Hey everyone. I'm new to this site so I thought I'd let you know about my myspace page. It's got some originals I've been working on lately - only one song with Cigar Box so far but there's gonna be more to come! Anyway, check it out at www.myspace.com/stevetyssen
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As a kid, I was always looking for a piece of wood to whittle or drive a nail into. I was always tinkering and creating something, be it a birdhouse or a drum, a tree fort or a walking stick. I loved to experiment with wood, and that drive to create never ceased or even slowed as I grew older.I grew up in a musical family. My parents played nightclubs in the northeastern US for a living, so it was natural at some point for me to pick up an instrument. I began playing bass at 11, and when I was about 17, I heard Jaco Pastorius for the first time on the Heavy Weather Album. At the time, I was playing a 1963 pre CBS Fender P-bass. I noticed that Jaco had plucked the frets out of his fender, and decided that I wanted to learn to play fretless bass. I subsequently plucked the frets out of my bass, (If I had known what that bass would be worth today, I NEVER would have done It.) and being that hindsight is 2020, and because I did not have another bass, I was forced to learn what the word intonation really meant. After hacking on the thing for awhile, (I’m sure those around me were being more than kind for not giving up on me) I began to develop my own style.In the meantime, I got married to my wonderful wife, and began to raise a family.I never stopped playing, and to date, I have now been playing fretless bass for 30 years.I never lost the desire to create with wood, and because of the lack of quality fretless basses on the market, I began building my own instruments. What I began chiefly to satisfy myself has blossomed into a passion to build great fretless basses, in hopes that others will find as much pleasure playing them as I find building them.Now, concerning the Sipsey River Steel, that was a complete accident. It all started in the summer of 2008. Me and my son threw the flat bottom boat in the back of my truck and decided to take a day trip to west Alabama. In our travels that day, we stopped at the Sipsey River and motored our way upstream. We were just out for a ride, and enjoying ourselves thoroughly. We came to an area where there were a lot of cypress trees, and a farmer had cut a path through a pile of cypress knees to allow his cows to reach the river to drink. I thought the knees looked pretty neat, and being who I am, figured that I could make something out of them later, so we threw a few in the boat.They laid around the shop for months, and I actually thought about throwing them out on several occasions. In the meantime, my brother kept asking me to build him a lap steel out of some walnut that I had in the shop, and on a whim, I decided to try and build one out of the cypress knees. The rest is history. My love for tinkering with wood coupled with my brother’s persistence to build him a lap steel, is responsible the Sipsey Steel.I love to build instruments. Unique instruments. Unique fretless instruments. It’s my passion.Jack Dudley
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I'll be doing some more gadgetry after I finish my first cigarbox guitar and as soon as I'm done with my dissertation.Only problem now is I won't be able to clean out any old garbage without reprimands from my better half who is even more of a pack-rat than I am!And thanks again :-)
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Its the weekend before memorial Day and I built as many 1 stringers as I could for this weekend.I brought a total of 7 Didely Bows and 2 3 stringers.I sold all the 1 stringers I had of the wood type Cigar box and 1 of the 3 stringers.For the last couple of weekends I have noticed a trend in my area.Paint it RED and its as good as sold,,,,,,.2 of the 1 stringers I painted RED ,1 with a matching red neck and 1 with a wood grain neck.The ALL RED DB was the 1st to go out the door.the other was sold this afternoon.My total for the weekend was,8 DB's1 3I think this week will be a busy workshop week in between working my REAL job and trying to stay ahead of the demand.I also added a new tool for my sales pitch, I now use my laptop on the table turned so customers can see a constant slide show of old instruments while I explain some of the history of the CBG.The public is FASCINATED with this CBG thing.and like they say ,"a picture is worth a 1000, words!"
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Photos of the amp-project is up with small descriptions and a link to where I got the plans.So this is my first project finished for cigar box nation and also the first project I've done in a long time.Last time I did some soldering of this type was to fix a neglected old fuzz/wahwah pedal from Colorsound that needed some pot-changes and added a 9 volt battery holder to it. Sounds awesome!
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Finished the soldering two days ago, added the built in speaker to the mono-out breaker so when it's plugged to a speaker cabinet, the internal speaker turns off.I was looking for something to build it into but couldn't find any plastic or metal boxes that would fit the small speaker I had. But then I found a magic 8 ball that had too little fluid left in it to work and the hole looked big enough for the speaker to work without modification.How to disassemble a magic 8 ball:* Hammer to the little window, pour out the fluid, rinse and repeat.* Break stuff up inside with needle nose pliers, knives, hammers and such. Then and pull out shrapnel.* Crack the glue on the screw thread.Turned out great! Gonna post some pictures tomorrow if I can get my camera working.
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So this weekend, I'll have my tuners and will _finally_ finish my first CBG. I have strung it up, but with eyebolts and it cannot hold a tune. So I've bought some tuners and we'll see.
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Here is number 3 in my "beginner series" of CBGs. I shortened the neck so the scale will be 24.5, but I think I am leaving it as fretless for now. The next one I make will be fretted.
I added a new song I made up last week on my new 4 string CBG, just finished it today. A little rough as far as the electronics , I need to find a nice 4 pole pup for the guitar then I could really rock. The piezo is not bad but would really like a better pup for it. Anybody getting rid of one let me know.
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Posted by Roger Martin on April 26, 2009 at 10:55am
My Co. name has been Raging Rog Banjo Co. for over a year now,,,,,,,But when the economy shut down the banjo biznssss shut down too. But its a good thing because I really didnt enjoy building banjos as much as I thought I would.When I built my 1st CBG now THAT I enjoyed!!!!!!!!!So, as of this week my new lil biznsssssss is now called ,,,,,,,," YES YOU CAN!"My sign sits beside my table set up I use at the shop to display and play on.People come up and say " yes I can what"?Then I say "yes you can play a 1 string Didley Bow and we're off to the races.I show them how to do a simple blues very basic run,,,,, when they see THEY CAN do it, I just collect the money, and wait for the next customer.We sold 2 just finished 1 stringers SAt afternoon, these 2 began life as 1 box that I ripped down and made 2 boxes out of it.I also sold the newest 3 string CBG with the "PUNCH red box .They liked that its lectric and set up so you can slide it or fret it too if you choose too.The action is tick too high for really getting down on fretting but its do able.I got a quick $175 for that one.Now I'm trying to find the time to build these things a bit faster , my time is limited due to my wifes illness's,so my lil 1 man factory dont churn out like I'd like too.MAN! I like this square guitar thing!Hmmmmmm square guitar,,,,,,,,,,,,,maybe a sign that says "BE a SQUARE join the 4 corner revolution!!!!!!!!"
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So the more I looked at the area where the strings would touch the top of the box, the more I didn't like it. So, I decided to add a fingerboard and see what happened. I found some 1/4 inch red oak and poplar at the Home Depot that were perfect for the job. The 1/4 inch was just enough to raise the fingerboard high enough to make it more playable and resolve the problem with the strings touching the box.I used the poplar, thinking that it would give the overall look some contrast. I tried to use the red oak stain, but all it did was turn the poplar brown. It does not look like I wanted it to, but better luck next time.I stopped by my local music store and got a piece of bone for the nut and bridge, cut 'em, slotted 'em, and mounted 'em.My buddy came by and we gave it a whirl. He seems to think it plays pretty well. He plays in a band, so he took it with him to their practice and was going to have some of his bandmates try it out with a real amp.I am ready to start on my next CBG, using what I have learned from this one. The next one should be a lot better! (I hope)
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Well, I finished up the first prototype CBG. I still need to put a permanent bridge and nut on it, but I have a friend coming over who plays guitar to check it out and make suggestions as needed. Once we get the action figured out, I will replace the bridge and nut with permanent ones and glue them down.I did notice that if I play a note much farther than about halfway up the neck, the strings will hit the edge of the cigar box lid. I moved the bridge around a bit to eliminate some of it, but they still touch the lid a bit.The next one I make (soon), I will cut relief areas on the neck so the neck and the lid are mostly flush, or maybe the neck will sit a bit higher than the lid.This first one was definitely a learning experience. But, all things considered, it did not turn out too bad, seeing as it was my first attempt. The next one will be far better.Thanks to all for their suggestions.
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"Songs Inside The Box," the cigar box guitar documentary will be shown twice during the On Location: Memphis International Film Festival. It will open a special block of film for seniors on Friday, April 24th at 12:30 and it will also be shown on Saturday, April 25th at 5:00 p.m. Johnny Lowebow, a Memphis cigar box guitar builder and musician will be present for both screenings to show off some of his instruments and play some of his music. The festival will take place at Malco's Ridgeway Four (5853 Ridgeway Center Parkway Memphis, TN 38120). I'll be there for the Saturday screening.For more information:http://www.onlocationmemphis.orghttp://www.songsinsidethebox.comRead more…
As I started dry assembling my CBG, I found some of my mistakes. I mis-measured the length of the neck that needs to fit inside the box, so my holes and rivets for the strings were now in the wrong place. It would have worked, but I didn't like the way it looked. I re-measured (thanks Bob Vila, measure twice, cut once) and re-drilled the holes. This actually worked out OK because when I drilled the first set of holes, I hand drilled them since I don't have a drill press. (got to get one soon) When the holes came out the other side of the 1x2, they were not lined up straight with the other holes. Since the new, re-measured and drilled holes now have the old holes inside the box, it is not noticeable unless you open the box up.I found a nick in the wire I used for the jack and transducer, so I re-wired that and re-installed it.Once the neck is dry and it is ready to string, I will tackle the bridge and nut issue and see what I end up with. My buddy is coming over tomorrow night to have a peek, so between us we should be able to make it playable.More to follow...
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Awesome! I just bought my brother a Fender American Strat. He's been a Gibson player all his life. He got into acoustics and got a Tak and a Martin. I think now is the time for a new addition to the guitar collection.
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I paid a visit to Ace Hardware for some supplies. I found that I could use some pop rivets (Part # 2014041, 1/8") and knock the pins out of them. If I take 2 of the remaining sleeves, I can put them into the string holes on the bottom of the neck, one from the top, and one from the bottom. They are just long enough to meet in the middle of the 1x2 neck piece. I can feed the string up from the bottom and the sleeves will protect the wood from the strings while being played.The decorative sound holes are 1/2 inch brass grommets, (General, part # 1261-4) and you get 24 of them for 5 bucks.The 1/4 inch phone jack I got is not long enough for the thickness of the side of the box, so I need to find ones that have a longer shaft on them.** Actually, I just decided that the easiest way to do this is to relieve the wood from the inside of the box with my Dremel tool to make room for the jack. This should be done as soon as the batteries in my Dremel get recharged.I hope to have this prototype up and ready to play by this weekend, next week at the latest.
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