Thursday, December 12, 2013

New Blog

My cbg activities have ground to a standstill right now but hey - I've started a new blog about anything cool and interesting that comes my way. Mainly music and art related - definitely creative and cool. Have a look and see what you think. Early days yet but hope to out more stuff on regularly.

New blog about cool stuff

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

where now with cigar box guitars - building a Jazzmaster

This is quite difficult to write but I have pretty much hung up my saddle with cigar box guitars. I have found that my creative urges have moved on to other things. You'll know from reading my posts that I am also heavily into electronic circuit bending and that I have also been making a six string resonator guitar. Well those activities have distracted me from cigar box guitar world.

I don't know about you but this is how it goes with me. I am a very creative person - I need to be making something and my interests are quite wide and varied. When I get "into" something I really get into it for a while. My enthusiasm burns bright and I go for it. But I find that it will dominate my thinking and creative energies to the point where other hobbies or interests get put on the back burner. Plus I like to keep trying new things. Well cigar box guitar just haven't had much of a look in for a while now and coupled with the fact that I haven't sold any for a long time, there is no need to keep making them. My music room is already crammed full of stuff.

I even gave the UK Boxfest a miss this year. My cbg buddy wasn't able to go so I passed on it too. Now I haven't given up on them completely but there are just so many other things to occupy myself with for the time being. So I'm sorry if I am letting the side down and by not writing about them anymore and if you've come here for the first time looking for stuff on cigar box guitars, don't click away too quickly, there are lost of posts in the archives here to whet your appetite.

I'm going to continue adding stuff here when I can but it probably won't be cbg material but .... you might just find it interesting anyway. I'm sure none of you are one-trick ponies and like to dabble with other musical related subjects. I can guarantee it will be mostly musically inclined and in the style of guitar box guitar building  - pretty much home made and left-field. So thanks for your support over the last few years, I've enjoyed doing this and "it's not over till the fat lady sings"

So what am I doing at the moment. Well I'm building a Fender Jazzmaster style guitar. After making the solid body resonator, I wanted to use my newly learned luthier skills and have a go at another "proper" guitar. I had a new cheap telecaster style guitar that I didn't want anymore but it has a lovely neck, so I've taken that off to use as a donor for the new JM. The body started out as a plank of English Ash. I've glued two pieces together to make a body sized plank and routed out the shape, most of the pockets and attached the neck. Here's a photo of it so far. Jazzmasters are cool guitars, so although not as far out as cbgs, they are still slightly left-field in guitar world. I'll continue to log my progress if you want to come back and see how it's going occasionally.

Oh and I'm building a small amp using a donor practise amp built into the cabinet of an old Bakelite valve (tube) wireless. On my to do list when I get time, I want to build a Gristleizer pedal. If you've never heard of them check them out on Youtube. They are cool too. So plenty to come back for. See ya soon.

Monday, June 10, 2013

new camcorder and Youtube

Hi folks, I'm still here but not been doing much on the cigar box guitar front lately. I seem to have been more involved with my electronic activities. I really feel I need to get on with playing, experimenting and recording some music so the building side of things has taken a bit of a back seat. You know how it is with these things. The creative drive seems to get focussed in one particular direction for me and my other stuff goes on the backburner.

For some time I've been toying with getting a camcorder but didn't want to spend too much money on one and didn't want to get distracted with a new hobby. The main reasons for getting one is that the stuff I put on Youtube is quite low res because it's done on my little digital camera. It only allows me to do about 5 minutes or recording too so that's the reason I've not put any new stuff on for a while even though I've kept promising it. Well I found a cheap but adequate camcorder in a second-hand shop and so I'm intending to do a few vids soon. I want to show people my reso 6 stringer I built and a few of my circuit bent projects so don't give up on me just yet. I'll post on here when I've put something new on.

And here are a couple of new vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ThCkwj6VE my electric resonator guitar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RfWqeO9HvY and my "333" three string solid body cbg style guitar

Sunday, January 20, 2013

UK cigar box guitar fest 2013

Hi folks, it's a new year (whatever that means). Anyway it's 2013 and our friends at Homegrown Music Collective have come up trumps again and announced plans for our 5th UK cigar box guitar fest or Boxstock as it's known. This is what Roosterman has posted on the Cigar box Nation site

This year will see Boxstock going back to its roots. A simple one day event aimed at catching up with friends, enjoying and playing some homegrown music and sharing a few thoughts and ideas - what could be better than that?
The date: Saturday 26th October 2013
The Venue: The Musician, 42 Crafton Street West,  Leicester, LE1 2DE.
The daytime sessions will be free to all, with open mic sessions, trade stands, demos etc and workshops.
The evening gig promises to be a real treat and we already have 3 superb artists booked for your pleasure.
Firstly, after a storming debut at last years Boxstock open mic session, the legend that is VINYLHED,
from Hastings Old Town, we have the twangtastic KING SIZE SLIM, and from the USA (where else?) we bring you multi-instrumentalist JUSTIN JOHNSON - what a line up!

Well it sounds pretty good to me and as usual you'll come away buzzing with enthusiasm and if you haven't been before you'll make some new cbg buddys I promise. Put it in your diaries folks.