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My first Diddley Bow... in a lunch box

Posted by Dirty Roger on November 11, 2010 at 6:37pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Made this earlier today... been tut pub so only just had the chance to post pics!

Found this build a lot of fun, was able to build this better than my last build as i did not make the same mistakes, but I still a lot to learn and need to move away from tin and make a real Cigar Box Guitar. Got a decent sized wooden box today so will be making one this weekend.

So here it is, a 15 year old G.I Joe lunch box, 1"x1" hardwood, bone nut, wooden bridge and a piezo transducer pickup. It squeals like a bitch when i play it loud so will have to play about with the piezo or put a magnetic pickup it it at some point.

It doesn't play slide very well so may raise the action a tad but i like it at the moment just need to get the feel for it :) I'm trying to post a video but youtube is being a slag and taking an age to process my video x

OK you tube being less of a slag now, sorry about the song was improvised ;)

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Replies

Tommy November 22, 2010 at 3:50am

cool looking build. Like the GI Joe box ! Keep em comming
Dirty Roger November 17, 2010 at 1:18pm

Yeah the action is to low to play with a slide, but it sounds mean like this

Mark aka. Junk Box Instruments said:
Nice work. Love the idea of a guitar with it's own carrying handle. The action looks pretty reasonable to me so I'd say stick with it. When I started out I thought I needed a really high action to be able to play slide but with practice I can now manage with something quite low - tho' I guess you might need it higher if you want to play with some welly.
Mark November 16, 2010 at 3:27pm

Nice work. Love the idea of a guitar with it's own carrying handle. The action looks pretty reasonable to me so I'd say stick with it. When I started out I thought I needed a really high action to be able to play slide but with practice I can now manage with something quite low - tho' I guess you might need it higher if you want to play with some welly.
Dirty Roger November 16, 2010 at 11:54am

Yeah the handle does rattle a little but i kinda like that, when you play your arm mostly dampens the handle so its not really an issue. You could always take the handle off or dampen with some tape.

Glad you like it!

Rand Moore said:
Hi Dirty Roger.

I was thinking of using a lunch box last summer, but rejected the idea because I felt the handle of the lunch box would rattle as you play it. I had a similar rattling problem when playing one of my CBGs with a shoulder strap on that wasn't being used. The metal clips of the shoulder strap would rattle on the eye bolt while I played the instrument. The cure was either to wear the shoulder strap or to remove it. Anyway, I was wondering if you had seen the same kind of rattling problem when you played your lunch box 1-stringer guitar?

-Rand.
Rand Moore November 16, 2010 at 4:52am

Hi Dirty Roger.

I was thinking of using a lunch box last summer, but rejected the idea because I felt the handle of the lunch box would rattle as you play it. I had a similar rattling problem when playing one of my CBGs with a shoulder strap on that wasn't being used. The metal clips of the shoulder strap would rattle on the eye bolt while I played the instrument. The cure was either to wear the shoulder strap or to remove it. Anyway, I was wondering if you had seen the same kind of rattling problem when you played your lunch box 1-stringer guitar?

-Rand.
MicCheckOne November 15, 2010 at 3:14pm

Yes! Dirty as hell. I can't wait to find a lunchbox now.
korruptus November 12, 2010 at 2:58pm

cool.
Dirty Roger November 12, 2010 at 8:37am

YeahDoIt said:
Maybe use a shell casing for a slide.

Great idea but not so easy to find around theae parts. Thanks
YeahDoIt November 12, 2010 at 8:17am

Maybe use a shell casing for a slide.
Dan Sleep November 11, 2010 at 8:34pm

LOL!!! Awesome!!