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Calling all Brits - introduce yourself here.

Hi all. Thought it would be nice to check in here if you're British. I know there's quite afew CBGers in the UK now because I've had quite a few emails from my blog. Time to come out of the woodwork and introduce yourself. How long have you been into CBGs? What got you started? What part of the UK do you live in? Do you know of any UK CBG events?

I'll kick it off. I'm David Ward (aka smojo) and live in West Yorkshire. Got into CBGs when I saw one on Ebay and bought it about 3 years ago. Started building and playing them. I have a blog going at

http://smojo-cigar-box-guitars.blogspot.com/ (sorry the hyperlink function doesn't seem to work)

Don't know of any events here yet but it would be cool if we could get one going sometime.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by smojo on April 22, 2010 at 1:25am

Welcome Carl, plenty of inspiration here to get you motivated. Have a look at the photos and videos, listen to some of the music that people have posted. CBGs are by no means restricted to bluesy stuff but they do lend themselves very well to it.

Permalink Reply by Mark on April 22, 2010 at 1:46am

Carl Robson said:

This springs to mind.

That's genius!

PS. I too have a great fondness for the Johnny Cash versions of Personal Jesus and Hurt

Permalink Reply by Ian Edwards on June 21, 2010 at 11:13am

Please allow me to introduce myself,

Built my first cigar box instrument yesterday. Took about three hours to put a playable uke together. Bit of a cheat perhaps in chopping up a cheapo uke for the neck and bridge, but to make amends I made the headstock real purdy. Take a look. Quite pleased with it. Got a few boxes on the way from ebay so reckon on having a go at a proper 3 string CBG next. Just need to get me some nice neck timber and find out where to get frets in the UK.
I play a bit of guitar and have been playing mandolin for about a year and a half, enjoying the odd bluegrass jam down the "Old Mo" in Brum. Also been known to play a bit of uke for fun at Moselele (The Moseley Ukelele Group). Next meeting I'll be showing off my CBU to my fellow ukenauts (a phrase I coined for intrepid explorers of the ukulele). They'll all be wanting one.

Cheers,
Ian

Permalink Reply by nick tyson on June 21, 2010 at 11:24am

hi All.
Live near grimsby, ne lincolnshire. Just found the site and only very recently been introduced to cbg by a mate.
want to learn to play and build them and as my left hand isnt great my mate sugessted slide blues and told me of this site.

Permalink Reply by Mark on June 22, 2010 at 2:06am

Hi there Ian and Nick and welcome to the forum.

Great looking uke Ian...and certainly not "cheating" at all - this is about doing what you can with what you happen to have.

Same goes for playing skills Nick, you don't need the manual dexterity of a Clapton or Hendrix, all you need is to find something that works for you and which you enjoy. I'm a rubbish guitarist despite 20 years of practice but with open tunings and a slide I can make a sound that feels flippin' fantastic.

Permalink Reply by nick tyson on June 22, 2010 at 9:02am

Thanks Mark looking forward to been able to do that as well.
Although at this rate i will probably have to end up making a box as i cant seem to locate one around here, lol such is life .

Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on June 22, 2010 at 7:12pm

Hi Ian

Let me know when the next Moselele meet is...haven't been to the Pat Kav for a while..but the Old Moseley is also not unknown to me...my tenuous connections with the Moseley jazz crew (Steve Ajao, Terry Clarke, Freddie Pirotta and other such talented reprobates) means I still get over that side of the city occasionally. By the way, I'm fronting up the monthly jam at the Crossropads Blues Club over in Cotteridge this Thursday..why not bring your uke and we'll get the house band behind you?!

Regards..Mr Chickenbone

Permalink Reply by Ian Edwards on June 27, 2010 at 11:23pm

Details of dates for the Bluegrass Jam down the Old Moseley Arms in Birmingham can be found here.
http://ukbluegrass.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=100&sid=ad...

The Moseley Ukelele Group - Moselele if you will meet every couple of weeks and details of that here.
http://www.moselele.co.uk/

Been a few weeks since I've been to either. I want to get down to both again but might not for a few weeks. Tell em I sent you if you do turn up.

Cheers,
Ian
ChickenboneJohn said:

Hi Ian

Let me know when the next Moselele meet is...haven't been to the Pat Kav for a while..but the Old Moseley is also not unknown to me...my tenuous connections with the Moseley jazz crew (Steve Ajao, Terry Clarke, Freddie Pirotta and other such talented reprobates) means I still get over that side of the city occasionally. By the way, I'm fronting up the monthly jam at the Crossropads Blues Club over in Cotteridge this Thursday..why not bring your uke and we'll get the house band behind you?!

Regards..Mr Chickenbone

Permalink Reply by dogfinger steve on July 5, 2010 at 10:28am

hi there fellow brits, i'm steve.
i live in east yorkshire, driffield just north of hull. am 43 i think n been playin guitar since i was 16. was in a goth band in the eighties which did fairly well in the indie charts n got a radio 1 session n then all went to rat poo. been in a few bands since and been writin me own stuff n playin folk festivals. then i saw a link on ebay for cigarboxnation in january n its been sleepless nights ever since. am up for playing anywhere, anytime n if anybodys puttin anythin together and wants some help, give me a shout. long live the nation :0)

Permalink Reply by Carl Robson on July 5, 2010 at 10:34am

Might I ask which band it was Steve?

dogfinger steve dodds said:

hi there fellow brits, i'm steve.
i live in east yorkshire, driffield just north of hull. am 43 i think n been playin guitar since i was 16. was in a goth band in the eighties which did fairly well in the indie charts n got a radio 1 session n then all went to rat poo. been in a few bands since and been writin me own stuff n playin folk festivals. then i saw a link on ebay for cigarboxnation in january n its been sleepless nights ever since. am up for playing anywhere, anytime n if anybodys puttin anythin together and wants some help, give me a shout. long live the nation :0)

Permalink Reply by Mark on July 5, 2010 at 8:47pm

I'm guessing the band was Stiff Kittens. I was sufficiently intrigued to put "Steve Dodds" "band" and "goth" into Google and I came up with BBC Humberside - Every Picture Tells a Story - Steve Dodds.

Interesting to see Harper mentioned in there. I became a big Harper fan in the 80s and went to quite a few of his gigs. I spent ages trying to work out how he was getting his sound. Finally discovering how he played "One Man Rock 'n' Roll Band" by tuning to DADGAD was a revelation and really opened my eyes to alterantive tunings.

If you're big into folk Steve I don't suppose you're going to Cambridge by any chance?

Carl Robson said:

Might I ask which band it was Steve?
dogfinger steve dodds said:
hi there fellow brits, i'm steve.
i live in east yorkshire, driffield just north of hull. am 43 i think n been playin guitar since i was 16. was in a goth band in the eighties which did fairly well in the indie charts n got a radio 1 session n then all went to rat poo. been in a few bands since and been writin me own stuff n playin folk festivals. then i saw a link on ebay for cigarboxnation in january n its been sleepless nights ever since. am up for playing anywhere, anytime n if anybodys puttin anythin together and wants some help, give me a shout. long live the nation :0)

Permalink Reply by Carl Robson on July 5, 2010 at 9:56pm

Yeah, I did the same after I asked and found his myspace, and his solo stuff is pretty cool.