manière. Mais elles sont accessibles et à petits prix (de 6 à moins de 10€). On peut les acheter dans les boutiques de loisirs créatifs de type Cultura, Loisirs & Créations ou en ligne dans des boutiques virtuelles (mots clés: boite à décorer, boite en bois déco, etc).
  

• Autres boites: coffret pour bouteille, boite de rangement, coffret pour peintre, la liste est longue et n'est limitée que pas votre imagination en la matière. Ces boites sont généralement de bonne facture mais plus épaisses qu'une boite de cigare traditionnelle qui fait entre 4 et 5mm d'épaisseur généralement. Une recherche chez les cavistes, marchands de fournitures d'art, et magasins déco est une bonne piste. A voir aussi les fabricants de boites bois comme Box ou Marotte (ce dernier fabrique les boites des cigares Montecristo!) il y en a d'autres bien entendu.
  

Électronique

Composants électroniques divers pour votre CBG en ligne (aimants, piezo, prises jacks, etc).

• Conrad  (une boutique en dur à Lille)
• St Quentin Radio (une boutique en dur à Paris)
  
• Selectronic (une boutique en dur à Paris et Lille)
  

Liste non exhaustives - taper en mots clés composants électroniques dans votre fureteur favori vous donnera des centaines d'adresses souvent prés de chez vous comme des marchands en ligne (des fois les mêmes!). Ensuite toutes les boutiques ne possèdent pas forcément les mêmes types de composants, c'est vrai pour les micro piezo ou les aimants Alnico par exemple que vous ne trouverez pas partout. J'étofferai la liste en fonctions des composants au fur et à mesure de mes recherches et des vôtres!

Éléments de guitare

La plupart des boutiques ayant pignon sur rue ont généralement une boutique sur la toile (voir ci-haut), sinon il existe plein de boutiques ou de vendeurs purement virtuels qui méritent le détour:

ebay.fr incontournable on y trouve des vendeurs individuels et des boutiques qui vendent des pièces pour guitares soit aux enchères ou en achat immédiat. Voici quelques boutiques sélectionnées:

• Blues Feeling Shop une boutique française avec des prix tout doux
  
• Guitar Warehouse une boutique irlandaise (port gratuit)
  
• Music Center une boutique française
  

Steward MacDonald un autre grand nom US des pièces pour guitares et luthiers

Thomann pas mal de pièces chez ce généraliste de la musique surtout les mécaniques

Guitar'n'Blues une véritable caverne d'Ali Baba. C'est une boutique, un blog, un lieu pleins de tutoriels et astuces bref plus qu'une simple plate-forme de vente - à voir -

Priceminister et le Bon Coin à consulter de temps à autre il peut y avoir de bonnes occasion (dans les 2 sens du terme) à saisir

Outillage

Quelques considérations sur l'outillage. Il ne faut pas un outillage de pointe pour fabriquer une CBG. De simples outils manuels de base: scie, marteau, maillet, un jeu de tournevis et de râpes, chignole, étau, suffisent. Un petit outillage électroportatif de base aussi: perceuse, ponceuse, scie sauteuse, peut aussi aider mais n'est pas indispensable. Rajoutez un établi pliable, une règle, une équerre de la colle à bois quelques vis et pointes et vous pouvez dans un espace même restreint fabriquer votre CBG.

Simples outils par contre ne signifie pas outils au rabais, il ne faut pas négliger la qualité sinon vous allez la payer au prix fort et souvent cela peut aussi s'avérer dangereux. Sans mettre 135€ dans un jeu de tournevis de précision si vous devez acheter de l'outillage et si votre budget n'est pas celui d'un professionnel (fortuné) la règle: "pas le moins cher, pas le plus cher mais entre les deux et surtout pas de chinoiseries." est sainement applicable. Ce qui vous permettra d'acheter des outils à valeur ajoutée indispensable et qui vous dureront toute une vie, voir une autre si vous les léguez à vos enfants. C'est d'autant plus vrai si vous ne les utilisez occasionnellement en hobbyiste du week-end. Si vous passez en catégorie "pro" ou "semi-pro" il faudra alors investir.

Ou acheter et quoi?

• Les grandes surfaces de bricolage comme Leroy Merlin, Mr Bricolage, Castorama, Bricorama et autres couvrent bien le territoire national et sont idéales pour l'outillage de base comme l'éléctroportatif. Certaines possèdent  leurs propres marques ou des accords avec des fabricants qui leurs fabriquent des outils moyenne gamme sans une fourchette de prix raisonnables et qui suffisent généralement. Ces enseignes vendent en ligne comme dans des magasins ayant pignon sur rue et éditent des catalogues consultables sur la toile. De quoi comparer les prix et les caractéristiques des outils.
  

• Les grandes surfaces généralistes type Leclerc, Cora, Auchan, Carrefour, etc, ont un rayon outillages plus ou moins bien achalandé et propose tout au long de l'année des opérations "foire aux prix" ou "foire à l'outillage". A noter que les grandes surfaces de bricolage et les les grandes surfaces généralistes proviennent souvent d'un même groupe ou société. Donc on retrouve souvent les mêmes outils mais des fois avec des baisses conséquentes de prix d'une enseigne à l'autre. Voir d'un département à un autre! 
  

• Les magasins hard discount Aldi et Lidl proposent des journée à "thèmes" au long des mois dont certaines centrées sur l'outillage. Il y a de très bonnes affaires  à saisir sur de l'outillage de base et du petit électroportatif à petit prix et de "Kolossal" qualité Made in Germany (en fait souvent "Made in China "mais avec la "Germany Quality" ;0).
  

•  Les boutiques en lignes. Débarrassées des caisses et des parkings ce sont de vastes entrepôts d’où partent des colis d'outillage par centaines. Les prix sont donc vu à la baisse ces enseignes ayant des frais de gestion moins élevés. Citons (entres autres) Decoreno, Outillage-Online, Outy-Store, etc. Il y a des centaines d'enseigne à vous de comparer les prix avec les frais de livraison, et ce qu'en disent les clients.
  

Quid de l'outillage spécialisé?

Hormis les Canjo ou Canbox, les CBG sont généralement en bois et se travaillent comme de vrais guitares, un outillage de menuisier et/ou de luthier peut pour certaines parties être, non pas nécessaire mais avantageux. On s'attaque ici à de l'outillage spécialisé voir haut de gamme et donc cher.

• Outils bois : Je ne donne ici que quelques enseignes HM Diffusion, Bordet, une recherche sur la toile vous en donnera bien d'autres. Ici encore comparez et bien car souvent des ensiegnes possèdent leurs propres enseignes discount ou sont vendu des modèles d'outils similaires mais à des prix plus bas. C'est le cas de HM Diffusion, qui diffuse aussi sous l'enseigne Arondia
  

• Outils de luthier : Quelques boutiques Luthier Online, eLuth, Gaignard Millon, Luthimate, comme précédemment une recherche sur internet vous donnera pleins de piste à explorer.
  

• Outils de maquettiste : Intéressant pour les "petites choses" à fixer, couper, scier, coller dans des endroits minuscules. Outillage idéal pour ce genre de tâches. Citons: Multirex entres beaucoup d'autres à chercher.
  

On peut se référer aux avis sur internet d'utilisateurs plus avertis comme ceux de http://www.lescopeaux.asso.fr/ ou encore ceux de http://www.metabricoleur.com/  mais attention leur niveau d'exigence n'est peut être pas adapté à celui du hobbyiste et du fabricant occasionnel de CBG. Eux ils sont dans le millionième de millimètre  en précision et construisent des salles à manger, des bateaux ou des maisons bois. Ce n'est pas du tout la même cour. Mais leurs avis est toujours précieux et frappé au coin du bon sens comme celui de: "Si ça coupe, ça troue, et ça soude m'est-y le prix ou tu auras vite 3 doigts, un œil et une vie en moins!" Faire des économies peut coûter cher au final.

Fabriquer ses outils spécialisés

Les sites précités aussi donne des conseils pour réaliser sa propre table de sciage ou de défonçeuse. Une solution économique et surtout adaptée à l'espace que vous avez pour travailler. J'y songe sérieusement. Un vieux bureau me servant actuellement d'établi pouvant se transformer en table de sciage. Les outils anciens et manuel surtout une scie à chantourner peut aussi être construite à partir d'un simple.. vélo ou d'une vielle machine à coudre (voir ancien modèle ci-bas). Une solution économique et abordable.

Au delà de la fabrications d'outils "lourds" ou à base d'électroportatif il y aussi les outils astucieux destinés à nous faciliter la vie. Ce sera le sujet d'un nouveau chapitre à venir...

A suivre

Quelques liens:

CBG Tools -- Set Up Your Shop (en anglais)

L'atelier et l'outillage "idéal" de CBG selon  TotalRojo Guitars

Well, I've had some problems. I ruined my first neck, rounding over the wrong edge. I started again, this time with maple. It's pretty much the same design. I got all the shaping done and hit it with a couple of coats of rattlecan lacquer. It's not apparent here, but the maple just looks fantastic when the lacquer hits it.
Starting the box work now. Sound holes, and holes for the jack and pickup. If you want to drill a smaller hole centered on a bigger one, and you really want it centered, don't eyeball it - measure it.
I'm using a rod piezo pickup. Here's the hickory blank for the bridge. You can see the slot for the pickup.

A couple of passes with a 3/8" roundnose bit and I had an "H" shaped section. Rip that in half on the tablesaw, bevel the ends, and I have a bridge.

Installing the tuners here. They're Grover vintage style. It occurs to me that the spacing looks pretty generous.

The nut is also hickory.

Almost there!

I recently was with a group with the State of TN starting a new initiative. After a week long series of training was over we were to make an Action Plan for our District.

Right off the bat someone in my group shouted "I'm really interested in  [such and such]. I thought "really, that is a project, not a process; it has nothing to do with an Action Plan". A plan was to help state agencies work together to prepare clients to be received by non-profit orginizations so they could finalize sucessful reentry for these people into society.

Well we ended up selecting three projects - but no cohesive plan emerged. No wonder the State does not work any better than it does. There really was no cohesivenness between these three projects though all were great stand alone and excellent outcomes. Yes they were needed items of business that may have been goals of a plan, but they now had scuttled the chance to form a process that moved agency through agency into the non-profit orginazations to provide seemless service.

I look at my last build. I wanted to build a certain way, build a four stringer, fretless, and had some design features I wanted to try. The results was pretty good. Then I look at the really good stuff on the Net. Why doesn't mine look and sound like that? It dawned on me. I put a lot of projects together. I want a fret board like that, the box/neck connection like that, this number of strings so the neck needs to be this wide, this many pickups so lets find a schematic, need sound holes these look snazzy, borrow them, and then mix it together and after all these projects get done I should have a CBG.

Is that really making an action plan before we start building  -  just asking?  Any opinions? If we are aiming to build that CBG with the greatest appeal soundwise, appearance wise, and playability wise: what does a real CBG building plan to produce quality in appearance, playability, and sound look like? What should we have in place, how much should we prepared in what areas, what is it important to have precicely worked out before even starting, how organic can we allow ourselves to be and in what areas? Where can we be sloppy and where must we be right to that silly millimeter?

Opinions, experience, your personal process or preferance, feedback, referances, any contribution welcome!

Don't know if it's just me, or some kind of twist in the cosmic fabric. I built my first instrument, a Cookie Tin Guitar back in March of this year and have since finished eight more. Four canjos, built for the fun of building them, (two of them ended up being given away as birthday presents starting a fun tradition) and four CBGs, (two wood boxes and two paper boxes) because I love the sounds they make and each box seems to have it's own personality.

My last one, the "Junkyard Dog", is my traveling CBG, built out of some old junk wood I had laying out in the yard for two years and a Partagas Gigante box with the idea that I can throw it in the back seat and take it along anywhere and not worry about it getting beat up. Turns out it is the best sounding one that I have built so far and I'm learning (or it's teaching me) to play it now where it almost sounds like I know what I'm doing.

So far in my path to "collecting the whole set" as I tell my friends, I have yet to buy a box and they keep coming to me faster than I can build. Not complaining and loving the variety I have to work with. I have just started build #10, a pretty nice old cedar box given to me by an old friend who gave me the wood box for my 5th build. A while later a friendly local beer, wine, booze and cigar merchant gave me two boxes, a paper Macanudo box that I built for a musician friend as a retirement present when he left his job as a teacher and the Partagas Gigante that became build #9.

Along the way an old school buddy that lives in Nevada sent me a Rolando Reyes Sr. Viejo Presidente box that he found in a yard sale, my wife added a Santa Fe Corona Grande box that she has had for over 50 years to hold her sewing supplies, another friend gave me three large Cookie Tins, two friends have donated wine boxes for future builds, I have collected an assortment of nice cans and a giant Zippo replica for the canjo builds and today my friendly beer, wine, booze and cigar merchant gave me another lovely Partagas Gigante box and a small but beautiful Arturo Fuente Cuban Corona box.

It seems like I get two boxes for every one that I build and the more I build these things, the more I love them.

I started building CBGs for the joy of making my own music and something fun to do in my retirement when I can't afford to feed the expensive hobbies and it's really turned into so much more. Each build brings a chance to try something new, be a little artistic in my concept and have the fun of having it speak for the first time under my clumsy direction.

As an added bonus I have had the joy of hearing three of my builds played on stage by skilled musicians which really brought a smile to my face and gives incentive to keep on building and learning how to play them myself.

As my signature line goes on another site, "Life is good on the lunatic fringe". I guess I'll never look at a box again without wondering what it will sound like and I know that when I see some of the builds being done around here I think "I have to build one of those to add to my collection".

Sorry for the long winded ramble, just had a case of the "glad I found this hobby" feelings today and had to share. :)>

While another woodworking project had been occupying my bench, I began to learn more about what not to do than anything else.  I decide to ask around at some local hobby shops for some advice and came up pretty much empty.  What I DID find yesterday was an amazing new shop in town that is for nothing BUT woodworking!  Holy snappin' crap, what I never knew! LOL.  I spent at least 2 hours in there talking to the attendants and discussing all things wood/guitar/oil/paint/stain/tools/kits/veneers, lol.  This discovery could really turn me into a craftsman :)  I hope the wallet doesn't spontaneously combust with all the activity...

As a side note:  I found a bargain bin with some very choice pieces of stock for $1 each, no matter type, size, or shape.  So I grabbed some nice red oak, a couple neck blank sized chunks of maple, and some gorgeous (possibly fingerboard veneer material) Brazilian rosewood, black walnut, and mahogany!!!

Oh, the possibilities...