"Smojo" Cigar Box Guitars

guitar build session 6

2012-01-30T18:52:00.004Z

All about the neck this week. First job was to attach headstock template, then using a rasp bit in a table mounted router, to route the shape of the headstock around it. Then attach a straight edge template along one side of the neck and route that down to size, same with the other edge. Then some real hard work. To shape the back of the angled headstock roughly, I used a gouge chisel to chop away the surplus, then took it down to almost final shape using a hand rasp. Next we took a lot of the surplus off the back of the neck with an electric planer.

Next job was to route a narrow channel for the truss rod. Just wide and deep enough to take it with very little space around it. We put in the dual action rod then glued and clamped the fretboard in position. Doesn't sound a lot but it took the whole afternoon. Here's a photo just before we put fretboard on.

guitar build session 5

2012-01-19T16:31:00.004Z

Had my 5th session yesterday. Feeling very tired this week after many hours of sanding down walls and woodwork in my lounge ready for redecorating, plus running around hospital visiting. So it was a welcome return to sanity but at the same time, I couldn't put 100% into the sawing and sanding that was involved. This week involved fixing small templates to the body to route out neck pocket and a cavity for the lipstick neck-position pickup. I'm starting to gain confidence in the use of the router, always had a slight fear of them based on my lack of experience. The key to it is to only take small 2-3mm cuts each time.

Next we started on the neck. I'd bought a hefty plank of maple. We drew on the approximate shape and as the plank is thick enough, decided to make it a one-piece neck/angled headstock. So we marked on the angle of the headstock and rough planed the bevel that will be the top of it. The idea is to cut away most of the surplus wood first with a jigsaw, then make the final shape with router and spokeshave. Attempting to rip down the length of the neck proved a bit of a disaster. I broke two jigsaw blades and was just getting nowhere. Maple is a very hard wood! I suggested we end the session early and I would take the plank back to my workshop to rip down on my bandsaw. We did a few other small jobs - cutting the pre-slotted fretboard to length and marking a few things up to round off. Progress a bit slow but still satisfying. It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel yet as there is a lot to do but I rest assured and imagine the day when I will take the finished guitar home, plug it into my new vox valve amp and enter the kingdom!

guitar build session 3 and 4

2012-01-17T09:06:00.003Z

So I need to catch up on my posting for the reso guitar build. Session 3 we fixed the template to the body with a couple of panel pins in places where the hole won't show. Using the router, I followed the contour of the template, taking about 2 mm off on each pass until eventually I had almost cut through the block. We then turned it over and using a router bit with a wheel guide running along the new shaped edge, I cut through the remaining bit and seperated the new body shape from the block. At last it's starting to look like a guitar. Next job was to cut a hole in the template where the cone is gonna sit. I took the body home to do some homework on it over the Christmas perion. Basically just rough drilled the main part of the cone well out using my drill press, to save effort on the router.

Session 4 - we attached the template again and now following the hole we had cut in it, slowly routed out the well for the cone. We also rough sanded the front and back to get a flat surface across the whole body. We then used a small concave router bit on the outside edges to produce a gentle rounded prifile. I took it home again and spent about an hour sanding down the outer edge and front and back nice and smooth. Next session we start on the neck.

Happy cigar box guitar Christmas

2011-12-24T16:37:00.004Z

Happy Christmas to you all wherever you are. It was this time of year when all this started for me. I guess it must have been 6 years ago. I saw a cigar box guitar on Ebay - loved the look of it and my wife said she would buy it for me for Christmas. If you've been following this blog, then you'll know the rest of the story. Well what a great story it's been. It has led to so many interesting and fun things. I've learnt how to make cigar box guitars and play them (reaonably). It's got me back into another hobby from my youth - electronics which has led to making amps, mics, oscillators etc. It's opened up new avenues of music to explore. I've learnt how to make small movies and upload to youtube. I've made quite a few new friends and in particular one very good friend. We've seen a UK CBG fest emerge and get better every year for three years now. It has been a truly exciting, stimulating and creatively rewarding pastime for me and I know it has too for many other people because I have met some who have had similar experiences and I've had some wonderful feedback via comments and emails.

So if you have just found this site and just discovering the world of cigar box guitars and homegrown music and instruments - you are in for a a real treat my fiends. When I turn on the news, when I look around me, there is so much misery, mess, pain and worry around us. The world has truly gone crazy and if you're not careful it will drag you down too. If you feel this like I do, you need something positive, uplifting and insipirational to pull you through. This whole cigar box guitar stuff is not crazy at all (though some may think so). It has been a light in the darkness for me. So I thoroughly recommend you immerse yourself in it too. Buy a guitar, learn to play it, learn to make one yourself, meet other like-minded people (you're a great bunch) and just enjoy being creative and for a while you can switch off from the misery and worry.

Thanks for being here, sharing and joining in this journey with me. Hope you all have a great Christmas and let's hope next year gets better.

guitar building course session two

2011-12-15T16:31:00.004Z

Second session of my course where I am building a solid body six string reso guitar. Didn't realise how much preparation work needs to be done before actually working on the guitar itself. This week we cut the mahogany plank in two. We sat the two halves side by side with a small gap and using a slotted template on top we routed the two edges simultaneously to provide smooth faces to be glued. Quicker and easier that trying to plane them. They were glues up and cramped together to make the block of wood for the body.

Next job, made a template for body and headstock by tracing the drawing onto some thin MDF. We cut them out with a jigsaw, then smoothed the edges to a perfect shape with rasps and sandpaper. These will be fixed to the body block and headstock piece and used to run a router around to cut out the shapes. It took us pretty much the whole session to do these jobs. Another session next week then a break over Christmas. What I've learned so far - the need to make a good drawing and templates. The simple use of a router to provide straight edges accurately and easily. I'll be digging my own out now I know what can be done with it.

guitar building course day one

2011-12-11T18:14:00.003Z

I mentioned in my last post that I was going start on a guitar building course to build a 6 string reso cone, solid electric guitar. OK I know this blog is supposed to be about CBGs but there are many of you who are also interested in more conventional guitars too and learning some general building tips. The idea is that I learn some new skills and build myself something really special. It's loosely based on a National resolectric but with some of my own tweaks to it. I've done a rough photoshop job to show you what it might look like.

I will be building it in half day sessions, roughly once a week. So the first day we headed off to John Boddy's timber yard near Boroughbridge. There's a big warehouse with lots of planks of interesting timber. Martin, my tutor helped me select a piece of maple for the neck/headstock and mahogany for the body. Mahogany was chosen because it is a fairly light hardwood which should emphasise the bass end of the tonal range to balance the rather toppy reso cone. I also bought myself another maple plank that will cut down into 4 nice CBG necks for future builds. Was surprised how relatively cheap maple is. The neck plank cost about £8 and the CBG plank about a fiver. Back at Martin's we started to draw up a full size plan of the guitar. Didn't quite finish it this week. We ordered some hardware too - truss rod, reso cone and plate and a pre-cut rosewood fretboard. Next session we finish the drawing, cut the mahogany in two and glue both halves together to make a wide plank for the body. Probably start cutting out the neck too.

this and that in smojos cigar box guitar world

2011-12-03T09:27:00.007Z

It's been a bit of a frustrating time here and an exciting one too. Still a bit quiet on my CBG front. Much as I love 'em, there are many other interesting distractions going on in my life. First the frustrations - I bought some cool looking lipstick pups, cheap, with the intention of building myself a super duper CBG with frets and a proper magnetic pickup. Got as far as cutting the neck from a piece of old shelving when my bandsaw blade snapped. So that one went on on hold.

As you will have noticed, I've been heavily into the electronics side of things. Not a million miles away from the cigar box guitar ethos of making something cool and musical out of junk or stuff that was never meant for that purpose. So I started "bending" an old casio keyboard. Found a cool distortion bend, drilled holes and mounted the switch and two pots. Working one minute - the next it was just making a horrid buzz. Messed about but can't seem to fix it. Maybe I burnt out something. So that's on hold too. Moved on to a new electronics project - making an envelope follower from the Nic Collins book. You can connect a sound source like a guitar or CD player and it's supposed to light some LEDs when the signal peaks or dips. Got the preamp part made but can I get the LEDs to come on when they should? - no, on hold too.

So what are the exciting bits. Well I had an great weekend in Manchester with my mate who had organised the Hollowbelly gig at his local pub. Great atmosphere and the whole thing went down well. Hollowbelly belted out his excellent punk blues material whilst entertaining us with some funny stories in between. The support act was great too, three local people who got together with slide guitar (and CBG), african drum and cigar box bass to play some nice bluesy stuff. Lot's of time to chat about music stuff and do a bit of jamming back at my mates too.

I bought an old ex-forces bakelite communicator set which is a chest mounted microphone and headphones. I was looking for an old telephone receiver to make a distortion mic and I found this. Might be ww2 but if not, will probably be at least 50 years old. I dismantled the set to make three mics, the chest mic I'll keep for myself, the two headphone mics I might eventually sell on. They look so cool and make fantastic hand held mics for vocals or harp where you want a bit of an old-timey, mildly distorted sound. If I get time I'll post a photo or two.

Finally (please forgive me but let me explain) I'm about to build a solid body electric 6 string guitar. As I said I do love CBGs but I suffer from GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome) where I have to keep getting a fix with a new guitar. I see something cool and I want it! Yes my friends you know what I mean. The explanation will justify the diversion from 3 strings, a stick and a box guitar. For some time I've wanted the personal satisfaction of building a "proper" guitar. Something really cool and unusual. Also to take my luthier skills a little higher and get to grips with the more complex elements of guitar building. There's a local guy who runs courses on guitar building on a one-to-one basis. I went to see him this week to talk about starting with him. My initial idea was to make something based on the old guyatone solids of the 50s/60s. They look so cool with their simple retro shape and colours. But I do have a really nice Harmony Stratotone reissue that fits the bill so what to build instead? Then the bulb lit up in my head. A solid body reso similar to the National supro reso guitars. A bit of research showed that they make a modern version still. So my design will be based on that but with a bit of the guyatone look about it. It will have an under-saddle piezo and a single coil neck pickup. I've done a very rough photoshop job to get some idea of what it might look like and here it is. I'm starting the build this wednesday. We're going off to a timber yard to chosse the wood and then back to cut it up and glue the two body halves - can't wait! I'm gonna keep a record of my progress and put something on here so if you're interested, come back and take a look regularly. It might just get me inspired enough to get cracking with my lipstick pick-upped CBG too.

special offer on two cigar box guitars

2011-10-23T18:15:00.004Z

I'm making a special offer open to the UK only.

I have two cigar box guitars for sale. They are both three-stringed fretless guitars currently tuned to open A. They have an internal piezo pickup wired straight to a 1/4 inch jack (no vol or tone controls). I have given them the usual smojo treatment of having a distressed neck look. I'd like to move them on now so that I can make space to make some more so if you fancy one of these, here's my offer. £75 gets you :-

One guitar + free smojo handmade wine bottle neck slide + free leaflet on tuning and playing + free shipping to mainland uk address. This package would normally cost you £100 so you're getting a whopping 25% discount. Order now and get yourself an early christmas present.

Email me at my usual smojoguitars(at)yahoo.co.uk address for further details and have a look at the two guitars on my Flickr page here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21767997@N05/sets/72157622689976796/

Hollowbelly Manchester UK gig

2011-10-15T09:52:00.007Z

OK I promised some more info on the Hollowbelly gig in Manchester so here's the official poster. The gig is held at the Cheshire Ring pub but the music venue is known as The Verge. You can buy tickets online, check out the website here. http://www.the-verge.co.uk/

This is his first Northern gig and should be a belter. If you haven't seen anything of this guy you should have a look at some of his videos and listen to some tracks. You can see his facebook here. http://www.myspace.com/hollowbelly

and you can see more of his stuff on Cigarbox Nation here http://www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/HOLLOWBELLY17?xg_source=profiles_memberList

Catfish Keith

2011-10-14T10:25:00.003Z

Righto here's the lowdown on the Catfish Keith gig last night - simply brilliant. Just a small gig which was nice and intimate, I got to sit right in front of the stage. He played three guitars and a foot stomp box. Guitars were a National tricone reso, a small parlour style 6 stringer and a beautiful luthier built 12 stringer based on an old Stella. This guy can really play and his vocals are powerful and expressive. He's a great fingerpicker and slide player. If you love old style blues with a gospel flavour you'll love this guy. He's a really cool fella and easy to talk to. His musical influences come from the likes of Rev Gary Davis, Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Blind Willie Johnson, Leadbelly to name a few. That might give you an idea of his style of music. Very much a delta sound. Some of his numbers were quite mesmerising especially when he played the 12 stringer. He's touring the UK right now so why not check out his website and if he's appearing near you, go see him - you won't be disappointed.

http://www.catfishkeith.com/

life after Boxstock 2011

2011-10-11T18:34:00.004Z

So I think I've finally come back down to earth (and the mundane) after a cracking weekend at West Brom and the UK cbg boxfest. What now, to stop me from topping myself every time I see the news or look at my ever-increasing bills? Well I understand plans are already underway for next years Boxstock so that's got to be good but it's a long way off yet.

Well Hollowbelly is doing a gig at the Verge (The Cheshire Ring) in Manchester on 26th November. My mate Mark C. is organising that one, I'll put the poster on here when he sends me the file so watch out for that. It's the first Northern gig HB will have done and coming originally from Warrington, it's something of a special event for him. Looks like being a popular gig so if you fancy it, get your tickets early. I'll give you details soon about booking.

Nearer to that in time (this week) and only a few miles down the road from me, Catfish Keith is appearing in a local wine bar. I've heard a lot of good things about this guy who is a superb slide player. Can't wait for that one, I'll let you know how it went later this week.

So what am I doing with my time now? Still making electronic stuff. I have a couple of those nand oscillator machines to make for friends so I'm part way on with those. No cbg making in the offing yet but the Boxfest did stir my enthusiasm for more playing and recording. Haven't done anything serious for months now and am raring to get experimenting again. I'd love to get something bluesy going on a cbg along with the oscillator drone box I made. Just need some time to get on with it. Got a busy month ahead with this 'n that but hope to find some time for music making. Be sure to call in here again for more news soon.

photos from boxstock 2011

2011-10-06T17:48:00.006Z

Just a few snaps from the event.
Top -Tinqui8 performing at the evening gig.

Middle - Ben Prestage

Bottom - Chickenbone John checking out an old archtop

still hot from Boxstock

2011-10-05T08:16:00.007Z

Yes I'm still coming down from the event. The evening gig exceeded all our expectations with an international line-up. Set in the theatre of The Public, the gig kicked off with a guitarist (Andy Bole aka The Interplanetary Music Collective) and the Khalgani Dancers (turkish belly dancers). CB John had pursuaded the lady who runs the dance troupe, who had been at the fest last year, to perform for free. Andy set the atmosphere fantastically with his guitar and turkish lute-type instrument with the use of looping pedal and an Ebow (if you don't know what that is, check it out. I want one now). The girls performed two mesmerising dances, all in sequence with each other and very tastefully done. What a cracking start to the evening.

Second on was Tinqui8 who had come all the way from France for the weekend. We were treated to an excellent performance from him last year and he was back for another. Hard to describe his particular blend of music, definitely has a bluesy feel but his slightly unusual open tunings have a sound that seems to be his. Check out his album - Old Riders Blues. He played cigar box guitar, a vintage Weissenborn, and on loan from one of our gang - a beautiful plastic bodied guitar reminiscent of the old Airline electric guitars. The guy that made it is called Sam North. He's made several now and they are amazing.

Next up, our very own Hollowbelly with his distinctive blend of music, he describes as punk-blues. Thrashing away at his cbg, kick drum, low-boy hi hat and singing, he's a veritable one-man powerhouse. Bluesbeaten Redshaw, who collaborated on HB's latest album, Punk Northern and Blue, accompanied him on washboard for one number. HB is our UK flagship for cbg performance and if you want to see him playing, he will be in the Manchester area in November. I'll be announcing the details nearer the time.

Finally our headline act was none other than Ben Prestage from the USA. Ben had been performing at the Tangiers Jazz festival and we managed to divert him to the UK for our gig. Looking like a true hillbilly he stunned us with his performance. Another one-man band, he played various guitars, foot operated drums and hi-hat, harmonica, cigar box fiddle, cigar box banjo and sang. He did an amusing job of introducing his "band" - playing each instrument in turn. This guy is one helluva talent and worth checking out if you don't know of him. His latest album is One Crow Murder.

And that about wraps it up. We managed to drink the bar dry out of draught beer by the end of the night. There is a buzz on Cigar Box Nation about the event, as you might expect. Already plans are being made for next year which hopefully, will be even bigger and better. Things have come a long way in the UK since I discovered the cbg movemnet and started this blog a few years ago. There were literally a handful of UK guys posting on the old Yahoo forum and it was just a pipe dream that we could ever have something like this going in our country. I am truly proud of our guys for pulling all this together and want to give a big thanks to Chickenbone John and Roosterman for all the work they put into organising it.

hot from Boxstock 2011

2011-10-02T17:51:00.009Z

I feel like I've got a head full of bees, so many thoughts buzzing around. Fresh back from our 3rd UK cigar box guitar annual festival and what a belter it was. Held at The Public in West Bromwich UK. This time I drove down the day before. I've been busy making electronic stuff to take and wanted to set up my little stall before the big day. Some of the other guys usually meet up too and there was an open mic planned in the evening at the Barge and Barrel pub. Wasn't gonna miss that. Lovely sunny day too - perfect.

I was amazed at the level of talent at the open mic. Chickenbone John, who organised all this, kicked off the evening with a couple of numbers then it was pretty much non-stop, high octane cigar box music till midnight. Some of the guys I already knew but also some fresh talent.

Saturday was the big event. An all-day CBG fest with workshops, stalls and some playing. First hour or so was just spent chatting with old and new friends, checking out each other's gear and browsing the stalls. C.B. John had organised a beginners' building workshop. He'd put together a number of cheap, easy build kits so that newcomers could see how a cigar box guitar is constructed, learn some basic skills and have a playable guitar at the end of it. Following that they would have a beginning players' workshop to jump-start their CBG journey. What a brilliant idea.

Meanwhile I was holding a show and tell session and starting it off with my electronic stuff - various mics, circuit bent toys and my pseudo theremins. Seemed to go down well. Lunch time came and went in a flash but during the break, downstairs in the lobby, various performers played for us. Back to the main events in the afternoon we were treated to players workshops with Hollowbelly and Chickenbone John and another open mic session.

The afternoon was wound up with our first AGM. Just enough time to leg it back to the hotel, freshen up, a quick meal then back to the Public for the evenings entertainment in the Theatre. What a treat we were gonna get. An international line-up, headlined by Ben Prestage from the USA. I'm gonna leave it there for today as I'm pretty whacked out. I'll be back with more info in the next day or two.

two weeks to Boxstock - the third UK cigar box guitar fest

2011-09-18T09:17:00.004Z

It's only two weeks away folks. This is gonna be even better than the last two. Starting with an informal Friday night open mic session in a local pub, then the big day on Saturday. There'll be talks and workshops and lots of like minded folk to get to know. weird and wonderful instruments to see, some to buy. In the evening a gig. Ben Prestage is coming over from the States, Tinqui8 from France and our own Brit-man Hollowbelly will be playing. I'll be there with a few things for sale, might even do the open mic and there's a possibility of a talk on circuit bending and home made mics and amps. So if you want a cracking CBG weekend get your tickets ordered ASAP. Only £25 for all that, I call it a bargain. Follow the link below for more details.

september in cigar box guitar world

2011-09-05T18:52:00.004Z

I guess it's september in everybody's world but I had to think of a title! What I'm getting at is that summer is nearly over already and in CBG world that means it's not long until Boxfest at Birmingham. If you haven't been to one before you really should try to make it. This is our third year in the UK. Lot's of great stuff going on, workshops, open mic, lot's of like minded folk to chat to and instruments to look at and a cracking gig lined up in th evening. You'll be buzzing for days after. If you want to know more and how to get tickets visit this link. http://www.homegrownmusiccollective.com/page3.htm So I've been busy with my electronic stuff again making a few things to take to the fest. Made three tobacco tin amps (one is on order from a guy who sent me the tin) and a cool amp in a small wooden cigar box. They're based on the LM386 chip in case you wondered. I'm also on with some electret mics. These are tiny components that require a battery to work. You can make contact mics from piezos which are great for some things but the electrets give a wider frequency response and are less prone to feedback (apparently) What would you use them for? Well because they are small you can drop them inside instruments that a piezo would be unsuitable for. e.g. an accordian, flute, bagpipes, or how about a guitar that you can't get to the insides of. I haven't tried them in a practical situation yet but I'm thinking of putting one in the old indian harmonium I just bought. Then I can connect it to fx pedals, amps, mixers etc to get some interesting sounds. All this means still no new cigar box guitars but as I still have a couple of spare ones for sale there's no big motivation to build more just yet and space is getting tight in my attic. I'll post some pics soon. I mentioned the India Harmonium. I've been fancying one for a while but they are pretty expensive. Well I spotted on in a junk/antique shop a few weeks ago. I had to have a look at it and the price was £75. Pretty much a bargain as it is a three reed one with 5 or 6 drones. If you don't know what these things are or sound like check them out on Youtube. They are really cool. You pump them with a bellows thingy at the back with one hand and play the keys with the other. But you can pull some stops out to produce a constant drone in key with your playing. Well after checking it out and hearing it work I decided to be cheeky and ask if they were open to offers. They let me have it for £65. There's some minor damage to the casing and one reed seems to squeal but for that price it's a great buy. Here's a photo of it. Hopefully I can make some music soon with it, and combine it with some CBG playing for something a little different to listen to.

cigar box guitar update August

2011-08-08T18:07:00.004Z

As you may have noticed my CBG output has been a bit sparse the last few months. Fear not, it's still alive and kicking but in need of a good meal. I'm still heavily into my electronic stuff and I only have so much time to devote to this hobby. I'm about to start a batch of tobacco tin amps after a request from someone to build one into his own tin. So I may as well make a couple more whilst tooled up for it.

The circuit bending stuff has been taking most of my spare time. But the Barnsley CBG workshop gave me a bit of a boost. I guess I had got into a bit of a rut with my CBG playing and was spending more time on 6 string playing. But C.B. John showed us some different tunings which sparked my interest again. It also made me re-think about what I want from a cigar box guitar. My thoughts are split and sometimes contradictory. On the one hand I love the ethos of throwing together a playable instrument from a few bits of reclaimed materials and a cigar box. On the other hand, as I progress with my own music, I am finding I want the CBG to be a little more versatile.

At first I poo-pooed the idea of frets and magnetic pickups, vol controls etc but I'm coming around to the idea of making CBGs a little more sophisticated. I used to think "why not just buy a cheap strat or something" but it's not as clear cut as that now. I really like playing with just 3 strings but want a bit more quality of sound and to be able to play simple chords and fingered licks as opposed to just slide. So I might re-visit some of my own CBGs and upgrade one or two if possible.

So the message is, don't get stuck in a rut with your thinking or playing. Don't be a slave to your own ideals (or anyone elses). Be prepared to move on, change your views, experiment. Life never stands still but if you're not careful you can get held back by your own beliefs when they are no longer fully appropriate. Remember the CBGers number 1 rule "there are no rules". And don't trap yourself in your own rules.

Keep on flying the flag for do it yourself music.

Polish club Barnsley gets cbg'd

2011-07-24T18:15:00.004Z

Chickenbone John hosted a CBG event at Barnsley at the Polish Club this weekend. Open mic on the Friday night and a players workshop on the Saturday afternoon. And it was free. How good is that, it doesn't get much better? Not a massive turnout but that made it all the better for those of us that went. It was a small friendly crowd, about half locals and half CBGers. John took the stage for the first half playing some cracking blues on his guitars. The second half saw a few of our very own CBG artists, Yellowbelly Flatt, Ant on his cigar box banjo, Soulcatcher and Kev to name the ones I remember. A cool mix of styles. John ended the session with a few more numbers.

Saturday afternoon and John led us through a players workshop. There was a mix of abilities, some beginners and some more advanced but eager to learn players. John gave us a good few hours of his expert time and I'm sure we all took something away to benefit our playing. I particulary liked the G minor tuning he showed us. G,A#,D -try it. It has an almost out of tune ring about it (may just be the restrictions of a cigar box guitar) but a melancholic sound that when I noodled some chords and licks, it reminded me very much of a a Reverand Gary Davis number called Death Hath no Mercy. I saw him playing it on a Stefan Grosman video with a small audience in a sort of studio shack-style setting in the 1960s. It's one of the saddest performance I ever saw. Anyway I came away inspired by the workshop with some new ideas to play with and even sketched out a song this morning based on my chord progressions. I called it Death is a Stealer. Now where did I get that idea from?

Check out Catfish Keith on Youtube, John talked about him. I wasn't aware of him until the workshop but he plays some pretty neat slide guitar. I'm sure you'll like it.

drone box oscillator synth

2011-07-12T19:02:00.004Z

At last I've got Youtube working again and I've uploaded some quick demos of the drone box I've been building. The video sounds don't do it justice. It sounds wicked when hooked up to some fx and a decent amp.

some of my music on soundcloud

2011-07-08T18:03:00.003Z

Just found this site where you can upload your music to share with the world. I've put some of my cigar box guitar and circuit bent recordings on it.
http://soundcloud.com/smojomusic

free cigar box guitar open mic and workshop

2011-06-30T17:47:00.003Z

Just announced - Chickenbone John is organising a free CBG event at Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Beginners and more experienced players/builders welcome. Looks like being a cool event. If you're able to get there it'll be worth the effort! I'm gonna do my best to make it, hope some of you will too. Here's a link to the forum too so you can take a peek at what he's planned.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/thebritsarecoming/forum/topics/its-grim-up-northcbg-open-mic

June and a little cigar box guitar news

2011-06-07T17:49:00.002Z

Just heard from my mate over in Manchester that he's planning a CBG gig at his local pub in November. One of our top uk CBG gigging men - Hollowbelly will be playing. He describes himself as punk blues and it'll be a great gig. Provisionally it's gonna be 26th Nov but I'll confirm nearer the time. If you're in that neck of the woods, be sure to come along for a brilliant evening. I'm gonna be there!

I'm having trouble with bloody Youtube again. Taking forever to load the page, then it's all screwed up and I can't get into it to upload anything new or answer any comments. So my apologies if you are waiting for a reply or looking for new material from me. Can't figure out what's wrong but they probably changed something in the name of progress and my ageing laptop can't handle it. Hoping to get a new one soon, then I can spend more time being creative with it rather than trying to fix it.

I'm still not making any new guitars as I'm fully immersed in holidaying, decorating, running around after old folks and when I do get some time to be creative, it's a bit of electron-trickery/circuit-bending rather than CBG building. Just completed my NAND gate oscillators in the old box and it's a pretty wicked machine. I'm hoping to get to grips with it's music making potential and somehow weave it's manic pulsey noisies into something listenable, ideally a bit of CBG palyed over it. Watch this space.

I do have a couple of CBGs for sale. If you want details just email me.

A side benefit of CBG playing for me is that it pushed me toward fingerstyle playing to the point that even when playing standard 6 stringers, I hardly ever use a plectrum now. In fact it feels quite awkward. The limit of three strings to play with on a CBG made it fairly easy to get into fingerstyle plucking. You just need a thumb and one or two fingers. Glad to say I still have all four fingers which I was trying to use when I first attempted fingerstyle in pre-CBG days. I realise now that two are plenty, in fact many of the old time blues players just used thumb and one finger. I think Blind Gary Davis did and he often played a 12 stringer! So if you've tried and failed fingerstyle on 6 strings before. Try getting to grips with it on a 3-string CBG, you'll find it falls into place quite easily.

Bye for now, enjoy summer, it's gone quicker than you think.

cigar box guitar update - May

2011-05-19T18:28:00.002Z

Well a month has passed in a flash and I don't seem to have done much CBG stuff. Still messing about with the oscillator box which is nearly finished so I'll show you that soon. I watched Jools Hollands Later on tv the other night and was pleased to see Seasick Steve on there playing a CBG. I guess he'll be on again tomorrow (Friday night) so if you can get BBC2 watch out for that.

I'm on the hunt for a parlour sized 6 stringer. Playing CBGs has got me into fingerstyle playing and on something small that's comfy when you're sat on the sofa watching boring crap on tv, so hence a parlour guitar. I called at a small music store that looked like something from a Dickens book. Dark and dusty and full of intriguing instruments. On the wall I spotted a very old one string CBG and something weird that used a tortoisehell with a skin stretched over it for the guitar body. Whoa and I thought CBGs were weird!

The UK group HGMC is picking up members now. I think we're at about 70 so far. If you're in the UK be sure to check it out and think about joining. And definitley think about going to the Boxfest in Birmingham in October. We have our own Hollowbelly, France's Tinqui8, and Ben Prestage from the USA playing at the evening gig. That's gonna be worth going for on it's own but the daytime workshops, open mic and stalls make it an event not to be missed.

Anyhow, keep checking in here now and then, there's bound to be something of interest even if it's not strictly cigar box guitars.

April update

2011-04-14T13:11:00.004Z

I feel slightly guilty that I aren't writing about cigar box guitars seeing as this blog is about them. The reason being, that I haven't made any for a little while since I really got into electronics but let me explain where I'm coming from and how it all fits into the ethos of what this stuff is all about. I think it's right to say that most people are into CBGs because they look cool and different but also because there's a certain perverseness about it. Making a great playable instrument from an old cigar box and a stick. It's sort of sticking two fingers up at the big manufacturers who charge thousands for their guitars and saying "I can make something sound pretty damn good out of a heap of junk". So after I'd made a few guitars I naturally wanted a cool little amp to go with it, hence the re-interest in electronics. I found it just as enjoyable making an amp as I did making the guitars. That led me onto making a few other related things out of junk - tobacco tin mics using old telephone receivers, a simple two channel mixer (more of a combiner - no batteries required). Then I somehow discovered "circuit bending" - modifying electronic toys and other devices to make more interesting sounds. On the surface it seems a long way from making c.b. guitars but it's the same ethos behind it. Taking something that was intended for an entrirely different purpose, modifying it and adding your own creative stamp to it, to produce a cool, fun packed instrument. So first efforts were attempts at toys and I'm pretty pleased with one of them. You can see it on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic#p/u/9/j6KJD_SkTEk Then I discovered the wonderful book by Nic Collins "Handmade Electronic Music". He has made some amazingly weird stuff and you might want to look for him on Youtube also. What has got me fired up now are the circuit designs he decribes using logic chips to make oscillators. Again the CBG ethos holds good as he is using chips that were designed for computers and other digital devices and making them perform in a musical way,. By combining several oscillators together you can make some pretty cool synth and drone sounds. You can use them to make a simple tremolo box and panners and mixers for combining several devices together plus many other ideas. Nic shows you just how to do it in a fairly easy to understand way. So that's where I'm at at the moment. I will come back around to talking about CBGs but I have to explore this path a little further yet. I have a project part finished using the old electrical tester box I showed you a while ago. It's shaping up nicely and I hope to somehow combine the drone/synth type sounds from it with some CBG playing. No idea how that's going to come out but that's all part of the fun - musical adventures. If you decide to look for some of these noise boxes or circuit bent toys on Youtube, you might be forgiven for quickly getting bored and even irritated at the squeaks and squeals that come out of them. I figure the main reason is that most people who have posted vids of their creations, have little or no musical talent. They are mainly electronics geeks. So don't let that put you off having a go at making some if you are interested. If you have some musical knowledge/skills, it's fairly easy to apply the same principles of music making to these devices. Create a regular beat or rhythm with them and try to find sounds that harmonise with each other. If you look at the boring stuff you'll realise that that is what's missing. Most people are simply demonstrating what weird noises they can get out of them rather than trying to make something listenable. I'll try to demonstrate that for you. Visit my website here http://www.smojomusic.co.uk/ and scroll down the home page to the jukebox. Have a listen to "While Giants Sleep". The ticking clock and the snoring sounds were created on the circuit bent toy and looped on my Akai Headrush. I then added some melancholic cigar box guitar playing over it. Hope it might inpsire you to try something different yourelves.

lots happening

2011-03-20T18:43:00.004Z

So here's the latest news in Smojo's cigar box guitar world. The Uk's Home Grown Music Collective is now live and what a cracking line-up for the fest in October. Tickets for the full day are £25 and well worth it. Why not sign up to the collective if you're in the UK. It's only £10 per year and gives you a fiver discount on the festival tickets. you get a few cool goodies too. take a look at it.

http://www.homegrownmusiccollective.com/page13.htm

The chopped Phantom Rockmaster ratrod project is pretty much finished and I'm well pleased with it. Got it tuned to open G for slide playing. I did a quick rough video so you can see and hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic#p/u/6/OQN10GWSNmE

I'm heavily into electronic building at the moment. CBG building is on the back-burner for now. I'm experimenting and learning as I go along and before long hope to have some sort of cool oscillator/synth machine made. Here's the box I found in a junk shop that I will be using to house it. How cool is that? I've been to a car boot sale today scouting for cheap useable stuff. It's a great way to find interesting items that can be modified or utilised in your home made projects. Among my finds were an old solid leather belt that will make a great guitar strap - cost 20p. A weird chrome thing that has blue LEDs in it and it fits over your car exhaust pipe (why) - it'll get hacked and find it's way into one of my electronic synth machines, that cost just £1. Some games machine hand controllers with dual joysticks for just 10p each - they can be broken down for parts. A pair of vintage drum brushes cost 50p. There's plenty of bargains to be had and now Spring is here, car boot season is upon us again so get out and turn your boring Sundays into treasure hunting.

new uk home grown music group

2011-03-12T11:11:00.007Z

Here's some exciting news for the UK. Following on from two successful cigar box guitar fests, some of the guys have formed an official group to promote the wider spectrum of work by amateur music makers. It's called the Home Grown Music Collective and it's about to launch next week. It's a kind of non-exclusive club that will help us to promote out music interests to a wider field, help people to get in touch with each other and at the same time, raise a little money to fund events. Here's a snippet from the website which sums up what it's about.

To foster and encourage the playing and performance of music on instruments outside the scope of mainstream conventional instruments. The group recognizes that it has arisen from the "cigar box guitar" culture, but that this is by no means an exclusive genre and reflects the ethos of making and playing instruments made from found objects and recycled materials, using innovative designs.The group seeks to encourage and revive the idea of making one's own musical instruments, and making music without having recourse to using commercial standardised instruments or adhering to conventional musical genres.

It's only £10 for a years membership and that entitles you to a £5 discount on the festival ticket. I'm really excited about it and i think you'll like the idea too. There's a great website for it. Have a look around and see what it's all about. Here's the link.

http://www.homegrownmusiccollective.com/

latest photos on the phantom chopped guitar

2011-02-20T09:34:00.007Z

Most of the tin-can cladding has been done now. Machine heads been refitted. I need to work on the wiring next. There's a brass plate to cover the opening for the wiring. I've tried ageing it with vinegar and heat which has worked to a degree but not quite as aged as i would like.

rockmaster phantom chop job

2011-01-30T12:23:00.005Z

Remember I showed you a photo of a nasty looking, day-glo, yellow six stringer that I bought cheap in a charity shop. Well I have stripped it down and given it the chop. It was a strat type shape with a pointy headstock. You can see the body has been slightly reshaped and a chunk cut off the headstock. I'll re-drill two new holes for the missing machine heads on the other side of the headstock. The rest of the body is going to get covered with the same oxidised can-metal that you can see on the bottom of the body. The back of the neck will get resprayed to look sort of metallish. The two single coil pups have gone leaving me with just the humbucker and I'll re-fit the vol control and maybe a tone pot. I'm please dwith the way it's looking so far. I'll post more pics as it develops.

Happy New cigarbox guitar Year

2011-01-20T13:29:00.007Z

Hope you all had a great Christmas and maybe got some cool new toys. Had some problems with my internet and couldn't watch anything on Youtube for a while - bummer! Just completed two new CBGs. One of them was built for someone who asked for frets. I'm not keen on fitting them as they can be a pain and difficult to set up. Anyway I built it and it's a little beauty. The guy asked if it could be "ratty" so that's what I made. Trouble is I've fallen in love with it myself and it'll be hard to part with it. A lot of processing went into getting that "rough-as-shit-but-cool-and-also-plays-well" result. Here's a photo of it. Not happy with the strap so I'm gonna change it for a piece of tea-stained rope which is more in keeping with the style. I made a quick but rough vid of me noodling on it. You can see it here if you wish.

http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic#p/u/6/5khi9NPCQ2E

I'm taking a bit of time out from CBG making so I can complete some of my other projects. remember the nasty day-glo yellow electric 6 stringer I bought in a charity shop? Well it was never gonna stay that way. I decided to chop the body down to a small rectangular shape and cover it with pieces of old brass or tinplate to make a ratrod slider. I've made a start, I stripped all the parts off and cut the body. Just started with the metal plating. So far so good. I'll post some photos of it's progress soon.

Music-wise, I have been getting into some weird experimental stuff. Started out just experimenting with different effects on my pedals. I hit on some pretty heavy, dark sounding stuff which kinda reminded me of some kind of hellish workshop or satanic place. Some of them came out as workable pieces so I hit on the idea of doing a series of them along the theme of Dantes Divine Comedy also known as The Inferno. He describes his trip through the various circles of hell. The imagery of his poems is very inspiring and so I've used that to put suitable titles to my tracks. You can hear what I've recorded so far on my CigarBox Nation page here. look for the music section on the left of the page.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/smojo

Getting even weirder than that, I've got interested in circuit bending againv after getting a cool book at Christmas. Re-wiring old electronic toys and such to get weird sounds. I've made some great contact mics from piezo disks and been experimenting with sounds made from everyday objects, interference from electrical equipment etc. I haven't been able to make anything particularly musical from it yet but hoping to combine some of these sounds with some bluesy CBG playing for something a little different from the usual 12 bar shuffle. What I love about this whole thing is how diverse you can get. No need to ever get bored with your guitars. And best of all - it's a helluva lot of fun.

cigar box guitar tuning - a little theory

2010-12-12T09:25:00.008Z

Probably the most popular string/tuning configuration for cbgs is three strings open tuned to a chord. Why and how can you get a chord with just three strings when 'proper' guitars have six? My musical theory knowledge is pretty limited but I think I can make some sense of this for you. If you hold down an E major chord on a six-string guitar and work out the notes played on each string, starting at the lowest string (the sixth) and working to the highest (first) strings we get these notes E B E G# B E

You'll spot the obvious here, three E notes two Bs and a G# - just three notes, not six. OK so the three Es do sound diferent to each other but it's just a question of them being in different octaves or pitches but nevertheless they are the same musically. Same applies to the two Bs. So in theory we only need three notes to make a major chord (in fact it's the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from the scale of E Major - E G# B). The extra notes on a six string are simply adding more harmonics to the same notes giving a richer and fuller sounding chord than if we only used three.

So back to our three stringed cbg. You'll find one of the most popular tunings actually only use two of these notes. If we wanted the guitar tuned to open E we can use E B E (forget the G#) The Es are one octave apart. On a six stringer they could be found on the 6th string open (E), 5th string 2nd fret (B) and 4th string 2nd fret (E). It's basically a power chord. It makes a nice bluesy chord when played with a slide.

If you want the guitar tuned to a different key instead of E, just transpose the 1st and 5th notes from the major scale of the key you want. So for open G you could use G D G for open A use A E A and so on. Has that fried your brain now or made a little more sense of tunings ? There are others of course but this one will get you started on some nice bluesy, folky sounding stuff.

sorting out finishing some projects

2010-11-28T18:41:00.003Z

I get to a point where my workshop becomes unworkable. I tend to leave stuff lying around with the intention of putting it away later but just forget. Eventually things pile up so much it drives me crackers. So that's what happened this week. I started to sort out my electronic bits after building some amps and realised that my last attempt to organise things had fallen short of the mark. I'd put things in tins and boxes, figuring I'd remember what was in each. Resistors in this box, capacitors in that one and so on. After a few months of not opening some of them, I had completely forgotten what was in each one. So I've been really anal and labelled them all. I realised that some things get used very frequently but are not in convenient places. So I've rearranged some things to make them more accessible. I've discovered things I'd forgotten I'd got too. So it's a good exercise to do every so often.

During the process I came across a half finished CBG. A beautiful Indian Tabac box which I planned to make into a 4 string fretted guitar for myself. I think I got busy with other stuff and put it on a shelf intending to go back to it later. That was over a year ago. So carrying on the mood of sorting and organising, I decided to make my next project to finish it. Whilst sorting tins and boxes I found a four-pole magnetic pickup from a bass. It's perfect for this four-stringer. I'm fitting a piezo as well with a changeover switch and a volume pot. So having spent a couple of full afternoons on it, frets are on, neck bolted up, machine heads fitted and it's well on it's way to completion.

So the moral of the story is, take some time out to tidy your workshop, take stock of what you've got and see if there's something that needs finishing. You'll feel a great sense of achievement and maybe have a new instrument ready in half the time.

smojomusic new website

2010-11-23T18:31:00.002Z

Been working on my new website. Not much on it yet but it's accessible to the public now. Here it is.

www.smojomusic.co.uk

open mic nights

2010-11-22T11:13:00.002Z

I've been on the hunt for some local open mic gigs. I love to hear and watch live music and in particular, small intimate venues like clubs and pubs where you can hear ordinary folks knocking out their stuff. It's a bit rough around the edges but that's what makes it real and exciting, unlike the formularised, glossy crap we get on X-Factor. I have another motive too. As a purely 'play-at-home' musician, I'd love to be able to get up at one of these sessions and show the folks some cigar box guitar playing. So I'm looking for a CBG-friendly gig. So far I've been to two sessions in my home town. Last Sunday was an acoustic night. Consisted mostly of middle aged people playing a mix of folky stuff, some good, some not so good. The atmosphere was friendly and everyone listened attentively to the performers but it lacked a bit of energy. Not exactly my cup of tea musically but there were a few outstanding numbers. A Glaswegian guy who did a reggae version of Ian Drury's 'Clever Trevor' and sounded more like Alex Harvey was great. A guy from Bradford did two hilarious songs he'd written himself. One about goths and the other about road gritting in Britain. A silver haired guy did a nice version of Leonard Cohen's 'Sisters of Mercy' accompanying himself on keyboard. These acts alone made it worth turning out on a cold November night

Last night was open mic in another local pub. A complete contrast to the last gig. It was full of young folks and very nosiy and lively. Everyone I saw played guitar and sang. I enjoyed the night but was disappointed that so many people were stood around chatting and laughing loudly whilst the performers were doing their thing. Obviously, for them it was just a place to go for a drink and a chat and have some light entertainment. They were not particularly interested in it though. I was impressed by the confidence these young performers had. Wish I had half as much. The highlight of the night was a hippy-looking guy who did some of his own songs about illegal substances and vegetables. The chorus to one song was 'I can get by with a chai and a chillum, a chillum and a chai will get me by'. He went down a storm and had everyone applauding for more.

So far, if I could mix the two gigs together in a pot and tip them out again, we might have a good balance. So the search continues. Hoping to find something a little more bluesy perhaps. I'll keep you posted but in the meantime, get out and find some of these small gigs in your own area. Might not be completely to your taste but almost guaranteed to turn up a few good acts and it beats sitting in front of the tv watching X-Factor or I'm a Celebrity.

thinking outside the box and charity shop finds

2010-11-17T18:25:00.005Z

Forgive the pun about thinking outside the box but that's just what I was doing on one of my charity shop trawls. I rarely find cigar boxes in these places but sometimes I pick up something that relates to my unorthodox musical taste. I spotted this horrendous looking electric guitar. A cheapo heavy metal styled jobby in day-glo yellow. Well the price was the factor in deciding whether to buy or not - £15. Totting up ebay values of the hardware alone told me it was worth at least £30 in parts. Two single coil and one humbucking pickups plus wiring to two pots, machine heads, strat style tailpiece and a half decent neck and a see-through plastic gig bag - how could I resist. I could just dismantle it for the parts and build them into CBGs but I'm thinking about cutting the body down to a big cigarbox shape, keeping the humbucker and pots. Repaint the neck and headstock in something more subdued and maybe cladding the chopped down body with some rusty tinplate and turning the nasty thing into something even nastier (but cool).

I seem to have strayed back into circuit bending territory and my charity shop finds included two electronic childrens toys that are great items for modifications. Even as they are they can be used to make some interesting loops on my Akai Headrush. If you don't know anything about circuit bending, just type it into Youtube and have a look. I thought I was weird but some of these guys making this stuff are positivley mental!

What I did find that really excited me this week was a site I found that is related to circuit bending. It's a small collective of very clever guys who make stunning pieces of synth type equipment. They are sheer works of art as they stand, housed in lovely old cases with lots of copper plates, big old knobs, lights etc and they make some really cool sounds. Have a look at their site and see what I mean. http://www.folktek.com/

smojo's new website

2010-11-13T14:31:00.001Z

Just a quick note to say I am revamping my smojomusic website so if you're trying to look at it from the link, it won't work. Hope to have something up and running soon.

new Monte Christo and Cuaba CBGs

2010-11-07T19:51:00.007Z

Some photos of my latest creations.

A cigar box guitar message to young folk

2010-11-02T08:40:00.002Z

Although the majority of visitors to the UK CBG fest was made up of middle aged blokes, it was refreshing to see a number of young people and a few ladies there too. The high number of (shall we say) older men (I am purposely avoiding the word mature) is quite understandable. We are part of the 'baby boomer' brigade that grew up on rock n roll and have never wanted to let it go. Unlike the lyrics of The Who's My Generation, who sang 'hope I die before I get old', we didn't. And we only got old in our bodies, not so much in our hearts and heads. So we're hanging in there, following our passion for music and instruments and exercising our creative muscles. We were fed on blues and soul and folk and raw rock and roll music. Real bands, real people just having fun and doing what they wanted. Sadly today, the music industry has lost it's soul and degenerated into a multi-million pound industry mostly churning out the equivalent diet of sanitised, flavourless baby food.

So what's this message to young folk then? Well you see, we older dudes can still remember the good times and want a piece of it still. So we are still flying the flag for good, home grown music but we are getting to an age where we will be disappearing from this planet. It's nice to think that there is a younger generation (though in a minority) who feel the same way as us about music and that was evident at the fest. I am impressed and heartened by the enthusiasm and creativity of the young folks that were there and that lurk about on various internet sites. So what I want to say to you is this. Keep up the good work, be yourselves, fly the flag of individuality and true creativity. Seek out the good stuff that is still being produced. Don't be frightened to come forward and let your work be known. Talk to your mates and get them on board. Lastly, don't be shy to come and talk to us oldies. We're not your parents! In CBG World the generation gap doesn't exist and we need your energy and enthusiasm. We're pretty much the same as you inside, we're just walking around in Ratrod bodies.

Love and Peace from an ageing hippy.

Two guitars finished, tobacco tin amps started

2010-10-26T17:50:00.004Z

Just finished my latest two CBGs. One of them has to be the prettiest looking yet. A white and green Cuaba box. I've done th neck in a matching white rubed-down paint finishe with a crackle paint green headstock. The other is a big yellow Monte Christo box. Neck in rubbed down red paint. Pleased with both of them, just need to let them settle in by playing them a little to make sure there's no problems with them before they go to their new homes.

So my next project is a batch of tin amps. Gonna make about 5 or 6. Some will be in nice old tobbacco tins and some in other old tins that I have picked up. One is a lovely yellow and red mustard tin from 1979. I'm quite excited about this project because I love making these little things and I think the old tins look incredibly cool. Probably follow those up with soem baccy tin mics if I can find some suitable inserts. The last ones I made used old 1960s telephone receivers. Being an ex-telecomms man, I had them in my "bits" box already. Need to investigate other sources.

best cigar humidors

2010-10-26T17:38:00.003Z

OK so if you've found yourself here looking at cigar box guitars, you might also be interested in cigars themselves and something nice to keep them in. Maybe even to make a guitar from a special box like a humidor. Get the best cigar humidor here.

UK 2010 CBG Fest part two

2010-10-19T18:18:00.008Z

Top photo - Here's the "gang of five" UK CBG dudes at the 2010 Fest Birmingham. left to right: Chickenbone John, Hollowbelly, Smojo, Bluesbeaten Redshaw and Roosterman (at the front)
Bottom photo - After hours jam session (left to right) MrRandomWritings, Chickenbone John, Roosterman.

I'm still wading through all the messages, photos and vids that have been posted on Cigar Box Nation that have followed the event. Everyone who went, seems to be buzzing with excitement. I could get to like this thing!

UK CBG fest 2010 report

2010-10-18T18:37:00.007Z

Wow, another cracking event and a big thumbs up to Chickenbone John for organising it and thanks to him from us all for the hard work he put into it. This was the second one and I can't wait for the next. Highlights of the day for me were the short documentary made by Lesley Ross on the UK cigar box guitar movement; Hollowbelly's playing workshop (see photo of him playing my special); doing my demo on my pedals (what a buzz and a huge step forward for me personally); the evening gig (loved Tinqui8's spot in particular) and just meeting so many great folk. It really felt like being part of a big family. There just wasn't enough time in the day, to explore everything and talk to all the folks I have met online. What I love about this stuff is the huge enthusiasm that we all seem to have for it. The creativity that goes into it is inspiring and the opportunity to express your self in an individual way is liberating.

Roosterman gave a very entertaining demo on cbg building - he's a natural comedian and once you've net him, not forgotten. The day also included a viewing of Max Shore's CBG documentary in full; a great open mic session; playing workshops with Yellowbelly Flatt and Chickenbone John (pity I missed CB John's but it coincided with the film). A UK based CBG fest has been my dream for a few years and so this was a a dream come true!

Here's Hollowbelly at the evening gig.

October in Smojo's cigar box guitar world

2010-10-06T08:53:00.003Z

Well that's just about the end of summer, soon we'll be cabin'd up for the winter. It always depresses me, the thought of having to wait six months before we emerge again. But it's a good time to get on with some projects. October is now a landmark for UK cbgers with the Birmingham fest coming up very soon. It's shaping up nicely already. I've seen a preview of Lesley's short documentary and if you're still hovering about whether to got to the fest, we get to see the full version plus Max Shores long docu about them that was aired on the U.S. tv channels last year.

I've somehow let myself get drawn into doing a demo at the fest. I'll be featuring the Akai Headrush mainly and a few other bits. Kinda scary as I'm not used to public appearances but I know I'll be buzzing with excitement when I get through it. There's some kind of weird masochistic element here. Something pushes me on to do some public stuff but my old shy self wants to run a mile! Can you figure that one? I'm blowed if I can. anyway I hope to see some of you good people at the fest. Come and say hello and forgive me if I don't immediately know who you are.

What's happening here then? The two new cbgs haven't progressed much due to hospital visiting my old mum who fell and broke her hip. I need to find some time to crack on with them. I'm also doing some practising for the Akai demo. These looping pedals really are fantastic toys. If I could choose to keep just one pedal - it would be this one. There are probably better loopers out there but I like this because it's quite simple and has a great tape delay facility. You can really push your creativity with this thing without needing a degree in music.

I have a lovely old red Kit-Kat tin and I'm hoping to make a guitar out of it once I finish the two on the bench. When I do it will definitely be another "keeper". I'm also trying to devise a simple two channel combiner that will fit in a baccy tin. No batteries or power. Just want to combine a CBG and a mic into one output so I can connect it to the Akai pedal. I have a small mixer that will do the job to perfection but it's a bit cumbersome to hawk around. If there are any electronics wizards reading this and you know how I can make one, please drop me a line.

Saturday and I got the blues

2010-09-25T17:51:00.007Z

Well apart from my wife breaking two toes a couple of weeks ago and my mother breaking her hip, everything is fine and dandy but I still got the blues. So what better to deal with it, than immersing myself in cigar box guitary stuff. My two new guitars are well on the way and I am falling in love with one already. It's on order for someone so it will be a short love affair. It's the white one you see in the photo.

I've posted a photo of the radio amp I've hacked together too. What do you reckon to it?

I've just set up a new Myspace page for my stuff. Not much on it yet but it's slow work figuring out how to do this and that to customise it into something worth looking at. I'd like some CBG friends so if you feel like taking a look and have a page on it yourself, please send me an invite. Here's the link.

http://www.myspace.com/smojomusic

I'm still here flying the flag for cigar box guitars

2010-09-22T20:51:00.004Z

Hi folks, sorry if I've been a bit slack with my postings lately. I'm still as fired up over these things as before, just had lots of other stuff going on too. My passion in life is guitars and in particular, cigar box ones and all the crazy stuff that goes with them.

First some updates. The uke is at last finished. I'm pleased with it but doubt I'll make any more. Too complicated - I like the simplicity of a three stringed, no frets, cigar box guitars. Fun to build cos it doesn't take forever and quite forgiving if you make a little mistake. I've finished the old radio HMV amp and am well chuffed with it. First stage was to install an LM386 based amp circuit board. I just used the existing speaker, the on/off switch and one of the tone control pots. The rest of the radio was left inside but disconnected. The only adjustable control was a gain pot. The thing is pretty loud but very trebly. So second stage was to use the original volume pot so I can turn it down when the wife shouts at me, and add a treble cut control. Not too happy with the treble control. I need to experiment with that. But the whole thing fits the bill for a inique ratrod amp. Definitley a "keeper". I'll post a photo soon. looking for some cheapo radios at car boot sales now.

The UK CBG fest is looming. Got my ticket, booked a hotel - can't wait. Gonna be a great day. There'll be a couple of CBG documentaries to watch, some building and playing workshops, stuff to buy and a great gig in the evening but best of all is meeting all the like-minded folk. Aren't you sick of politics, newspapers, rubbish tv, work, adverts, crappy people messing up our world and all the rest of the negative stuff? Well I am and this whole cigar box guitar stuff keeps me going and it's good to know there's some other folk out there that feel as positive about this crazy thing too. Thanks for your great company and if you can get there I really recommend it. See my post on it for the link.

Got a great email from a guy in the Netherlands who wants a guitar making, so it's got me motivated again to make a couple of new ones. Had some probs with my bandsaw which has been "wandering" when I tried cutting the necks. Fitted a new blade and it seems to be OK so watch out for some photos of these new builds as they develop.

One of the problems I've found with CBGs with piezo pick-ups is the tendency to feedback when you crank the amp. I think I found the answer - a graphic equalizer pedal. I just bought one on Ebay for UK £25 - a Behringer EQ700. Only had a quick play with it but can see that tweaking the sliders down at the lower-mid range settings, really cuts the feedback. Why prat around with all the various methods of shielding the piezo when you can just plug in a pedal? This one is a bit plasticy but for the price is OK for home use and light gigging.

Finally I'm back into doing so experimenting with my playing with a view to recording. I'm messing about with my Akai Headrush on tape delay and loops. Some pretty weird stuff coming out that's got me excited. I've just opened a Myspace musicians page so I can put some recordings on it. I'm trying to get it to look interesting but it's not easy to work with - a learning curve to climb. So far there's not much on, just a short music track and a photo. Hoping to fill it out with some more stuff soon but if you want to have a look at it, here's the link.

http://www.myspace.com/smojomusic

September plans

2010-09-04T15:43:00.003Z

Well what a sad state of affairs - I have no CBGs to offer at the moment. I'm still struggling to finish the uke that is on order. I've had lots of problems with the build and it will probably be the only one I make. The main reasons are that they are a completely different beast to CBGs and require a lot more work to make them. There's been a steep learning curve and I've had to correct a few silly mistakes. I'm ready to move on and do some new stuff. I have to make some more cigar box guitars soon. They are so much more satisfying to make and play than anything else.

I'm keen to start building some electronic stuff again, like tobacco tin amps. I have an old HMV porable radio - looks probably 1970s and I think it will make a wicked amp. I'm pulling some of the guts out to replace with an amp module but using the original eliptical speaker and control knobs. Come back in a few weeks to see how it progressed.

I more or less finished the "Ratocaster" - a no name strat copy made up from a box of bits I bought at a guitar fair last year. It got put to oneside and I finally got around to dealing with it. It's strung up and very playable. Needs a few tweaks to the action and intonation but almost there. Has a very different tonality to any of my other guitars. I personally favour the warmer grttier sounds of humbuckers but it's nice to have something completely different to what I already have. This has a very trebly almost metallic sound.

Been experimenting with making bottleneck slides from wine bottles. Tony Furtado showed me how he makes them when I went to his gig a few months ago. He's made thousands. My first attempts have been mostly disappointing but I've made a sort of jig to cut the initial score mark nice and straight around the neck. It works a treat and has improved my results. I guess it's always going to be a bit "hit and miss" making these things but it's another fun side of this crazy stuff. Hoping to take some to the UK 2010 CBG fest in October for a bit of beer money.

2010 UK cigar box guitar fest

2010-08-29T17:12:00.003Z

So it's almost September now and I've not been here much. Sorry if I disappointed anyone. Well I want to tell you about the second UK CBG festival being held in Birmingham in October. Tickets are now on sale at the link below. Have a look and see what's on. Chickenbone John, who organised a cracking day last year, has been busy again and this one looks like being even better. You can either buy a ticket for the whole day or just for the evening performance. If you are interested in building or playing CBGs, then try to get there for the full day. You really won't regret it and you'll come away buzzing. I've ordered my ticket so I need to get busy making a few things to take with me. Hope to put some more stuff on here soon.

http://chickenbonejohn.bigcartel.com/

can't believe it's July already

2010-07-16T18:22:00.003Z

Just looked at my last post - May and now we're half way through July! I know I've been inactive on the cigar box stuff but didn't realise how long for. Summer is here and for a change, here in England, we have been having a hot and sunny one. I seem to have deserted the cool, dark, dusty, basement workshop for the bright, warm sunshine - vacations, afternoon beers, walks in the park - you know all that boring stuff you need to do in summer. I do find that creativity comes and goes in cycles. I get really hyped up over something, then like a fire, it starts to burn lower and if you're not careful, it dies out. Well this cbg stuff seems to keep glowing like an ember. I just need to feed it a little and it bursts into flames again.

I've been plodding along with a CB uke for weeks. Because it's a new direction, it is taking a lot of time and thinking about. I'm not really enthusiastic about it but it's on order and I need to get it built. So I forced myself out of the apathy (mainly because it's rainy now) and into the workshop. The build is progressing nicely. Just fitted the frets (not my favourite job) but necessary for a uke. The neck is looking great. I need to file the fret ends smoothe and treat the neck - probably just oil it. Trying to decide on a finish for the headstock. I like to reflect the colour or design of the body on the headstock in some way. It just seems to make the design "gel".Another new direction in this build will be the bridge. I'm gonna try make a traditional uke style bridge. There's not so much leeway for individuality on a uke than there is on a three-string CBG. Mainly because there are certain elements that must be present, like fret wires and the fact that the nylon strings don't transmit the vibrations as well as steel. So I don't think you can get away with rusty bolts for bridges and nuts like you can on a CBG. I'll post some photos soon. Until then, enjoy the summer whilst it's here.

two new cigar box guitars

2010-05-31T09:51:00.002Z

Just added some photos of two new guitars for sale to my Flickr page. The green Ramone Allones was one I made a while ago and was going to be a keeper. I just made another with the same type of box because I love the colour of it. I am keeping that one instead. Sounds/plays just the same but I like the paint job on the new one better - my privilege. Ha. The second one is Don Tomas box. Similar to several I previously made. They are a decent sounding box and a nice crisp design on the front. I like the crackle finish paint and distressing treatment on the neck of this one. Both tuned to open A or can detune to G with same strings. Fretless 3 stringers as usual for great slide playing. Have a look at my Flickr page and email for more details if you are interested.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21767997@N05/sets/72157622689976796/

2 new toys

2010-05-26T19:25:00.004Z

Just had a great caravanning holiday in Devon (anti-caravanners might want to leave here). My fingers were getting restless when I stumbled into a music shop. Right in the doorway were some ukes. I've been asked to build a cbg uke but not sure about construction yet. I've been fancying one for myself and being too impatient to wait until I can make one, I decided to spend my birthday money and buy one satisfying the need for a musical toy for the caravan and a model for basing a cbg uke on. I avoided the cheapest painted ones you can pick up for about £15 and picked a natural wood concert model. It's a sweet little instrument and great fun for doodling on.

A day or two after buying it, I came across a junk shop. A proper one full of tatty stuff and run by an old chap who was fiddling with an old radio. I spotted a narly looking banjo-uke, all dusty, rusty and nicely worn. A ratrod uke if ever there was one! The bridge was placed up near the bottom of the neck - the wrong end of the skin. I asked the bloke how much he wanted for it - £25. I had a good look and moved the bridge roughly to where it should be and strummed it. "Sounds better already" he said. "That should be worth a fiver off the price then" I said cheekily. "Are you making me an offer" he replied. "You got a deal" I said and bought it for a crisp £20 note.

I got it back to the van and sat outside in the sun to play with my second new toy of the week. The strings were still on it and it all seemed pretty much intact. I tuned it up and had a little play on it. So far the wife hadn't objected too much but when I put my upturned straw hat on the ground in front of me, in case any fellow campers felt the need to reward my entertainment with some gold, she put her foot down and ordered its removal. It's a bugger to keep in tune but it's fun and looks great.

building cigar box guitars again

2010-05-12T18:19:00.002Z

Well I've broken the spell that was keeping me from making guitars. I just needed to completed some other unfinished projects and have a crack at some recording. I've done enough of both now to satisfy that lust for a while and feel I needed to make some more guitars. I'm building two simultaneously. Neither will be meant to be keepers - but I've said that before and had to eat my words! I'm using my last green Ramone Allones box for one guitar, these are my favourites in terms of making pretty looking guitars. The other box is a Don Thomas one. Nothing radically new about either design but I'm using my aged paint look on the necks with burnt in fret markers. I think they'll both be pretty guitars when finished. I have thought about trying to age some of these paper covered boxes but am reluctant to try in case I just make a mess of them. I think I prefer to let them age naturally by the owners. After a year or two they will blend down nicely with the other ageing I have done to the necks.

Talking about recording, I had a fun time messing with my new gear. Mainly using the Akai Headrush, my Zoom 505 effects pedal then recording it in simple mono on the Backtrack device. It works well - nice and simple. The backtrack records everything you play as seperate WAV files, so you can drag them onto your PC, import them into your editing software and produce a track quite easily. I found that whilst simply "messing about", a musical idea would start to take shape and with a bit more practise and fine tweaking, I can produce something quite listenable (I think). I now have a loose plan to collect these odd tracks together and eventually put them together as an album. Maybe not for general consumption, but mainly just as an interesting project to work on with a tangible product at the end of it. I'd urge any of you players to have a go at something similar yourelves. It's fun and it tightens up your playing and helps get you out of those ruts we tend to get stuck in when just playing on our own.

practice makes perfect

2010-05-02T15:17:00.004Z

Not much to tell you about CBGs at the moment, been having a rest from building them and concentrating more on playing. I've been messing about with the Akai Headrush, creating loops and other effects and even recording some of it. As this is a newish direction for me, I want to tell you a couple of lessons I've learnt from the experience. I'm sure there's a few of you who are like me, purely amateurs, playing on your own but with some small aspirations to produce some of your own music and maybe, hope you might get good enough one day to record something. Even give or sell a few copies of your own album. Probably you lack confidence and therefor think you'll never be able to produce something good or professional enough. Well I've got news for you, you can. The first lesson I've learnt is that practice definitely helps but may not "make perfect". The second lesson is - it doesn't need to be perfect! Let me expand on these.

I've never been disciplined to practise regularly, I tend to pick the guitar up when I feel like it, mess around on it and tend to play the same old familiar pieces that I have been playing many times. Nothing wrong with that but it is very limiting and gets boring. It's one of the problems of playing on your own. The Akai pedal has really opened things up for me because I can create a looped riff or rhythm to play along to. It's quite easy with a little practice and that's where I am learning this first lesson. I noticed how my tempo drifts, tending to speed up. The looped riff is very regular and so it shows up my playing when I jam to it. So when I get a nice little idea going, I have to really listen to the beat and concentrate on keeping time with it in order to produce something listenable. Something you don't do when just playing on your own. I find I keep trying over and over until I get it right because I am now motivated to. So there's the practise bit. Even a small amount pays dividends. So don't give up just because it seems hard to get it right. Just try again and again and it will eventually happen. You'll benefit a helluva lot from it.

Second lesson - aiming for perfection. I'm a bit of a perfectionist at heart with most things I do. If I wait until my playing is 100% perfect, I'll never achieve my small ambition, to record an album of my own music. Let me say here, I have no ideas of selling thousands of copies and getting famous. It's just an aim for my own satisfaction, to actually produce something tangible out of all this. A few pieces of music I can say are my own creation. So yes "practise makes perfect" but do we need or even want perfection? Think about it - we are living in cigar box guitar world. It's the imperfections that we like and even strive for. What makes music "alive" are often the small variations of tone and tempo in a person's playing. Listen to some techno stuff generated from a computer or whatever and you'll probably agree that it sounds sterile and clinical compared to a live performance played on "real" instruments. Fine if you like your music like that but for me, I like the warmth and soul that a real person playing an instrument, puts into the music. Think about blues and folk. Very often the playing and singing is nowhere near perfect in terms of purity. Some vocal examples - compare the likes of classical singers like Pavarotti who are probably pitch and tempo perfect to the likes of Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Tom Waits, Howlin Wolf to mention a few. What they might lack in perfect singing voices is more than compensated for in their feel, emotion and delivery. They're not trying to sing roughly, it's just the way they are - they are just being themselves and you have to like it or leave it. I saw a video clip of Son House playing bottleneck slide. His guitar sounded out of tune, he was holding the slide at about 45 degrees angle to the neck and to be honest, if that was me playing, I would probably feel a little embarassed. But there's no doubting it was a great performance and completely enjoyable to me. The emotion and rough quality of his singing and playing was what made him great. No matter how much I practise, I'll never be able to come close to that. But I might come close to just being Smojo, whatever he/me has to offer.

So I say to all you perfectionists, by all means practice and try to get close to a great sound/performance as you can, but don't be frightened to just let it rip and once you have something down that you feel 75% happy with, that's good enough for most folks. Don't let the striving for perfection get in the way of just enjoying your music and being creative. That's the key - let your creativity flow unimpeded, have fun with it, be proud of your creations and don't be frightened to share it with like-minded people.

I've been lazy

2010-04-16T18:14:00.003Z

Since I finished my "special" CBG I've been lazy. Well not in general cos I've had lots to do and not had much time for making guitars. I'll get motivated soon. Now what I have been doing is having a great time. I spent part of the weekend with my CBG buddy Mark. We had a total cigar box guitar indulgence. Another "show and tell" session with a a few extras. Mark's neighbour called in with his Eko acoustic bass and we had a little bluesy jam session. Wish I could get more of these somehow, it really does sharpen up your playing skills and more importantly, your listening skills. I've found that to be the case when using my Akai looping pedal and when trying to record some multi-track stuff. When you just play on your own, you aren't aware that your tempo is not 100% but when you jam along with someone else or a drum machine or recording device, it really comes home. So my tip for improvement is to find some way of playing to some other source - a buddy, jam track, drum machine etc.

Highlight of the weekend with Mark was a local gig where a guy called Tony Furtdao was billed. He plays slide guitar and banjo, a sort of mix of American folk with a touch of bluegrass and blues. If someone had described that to me I might not have been all that interested but I trusted Mark's judgement as he'd seen him before. I was not disappointed. The guy played number after number and I loved everything he did. He has an incredibly fast fingerstyle and some pretty mean slide techniques. I thoroughly recommend you check him out.

the creative process is like magic

2010-03-26T19:05:00.010Z

I've now put a video on Youtube showing the new CBG together with the case and an amp I made from an old radio extension speaker. You can here it and me waffling about it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGoVjBD1VTk

I'm going to waffle a bit more about it here. What I want to discuss is how enjoyable it has been making this guitar and the case that I made a few weeks ago, which will house it. It has taken me to a new level of creativity that I haven't found before. Now you might think I'm getting a bit weird here but the fact that you are here reading about these things, means we have a certain weirdness in common so I'm forgiven! You see I decided they were going to be special in some way. They were always going to be keepers so I was prepared to take however long it took to get there. I always put some original element into each guitar I make, but to some extent, the main construction usually follows a certain loose formula. There was no formula here. There were several new learning curves to overcome - fitting frets, a magnetic coil pickup making the box etc. I ruined one neck to start with, which was a stupid mistake because I hadn't thought it through properly. So that's when I decided to take my time and get it right and build a guitar I would cherish for a long time. Having decided there was no rush to finish them, I could allow myself the luxury of time and letting my ideas ferment a while, before committing them to the build. The effect of that was to allow me to savour the creative process. A bit like enjoying a special meal, not just eating it to satisfy hunger, but taking your time and enjoying every mouthful. The luxury of not rushing it meant I was happy to experiment a bit first and if something didn't look quite right, I could try something else until I was happy.

Now this is where it gets even weirder. I have a sort of theory, that if you use a bit of sensitivity in the creative process and add the ingredient of time, so that things can materielise, the desired object (guitar, case or whatever you're making) will take form by itself to a large degree. You will need to help it along with your craft skills, but it will gather momentum and attract things to itself (I warned you it was getting weird.) Let me explain how this process panned out with this guitar. I found the cigar box at a car boot sale. It was quite old and nicely aged. Inside it were a pair of dice and a plastic toy Skeletor. I had a loose idea of what I wanted - an understated, aged looking, rat-rod guitar with frets.

So that determined the general feel of how it should look but not much to go on there. Let's see how it develops. Now to start creating. This is where your sensitivity, imagination and an eye for what looks good, pay dividends. The first element to find it's way to the guitar was the magentic pick-up. I was incredibly fortunate to win a hand-wired pick-up that JuJu had made when I attended the Birmingham CBG fest. That was definitely going to go in this guitar which determined how the neck needed to be built. A hefty reinforcing piece inside the box to facilitate cutting a big chunk out to house the pick-up. I built the neck and thought about how to finish it. The aged look of the box "told" me, the neck needed to look aged too, so needed some woodstain. I experimented with a few shades and found one that I thought looked good with the colour of the box, a dark stain that rubs back nicely to look like it's worn. I found a cool piece of rusty metal plate in my uncle's garage. Painted white with rust bursting through, it had a number of holes drilled in it. The shape reminded me of the chrome control plate on a Telecaster. Bingo, that's what I'll do with that. I had an old starter module from a flourescent light fitting. I liked the knurled edge and simple shape of it and being white, I thought it would make a nice volume knob to go with the white rusty plate. I cut it in half and glued it over an old knob so it would fit the spindle of the potentiometer. One of the holes in the plate could be enlarged to house the jack socket. I decided a white headstock would go well with the white plate and knob but the aged look of the box "suggested" I should give it an aged look too. I used some crackle finish liquid on the front of it then painted it with white emulsion. See how the metal plate is partly determining the way the other components will look. A little brown boot polish yellowed the white paint and some judicial sanding made it look worn-in. The minimal look I aspired to told me I shouldn't go overboard on the fret markers, so I opted for tiny triangles of white in the corners of the frets. An old rusty hinge from my box of bits made a tailpiece for the strings, it. The bone slide I bought from Randy came with some nut blanks. I figured as this was going to be a special guitar, I'd use them to make the nuts and saddle. That determined the bridge which needed to be wood to hold the bone. I had an idea I wanted an old, well-worn but thin, leather strap. I found two old dog leashes on a car boot sale, perfect for the job. A little modification to the ends and I have a cool, clip-on strap. The sound holes - now there's a story there but I'm keeping that one a mystery! Finally I had the idea of using the dice and skeletor as part of the guitar. I sliced off one side of one dice with the intention of inlaying it into the fretboard for the 12th fret. I tried it in place but it spoilt the minimal look of the fretboard so what else could I do with it? Make a tiny pick. What about Skeletor? Too big, new looking and colourful to use but what about cutting his tiny head off, which then looked like a small jewel and planting it somewhere? I found the perfect place, just nestling behind the nut on the headstock. The headstock was square-ended to begin with but the rounded shape of the pick-up and switchplate suggested a rounded end would look better, so I cut it round too.

There we have it. Can you see how time and a sensitivity to the design and the components you have, will sort of tell you what needs to be done and how it kind of shapes the final look? And if you allow yourself this luxury, you'll get immense pleasure from your creation. I am always surprised at the end of a build, to some degree, as to how a guitar turns out. It's almost like looking at it for the first time. Until it's strung up and I've played it, it's just a bunch of parts, but then hey presto, as if by magic, it becomes an entity of it's own. It's like a butterfly emerging from a coccoon.

See I told you I was weird! Weird is great - embrace your weirdness and get creating something that will be entirely unique, incredibly personal and totally enjoyable.

cgb "the special" is finished

2010-03-21T18:46:00.004Z

Yeah at last it's done and I'm well pleased with it. It has great sustain which can be a problem with cbgs. I put that down to the hefty neck reinforcing I had to do inside the box to facilitate cutting away a recess for the pickup. I have a three way switch to select either the piezo or the magnetic pups or both together. The piezo is much hotter than the magnetic and so the middle position, where both pups are in circuit, is a bit piontless becuase all you can hear is the piezo. It's quite heavy for a cbg and I like that solid feel, nicely balanced too. The action seems just right to me, high enough for slide but able to be fretted with fingers too. I have it tuned to open G with strings 456 from a set of 10 guage electric steel strings. When I get time I'll do a video for Youtube.

some cigar box guitar ramblings

2010-03-15T19:27:00.003Z

I'm amazed and thrilled at the spectrum of experiences I've enjoyed through this wierd and wonderful subject. I've just had the pleasure of free tickets to the Pasion de Buena Vista - a fantastic stageshow of Cuban music and dancing. It all came about from meeting someone who bought a guitar from me and who happens to be the tour manager for the show at present. He kindly offered me a backstage tour where I met some of the musicians, then free tickets for the show later. What a brilliant show and it was a thrill to meet the guys. I even got to play one of my guitars for them. I am deeply thankful for the opportunity.

Next up is tickets to Ian Clayton's Concert for Billie. It's a benefit gig that Ian organises each year in memory of his young daughter who died in a tragic accident a few years ago. I'm really looking forward to that and it came my way through CBGs.

I've made some great friends through CBGs too. But one of the best thrills is when I finish a guitar, string it up, tune it and start playing. Something deeply satisfying happens. I know it sounds weird, but up until that point, a new guitar is still just a collection of parts that I have assembled. Even though I am familiar with every aspect, I don't see it as an instrument in it's own right until I have added the final touches and played it. Those first few minutes of playing are incredibly satisfying. It's like a new baby taking it's first breath. I have a little ritual when I reach this point. I bring it into the lounge and stand it against a plant stand next to the tv in front of where I usually sit. It's just so I can look at it, admire it and drink it in. It's as if I am seeing it for the first time and I can't get enough of it for a day or two. I can look at it and think "Yes I like that, I'd buy it if I didn't already own it". Weird isn't it? It's as if it came from somewhere other than myself.

Updates - the "special" is finished. I'm absolutely delighted with it. It completes my CBG "kit". It goes fantastically well with the wooden case I made and the old radio extension speaker that I converted into an amp way back and my hand-cut bottleneck slide. Every bit of it my own work that creates a completely unique and desirable outfit. This is a definite keeper and no money would prize it from my hands. I'm gonna take some photos of the whole kit soon and post them so be sure to watch out for that. Hopefully I'll get around to videoing it for Youtube.

The little recording studio I'm building is almost there now. Just received my Fostex PM04 monitor speakers but need to build a shelf to put them on. I had a play with the Roland midi keyboard I bought on Ebay. It took some figuring and I'm not completley happy with the set-up yet. It does some random things when playing. Occasionally, the notes played, continue playing until you hit the keys again. Not sure what causes it, probably something in the software I'm using that needs a tweak. Aren't computers frustrating? That's all for now.

bone slide

2010-03-03T18:38:00.005Z

As promised here's the photo of the bone slide I had made for me. It's had mixed reactions. Some people shudder at the thought of putting a bone on their finger. Well it doesn't bother me one bit, after all we're full of bones ourselves! So what do I think of it? Well it's a beautiful piece of craftsmanship first of all. Randy, the guy who made it in the USA, really works with you to produce a custom slide the way you want it. I was a little surprised at the large size of it. I knew it would be bigger than a glass slide and not circular, but it is quite a hefty piece. Randy provides some self adhesive material to stick inside to take up the slack. The surface of it is smoothed and polished to a very high degree and provides a beautiful smooth, silky action when using it. I think the thickness and weight of it also helps to give a good action. The bone material works great as a slide and helps reduce the harsh "clatter" you can get with glass or metal slide if you hit the strings a little clumsily. As a special "gift", Randy also included a bone pick and some nut/saddle blanks. These will be worked into my "special" and should help with the tone. If you want one of these, you can contact Randy by email at farmish@comcast.net he calls his business Mojobone Works and he's a real nice guy to deal with. Be sure to tell him who sent you there. No I don't get a commission, it's just nice to know.

some cbg photos as promised

2010-03-02T19:10:00.023Z

I made an effort and took some photos to show you as promised. This is the "special" I've been working on for a while. It may not look much but my design aims were to make a visually understated guitar, quite minimal looking and a bit of a "ratrod". Having made a plain, aged-wood finish guitar before, and liked the look of the monochrome brown, I decided to make another but with some added refinements. The hand-wound magnetic pickup I won at the Birmingham CBG fest is the first refinement that makes it a special. Adding a second pup in the form of a piezo disc and a changeover switch plus volume control were the next additions. And to top it off, I've got some real bone blanks for the nut and saddle. Check out my posting on the bone slide to read about these.

cigar box ukes, recording and the "special"

2010-03-01T20:41:00.002Z

I've got to make a couple of ukes, so there's a new challenge for me. Not sure how I'm going to make and attach the neck but I'll figure something. Big learning curve at the moment. I knew nothing about them except they have 4 strings and frets. So I reckon I can do the frets OK now but how about angled headstocks? I usually take the easy route with the guitars, just a simple cutaway headstock similar to Fender teles. I have a piece of hefty teak which should cut into a couple of nice necks and incorporate an angled head.

Still building my home recording kit. Just bagged a Roland PC-160 midi keyboard for a decent price on Ebay. Should be fun creating some midi tracks to blend with my guitar stuff. I bought a small, cheapo computer station to put everything on. Just need a pair of reasonable monitor speakers to complete the set-up then there's no excuse for not producing something listenable - aprt from lack of skills!

The "special" cbg is coming on well but still slowly. I wired up JuJu's coil pickup and a piezo disc onto a three way switch to give similar set-up to a tele - neck/both/bridge configuration. Added a volume control too. I'm using a 250k log pot. Got the nut and bridge to make now, add the tail piece, then I can string her up.

Hey I need to take some photos of all this stuff to show you. I keep promising but notice I haven't showed you some of it yet.

quote of the day

2010-03-01T19:55:00.001Z

"We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars"

Ian Clayton - Bringing it all back home

2010-02-23T12:24:00.005Z

Pretty excited this week. Ian Clayton the author and tv presenter paid me a visit and is now the proud owner of a smojo cigar box guitar. What I really want to tell you about is his book Bringing It All Back Home. Ian grew up in a gritty mining town in Yorkshire in the 1960's/70s. He has a passion for music - blues in particular. He's journeyed all over England to gigs and travelled to India and the USA and has collected thousands of albums and mementos from his travels. He has a love of stories of everyday folk and his book combines all these elements into one, highly enjoyable read. When I finished it, I wanted more and just didn't want it to end. He has a knack of touching on subjects, thoughts, stories, observations that are close to my own early life. You feel as if you've know him for years and wish you had! If you love a good yarn, music and grew up in the UK in the last century, you're gonna love this book. I'll be reading it again before long. Have a look at his website to see what he's about.

http://www.ianclayton.info/

"my special" cigar box guitar update

2010-02-15T21:00:00.004Z

Making some progress at last with the "special" I'm building. Got the frets in, fiddly and a bit scary when you think you can mess the whole thing up if you're not careful. JuJu's single coil pick-up is sitting nicely in the lid now, just need to get some bits to wire it in. I made a jack socket and volume control plate out of a piece of rusty metal which is looking cool too. The headstock has been given a white crackle finish look. I'm really taking things slowly though, thinking about every detail. When trying to create a "ratrod" (old distressed) look, it's a fine line you tread between too opposing forces. The desire to make something that looks like it's thrown together from junk and the strive for perfection which can lead you to over-working it. It needs to look like crap but in a cool and pleasing way and most of all, it needs to play well too. Of course you never know if you've created a winner until it's strung up and by that time, most of the work is done.

Been doing some home recording. Wow that takes some concentration. First the steep learning curve of getting to grips with new technologies and software can be extremely frustrating and hard work. Then trying to get your musical ideas to sound half-decent. It makes me realise how hard it is to keep perfect timing when trying to play a new track to add to it. Anyhow, after many hours of messing about, I eventually created a short piece which I am fairly pleased with. No cigar box guitars were hurt during the process - in fact none were used. I'm playing my Harmony H44 through a Zoom pedal and some looping provided by the Akai Headrush. See what you think, it can be heard on my Handmademusic site here.

http://handmademusic.ning.com/profile/smojo

this 'n that

2010-01-29T18:45:00.003Z

Been playing catch-up on a few projects. I had some finishing off to do on the guitar case. I needed to find a way of securing the guitar safely inside. I still have a few tweaks yet before being entirley happy with it. I made a leather belt to go around it for safety as the catches I used are to say the least - basic. Also it'll give it a bit more character. I like the hessian/sack lining I used on the case. As someone pointed out, sorta like a poor man's tweed. Might look good covering an amp.

My first attempt at fretting a CBG had mixed results. I tried it on a guitar I had already built. The action was far too high for correct intonation. So I took it apart, cut some relief in the neck under the lid to lower the action. It now has a medium sort of action which is just about low enough for fretting notes but still high enough for slide work. I sort of wish I'd left it alone from the start because it was a great sounding, simple guitar. Well you learn from your mistakes so in future, if I want frets, I'll design it with that in mind rather than adapt a good guitar.

I've got my home recording set-up, more or less complete but seem to have hit a "recorders block". Somewhat like "writers block" where you can't seem to find the creative inspiration. I get like this at times. It's partly due to my perfectionist approach to things. As a novice composer/recording engineer, I'm lacking a bit of confidence in producing something decent, so my sub-conscious puts barriers there on the basis that if I don't attempt something, then I can't make a crap job of it and be disappointed. Faulty logic really because if i don't attempt it, I'll have no results at all and still be disappointed and - wasted my time and money on the project. I know once I get started, I'll enjoy the process but as I have so many other things on the go, it's taking a back seat for now.

I picked up a Marshall Park 10 watt guitar amp from a kind person on Freecycle. This amp has a slight fault - a noisy gain pot. I took it apart and cleaned it but it's still faulty. It's an odd value, 200k ohm and I'm having difficulty finding one. So there's another project that will languish on my bench for a while. I've mentioned Freecycle before. People post items they want to give away and all you have to do is answer the e-mail saying you'd like it. You need to get in early if it's a popular item. Some people give it to the first responder, some draw lots so you don't always succeed in getting it, but I've done pretty well so far..... two guitar amps, a spanish acoustic guitar, mahogany shelves for cutting down into necks, loudspeakers for amps, an oscilloscope for testing my electronic stuff, a few cigar boxes and more. I'd like to add that if you do take stuff, it's nice to redress the balance and give some stuff away too. Don't be greedy. In the words of the great sage and philosopher Noel Gallagher of Oasis - "take what you need and be on your way."

What's next? Finish the "Special" CBG with the JuJu hand wound pick-up; hoping to carry on building the "Ratocaster" which is gathering dust; have a crack at a cigar box uke, start another batch of tobacco tin amps. That should keep me going for a while.

new toys

2010-01-17T09:05:00.003Z

Managed to bag a new Novation Nio 2/4 USB soundcard on Ebay and saved myself about £45 on shop prices. Not a dealer, just someone who had an unused one for some reason. OK you chance it going faulty and having no guarantee but it does come with a manufacturers one. I don't usually bother with them because buying locally, the seller usually honours the guarantee if you have the receipt. Electronics are pretty reliable these days so you are usually safe. Having said that, the Line 6 Backtrack recorder worked for a week then stopped. There's nothing mechanical in it except a couple of switches so you'd think you were safe with that. I rang the shop where I bought it, they are out of them. They said they'd have one by the end of the week - nope. So buying locally, in a regular shop, doesn't necessarily make things any easier.

So what about the Nio. I spent all afternoon playing with it (and made my eyes hurt for the rest of the day). It's looking promising. There's no printed manual but you get one on disc. You get two pieces of software to complement it. Ableton Lite recording software. Quite a steep learning curve but there's a good interactive tutorial, which is worth working through as it tells you how to configure it to work properly with your PC. This is important if you are buying it for the same reasons as me - latency problems. You also get software that gives you a virtual effects rack. This is cool and easy to use. You can select various amp types and effects components which are all adjustable like the real thing. Or you can just use the Nio as it is with a pair of headphones and your own pedals and instruments.

I spent most of my spare time this week making a wooden case for a CBG. Just wanted a lo-fi, rat rod type of thing to carry one guitar, but it had to look cool (of course). I'm pleased to say it has turned out great. I'll tell you more later but just leave you with a couple of photos for now.

bone slide

2010-01-08T19:43:00.001Z

Got my bone slide this week. Watch out for piccies and a review soon.

recording my cigar box guitar stuff

2010-01-08T19:18:00.003Z

I seem to have opened a can of worms by wanting to do some recording. A while ago I bought Cakewalk 4 recording software but haven't done anything with it. When I recently bought the Akai headrush looping pedal, I got excited enough to want to try my hand at recording. Well that led me to wanting/needing a small mixer so I can mix guitar and mic into the Headrush. So far so good. I also spotted a handy new piece of kit - the Line 6 Back Track. This'll plug into a guitar and keep track of anything you play. Great for keeping a copy of any good stuff you might knock out which you can save to PC and load into recording software. Still doing good. So I got everything set up, got a nice little groove going, saved on the Back Track.

So now comes the bummer. My laptop only has a mic input. First problem - The signal level from the Headrush is too high and distorts. I could use the mixer to drop it but then I can't use it with the guitar and looping pedal at the same time. Second problem is once you get one track down on the software and try playing another piece to it, you get a half second delay on the live signal out of the monitor headphones, so impossible to get your timing in synch. Feeling frustrated I decided to listen to my one and only decent track on the Back Track only to find that it's stopped working! Only had it a week or so. So I can't play with that either. Double bummer.

The good news - which I want to pass on to anyone thinking of recording with their PC, who might know little or nothing about it (like me) . I did some research and discovered my two problems can be sorted without having to buy a new PC. The delay is an effect called "latency" and you're gonna get this with most standard PC soundcards. The answer is a USB standalone soundcard. This will also solve my input level problem at the same time. It has direct monitoring of your live signal and you usually get two inputs which can be mixed to the correct signal level for your PC. There are several around - Line 6 pod studio; M-Audio Fast Track and Novation Nio all look good. The cheapest is the Line 6. You get amp modelling and recording software included and this one is the cheapest. M-Audio is more expensive but probably better quality but no amp modelling but the one that seems to offer the most, even though more expensive again, is the Novation Nio. Has amp effects modelling, two stereo inputs and recording software. I think that's the one I'll go for.

So don't hold your breath waiting to hear anything musical from Smojo for a while yet. More pennies needed to get the sound card and a steep learning curve getting to grips with all these new toys.

cigar box guitar New Year

2009-12-31T10:23:00.005Z

Shit! Where did the first decade go? If I'm gonna make it to be rich and famous and idolised by millions, I'm gonna have to get a move on! Well Seasick Steve has a few years on me and he managed it, so I guess he's a role model for us all. Realistically it ain't gonna happen but you know what? I'm blown over by how many hits I've had on this blog and some of my Youtube vids. That's my little piece of fame and thanks to you folks for checking out my stuff and coming back for more.

So what plans have I got for 2010? Generally, the old chestnuts - lose some weight, get fitter, use my time better, blah blah blah. But realistically - CBG/music-wise I want to take a bit of time out from building guitars for other people. I have a list of personal projects I want to complete. You'll have seen some of them I started here months/years ago. There's my super-duper two-guitar case with built-in amp I started way back. Well before that I want to make a simple, one-guitar case and that's near the top of the list. I never have a decent case to carry the odd guitar around. The other one was a bit too ambitious so never got finished. Next is what I call my JuJu special. It's a keeper for me, utilising the fabulous hand-wired magnetic pickup I won at the Birmingham CBG Fest, made by fellow cbg builder and Yorkshiremen, JuJu. It'll have frets and a volume control - two firsts for me. I want to finish my SMOJO RATOCASTER - the strat copy I am building from a box of parts I bought for £25. I want to make another batch of tobacco tin amps - had quite a few enquiries about those; a stabilised power supply for my electronic experimenting and lots more - maybe a CB uke, a dulcimer, diddley bo - the list is endless. That should take me to the end of the next decade!

But most of all - top of my list for 2010 is PLAY MORE. I've got some great gear now and should make better use out of it. Most of the creative challenges of CBG stuff have been explored, so the final chapter is to get some of my own music down on record and hopefully produce some kind of album. Not becuase I think my playing is particularly good or that anyone would want to listen to/buy it. Nope, it's a question of 'completing the journey'. How many conventional artists - painters etc get all the gear, learn the skills, make sketches etc then put them in a drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day. Surely the most satisfying aspect is to finish the work, frame it and hang it on a wall. Job done. Creativity should not be stiffled or bottled and stored away. Once you've created your masterpiece, whatever it is, it's so much more satisfying to let it go out into the world. Like setting a caged bird free! That's the thrill I get when I've built a guitar and someone wants it; or I write my blog and publish it. It's the release that makes you sort of go 'aaaghhh' inside. It's a bit like breaking wind, such a satisfying feeling when you let rip and release it! So that's what I want to do with the actual music. In the words of Frank Zappa 'blow it out your ass, motorcycle man' though I don't think he was referring to creative energy! (It's just a great line I wanted to use). Hopefully it'll be more like a John Lee Hooker line in boogie chillen - 'Let that boy boogie woogie, it's in him and it gotta come out. And I felt so goood'

Happy New Year folks and keep on doing what you makes you feel good.

Happy cigar box guitar Christmas

2009-12-23T19:40:00.004Z

Hi folks. I'd just like to say Happy Christmas to you all. Thanks for visiting my site, I would never have thought I'd reach so many people and so many hits on a subject as "odd" as cigar box guitars. It's four years since I first heard of them and had one given for Christmas. I've had so much satisfaction from all this. Building, playing, writing about them etc. Please keep coming back here and leaving a comment if you feel inspired to. I love to hear from other CBGers and am always happy to respond to any emails.

Well the fret-fitting experiment was a bit of a flop. Lessons learnt - don't try to retro-fit frets to an existing guitar unless it has a decent low action height. The intonation is crap due to the excessive stretching of the strings when trying to hold them down. Also the fret marks I had made were done with shallow saw-cuts which were wider than the fretwire tang and so there was little for them to grip to when I made the correct sawcut. I tried super-glueing them in which was only partly successful. Apart from that, they looked cool and weren't too difficult to fit but the guitar is still only suitable for slide playing. I may try to refit the neck so that the action is lower but I reckon if you want a fretted cbg, then best to start out from scratch with the intention and plan them into your build.

Hope you all have a great Christmas and that there are no nasty surprises in store. Keep the lo-fi, cigar box flag flying!

two latest cigar box guitars

2009-12-20T15:31:00.005Z

Here's the promised photos of the two new builds. They didn't hang around long, gone to a new home already. The white one is a Cuaba box, one of the prettiest I've had so far. The bridge is made from an allan key, the soundhole cover is a mounting from a wardrobe rail. The Partagas guitar started out as a fairly boring and too-new looking box. I aged it by creating a few dings and scratches then rubbing it with stain which deepened the colour. I wanted it to remain fairly simple and primitive looking so I created the soundholes to look as though they were burnt through but in fact they were drilled and then burnt with a soldering iron. The bridge is a nice rusty old nut and bolt.

So what's my next plans? I'm hoping to have a break from building any new guitars in order to finish a few projects. I want to get into fretwork. I've got the wire and a special fret-saw. Nice to see the saw is made in Sheffield - good old English manufacturing. I'm going to practise on some guitars I've had for a while. The first attempt will be to convert a 3-string fretless guitar into a "dulcitar" - basically a cbg with frets at certain positions that produce a particular scale when played, rather than at every semi-tone position. When I'm happy with my technique I'll fit frets to my half-built "special" that'll contain JuJu's hand-wired magnetic pickup. Maybe build another batch of tobacco tin amps and what I really want to do soon is make a simple wooden case to carry a cbg. It will get the SMOJO treatment to make it a cool box. I started a case months ago but it was too ambitious, with built-in amp and velvet lining. It's half-way there but it'll have to wait a while longer yet.

free - cigar box guitar xmas album

2009-12-16T20:00:00.002Z

Yes folks - it's free, it's an album of Christmas songs performed with cigar box guitars and it's brilliant. I'm sick of hearing the same old Christmas songs year after year. This is a refreshing change. It's been put together by Shane Speal, the creator of the Cigarbox Nation networking site . There's over 20 tracks by different folks who populate the site and there's an interesting mix of styles. I love it. Look for the download link on the Nation's home page. Wait for the free version to appear after about 45 seconds - just ignore all the advertising crap and you might need to have two or three attempts to download it but belive me, it's worth the effort. Enjoy

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/

this and that cigar box guitar stuff

2009-12-14T19:59:00.003Z

Been busy with decorating the bedroom so the important stuff (CBGs) has had to take a back seat. The two new guitars are taking shape now, hopefully they'll be finished in a week or so.

There's a new forum-style website started up for handmade instruments. I can't give out the URL yet as it's not gone public at the moment. The creator is Ted Crocker who's claim to fame is the builder of the fabulous guitar in "The Honeydripper"film. It's shaping up to be an interesting site with sections on percussion, wind and other types of instrument building as well as CBGs. It was here that I saw some fabulous hand made slides made for bones. They are customised for the buyer with engraved designs and you can have your name etched into it too. I've ordered one and will show you it when I get it. I'll give you the URL to the craftsman who makes them, once I get the slide.

It's coming up to my 4th anniversary in cigar box guitar world. I saw one on Ebay, loved the look of it, my wife said she'd buy it for me for Christmas and I immediately fell in love with it and started making my own. I'm just as enthusiastic as ever about them and I'm pleased to say there is a growing number of builders and players in the UK now. This year marked out first UK cbg fest and I'm sure there'll be another next year. I've met some great folks, both in the flesh and online through this crazy stuff and I'd like to say a big thanks to all who have visited my site, here and on Youtube and the encouraging comments and emails that some of you have left.

I have a list of ideas and projects I'd like to complete in the future so plenty of material to write about here. Please keep dropping in to see what I'm doing occasionally. I'm intending getting further into my playing and some recording as well as continuing to build more handmade blues beasts.

and another toy and two new CBGs

2009-12-03T19:23:00.005Z

Yup, another cool toy to add to my armoury. It's a Tapco Blend 6 mixer. I needed a small mixer to be able to combine several souces into the Headrush. So now I can connect a guitar and mic into the Headrush which will be allow me to add vocals or acoustic instruments when using the looping facility. The Blend 6 is made by mackie and very well built. It's been discontinued now so you'll have trouble finding one but watch out on Ebay for a used bargain - that's where I bought mine.

I've got two new guitars on the bench, half built. One's a Partagas, plain wood box and will get the ageing treatment similar to the Monte 3 that I made. The other is a Cuban box, first one I've seen like this and it's really pretty. Watch out for photos of them in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile here's a link to me using the looping facility on the Headrush and a CBG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTy8Z5Gt38o

two new CBGs and a new "must have" toy to get

2009-11-08T19:10:00.004Z

Just finished two of the batch of three cbgs. I've posted some photos of them on my Flickr site. If you want to see them they are here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21767997@N05/sets/72157622689976796/

The last one should be finished in a few days. There's a bit more detail going into it including a sink drainer soundhole and a tailpiece made from an old hinge. It's looking cool already.

So what's the toy? It's an Akai E2 Headrush pedal. Just discovered them the other day and decided I have to have one. They are a delay and looping pedal. Designed to work like the old fashioned tape loop of the 60s. Should be fun to play around with. Here's a link to KT Tunstall demoing one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SfYS1aryPs

tuning lessons for cigar box guitar

2009-11-07T16:24:00.002Z

Hi all. just uploaded some lessons to Youtube. Been thinking for a while that you may have built a cbg or maybe bought one and it's gone way out of tune. You've had difficulties getting it to sound right etc. So I thought it would be good to do a few vids for beginners, to get you back on track enjoying your guitars. OK they're a bit rough and ready and I tend to repeat myelf a bit but I did them more or less as first takes, unrehearsed and just as the ideas came into my head. I didn't want to spend too much time, just enough to get the information across. Take a look and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or two. Hope you find them helpful. Check them out on my Youtuibe channel here.

http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic

3 New cigar box guitars on the bench

2009-11-06T17:30:00.005Z

I've got three new guitars on the bench in various states of completion. First coming off is a lovely small Cuesta Rey box - bright yellow. I've used one of these boxes before and they are really pretty. Mahogany neck and piezo pup. It's strung up already and sounds great. Just a couple of finishing touches to add. Next off the line will be another pretty yellow box - a Partagas. Much bigger than the C.R. with an identical mahogany neck and pup. Just about ready to string it up. Thirdly and coming along nicely is another big box - a white Hoyo. Paler wood for the neck, not sure what it is, but similar to mahogany. I'm adding a few extra refinements to this one. A crackle-finish painted headstock, the nut will be made from an acrylic plastic bathtub sample, and I'm adding a tailpiece made from an old door hinge. It's looking good so far but still a lot of work to do.

I'll post photos shortly and if you ever want to see what I have available, check out my Flickr sets at this link. You can see a gallery of past guitars and amps too. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21767997@N05/

I've added a couple of new vids to youtube too. One of me playing the baccy tin amp and another demo of the mic. You can also check out my bowler hat! It is an acquired taste though and I'm not sure I've acquired it yet. It may be the only time I wear it! I'm also planning to make a few basci instruction videos. starting off with how to set up the bridge for correct intonation then tuning in open E, A, and G. Aimed at people making their first guitars or those who have bought one, lost the original tuning and don't know how to get it back. So keep checking into my Youtube channel for these here. http://www.youtube.com/smojomusic

Thanks for all those who have visited my blog over the last few years and for those who have left comments. I always appreciate a bit of positive feedback.

tobacco tin amp and mic

2009-10-13T17:53:00.013Z

Thought you might like to see my latest projects - a tobacco tin amplifier (above) and microphone below. The amp has a small internal speaker with an output jack that can connect to a speaker cab, switching off the internal one. There's a gain control which at minimum setting has an almost clean sound but when cranked up has a wicked distortion. Only 1/2 watt but more than loud enough to pee off the wife whilst watching tv. There's an on/off swicth and LED indicator. Runs off a PP3 9 volt battery.

The microphone is a passive device and simply has a 1/4 inch jack plug to connect to an amp. has a slight distortion to it - great as a harmonica mic. I think both these items look real cool and go great with the whole CBG ethos.

tins, suitcases, hats, carboot sales and cbgs

2009-10-06T18:50:00.004Z

Five things I find hard to resist. There's something I really like about containers in general - particularly boxes and tins. They're just very useful for storing your treasures of one kind or another. Combine the elements of patina from age and maybe an attractive design and I have to have it. The prospect of finding them at knock down prices just adds spice to the recipe. I love hunting around boxes of junk at boot sales and charity shops and seeing what I can find. I have some lovely old tobacco tins whcih I started turning into small battery operated amps. I'll post some photos soon.

Suitcase - it's the old-fashioned brown cases I like. Pre-1970s I guess. Before zips and wheels were fitted. Leather ones are cool but so far I haven't found affordable ones but I do have a number of the hard cardboard type ones. Great for storing my junk in the basement and attic.

What about hats' then? I had to have a trilby didn't I? What self respecting bluesman hasn't got one. Yeah it's a cliche I know but I found one in Amsterdam for 5 Euros and it looked OK on me. That started the hat collection going. So what is my latest find at a boot-sale? A bowler. Yes I know they aren't particularly cool but they certainly aren't a cliche. It just gives me a giggle when I put it on and although I'll never step out of the house with it, you might see it on Youtube one day, accompanied by a CBG.

So what do these things have in common? I guess it's all about mojo. Most modern things don't have it. It comes with age, use and character. Look at packaging of food and goods these days. Plastic trays, polystyrene, cling wrap, etc. Look at what manufacturers used 50 years or more ago. Decorative printed tins, wooden packing cases, glass bottles etc. They just have so much character. It's about individuality, anti-technology, lo-fi, back to basics. That in a nutshell is the cbg ethos too.

more about the UK cbg fest

2009-10-05T18:01:00.004Z

Two days on and I'm still buzzing about the event. Lot's of ideas rattling around my head. In fact I can't think of much else at present. Everyday subjects seem so mundane and boring when there's so much good stuff to recall, new builds to plan, newfound CBG friends to catch up with.

I have to say a big thanks again to Chickenbone John who organised the whole thing. He gave us a very entertaining and informative day and is a nice bloke too. Also thanks to his helpers who not only provided a band to play against but kept us well supplied with food and drinks. John explained the basics of making a cbg for those new to the subject explaining that in it's simplest form, it's just a box with a stick attached! He took us through the basics of playing and we all jammed along to a very noisy 'Walking Blues'.

One or two people talked about their specialities - pick-up winding for example, which is something I always intended to have a go at but have so far shyed away from. One of the guys has mastered the art and produces beautiful hand wired three string magnetic pick-ups. He generously donated one for the evening raffle. There was also a cbg, stomp box, hand made bottle-necks, and a few other items. My buddy Mark and I both agreed the pup was THE prize we were both longing for and bought a strip of tickets each. I couldn't believe my luck when they drew the prizes - I won it. After a great cbg day and evening this was the absolute icing on the cake for me. I intend to build a new guitar to do justice to this beautiful object. Got some ideas already but need to take my time and get every detail just right for my best guitar yet. It'll be a keeper of course.

If you're interested in getting your mits on one of these pick-ups, then keep looking in here. I'll be posting details of the makers name and email address when he's ready, he's just a bit busy at present to take orders. Hopefully I'll have my guitar made and make a short vid to show you. I'll take a photo of the pup and post that when I get time. Need to dip my head in a bucket of cold water now.

First UK cigar box guitar fest

2009-10-04T18:25:00.007Z

Yes folks it's happened at last. My dream of a UK cigar box festival finally came to reality thanks to Chickenbone John who hosted the event at the Tower of Song Blues Club Birmingham . He did a sterling job and gave us great day of blues and cigar box fun. A relatively small but enthusiastic gathering of about 25 attended for a day of pure cbg indulgence. I met a great bunch of folk and got the chance to examine their amazing creations. I'm still buzzing from the excitment and trying trying to take it all in. So much to see and people to meet. Cigar Box Nation forum has been the vehicle that initially brought us together when I started a UK discussion group in an attempt to identify other CBGers in the UK. Just to say it was a fantastic day with playing and building workshops, a 'show and tell' session on guitars, pickup winding, building small amps and open mike session for those with enough confidence. The evening gig featured Chickenbone John and his resident house band, open mike again and to top it off, the amazing Hollowbelly. I'll be telling you more in later posts. Here's some photos of the incredible guitars.

some cigar box guitar photos

2009-09-15T19:09:00.004Z

Photos of my latest batch in the last post. The brown wooden one is the loudest and best tone unplugged CBG I've made yet. It was a quickie - no electrics, but the box has a thin but solid wood lid (not ply) and I think that is why it's so loud.

CBG lesson learnt

2009-08-20T20:03:00.002Z

I started two new CBGs the other day. I like to try something new each time so I designed a headstock that was slightly larger to allow the machine heads to be positioned so that the strings would be parallel and in line with the slots in the nut. I also decided to offset it to give a steeper angle for the strings to cross the nut and hopefully avoid having to use some sort of string trees to keep the strings in place on the nut (which I normally have to do). Well it was probably a mistake because it took about 3 or 4 times longer to make the neck than usual. It won't sound any better and I'm not sure it will look any better (just different). I soon regretted this little experiment and the words of my CBG buddy came ringing back in my head. He advocates the KISS principle KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.

It's all too easy to get carried away with new ideas and our tendency to want to improve things all the time. Sometimes though, it's better to stay with the tried and true. Innovation is healthy and desirable and you have to try new ideas to see if you can improve on old methods, but you have to find a balance between the benefit you might get and the extra work or hassle to get it. In this case I decided my CBGs will embrace the KISS principle in future. I love building these little instruments but I don't want a headache in the process and I don't want a project to go on for too long. I like my CBGs to be pretty but a little rough around the edges, so too many refinements work against my basic principles. Lesson learnt (I think)!

To offset the frustration of making these two complex necks I decided to try knock off a couple of real quickies. Back to my simple straight neck/headstock design I started two more necks. I have a nice varnished wooden Gran Corona box so I used that on one neck and ploughed ahead to complete a simple, no frills, no electrics guitar. I got it finished in about 4 hours and you know what. I think it's lovely and i got such a great buzz from creating a guitar in sucj short time. I'll post some photos soon.

Having

glamour photos of Miss Stella

2009-08-10T08:19:00.006Z

Here she is.

new love

2009-08-07T18:44:00.005Z

I have a new lady in my life that I've fallen in love with. She's was born in Chicago about 50 years ago but still a good looker. Heck I'm no Brad Pitt myself and at my time of life, I prefer a lady with some maturity. She's been around and I have to admit, when she was younger, she was cheap and available to any guy who had a few dollars to spare. She's on the small side with a short thick neck (doesn't sound all that attractive huh?) but her body is still in good shape apart from a few scars. She's not all that easy to please though, you have take her as you find her and not expect too much. She was a bit highly strung and smelled like an old ash tray when I first met her but I've worked my magic, given her a good rub down and she's starting to smell better, unwind and respond to my fingers. Her name - Stella. If you're reading this I guess you'll like her too. Next time I'll show you a photo of my new love.

finding cigar boxes

2009-08-03T18:19:00.002Z

For us Brits, it's hard to source cigar boxes. Most builders here find it almost impossible to find them, smoking cigars is a minority occupation. I must say though that I have done pretty well finding plenty so far. The main source is from old fashioned, small tobacconists shops who specialise in cigars and pipe tobaccos. I have found them to be very willing to let me have empties at very reasonable prices. I usually pay no more than £1 per box.

I had a good experience this weekend when I found one of these places (location - top secret). When I entered the shop I could see a small storeroom with a pile of empties on the floor. I thought I'd pre-empt the deal by stating what I usually pay. He showed me the boxes and I chose 4 decent ones (couldn't carry any more). Now the crunch was coming.

"So they usually charge you £1 each", he said. I thought he was going to sting me for more. "My boss usually gives them away and just asks for small donation to the charity box", he said.

I willingly gave him the donation and came away with four bargain-priced boxes and a warm glow from the generosity of the man. Nice to know there is still some around in these hard times.

two new CBGs finished

2009-07-27T20:03:00.014Z

Just finished the two new ones. Top is the Monte. I've used the tangs of a fork, cut off from it's handle and bent back through 180 degrees as a string anchor. Works well. Neck has had white paint rubbed into the grain to give it a limed oak effect. Frets marks were cut in and filled with paint then red paint rubbed into the main fret positions. I didn't like the smoking warning on the label so rubbed most of it off with wire wool then added my own smojo stamp three times to make it more interesting. Sound holesurrounds are brass grommets. It's tuned to low open E. Sounds and plays great.

Bottom one is a Romeo Y Juliet. Similar treatment on the neck but I stamped my thumbprint in green paint on the main fret psotiotions. I've used a piece of wire mesh glued inside the soundhole which is slighty bigger than I usually make them. It has a fantastic acoustic volume for a small box. Maybe the bigger hole helps. This one is tuned to open A. They both have piezo pups and sound great.

two more cigar box guitars in the pipeline

2009-07-03T19:51:00.004Z

Been working on two new ones today. A nice bright yellow Monte Christo and a white Romeo Y Juliet boxes. Mahogany necks. I'm going to rub white paint into the grain of the necks to give them some character and charm. Paint the headstock with a sympathetic colour, might use a crackle finish. Not sure about the soundholes yet, might use brass grommets for the Monte but something else on the other one. I liked the 'key' bridge on the last one so might repeat that idea on one of them. I need to build up some stock fairly quickly so I'm not going to drag these out. Stay tuned in for the finished items in a week or so.

When these are done I want to build a real nasty 'rat rod' CBG. Not sure at all how it will turn out but thinking along the lines of rusty fittings and a well worn box. I'm going to have to experiment with various ageing processes. Should be a fun exercise.

new Don Tomas cigar box guitar

2009-06-23T18:12:00.007Z

Just dropping in to post a picture or two of my latest build. I'm using an old door key for the saddle on the bridge - works well. Sink drainer for sound hole and solid mahogany neck cut down from some old shelves. Nice warm tone from the smallish box and pretty good volume. I'm pleased with this one but it's been claimed already!

What now in smojo CBG world?

2009-05-28T18:11:00.005Z

I haven't been doing much CBG stuff for a few weeks due to other commitments so I need to get busy again. Had an afternoon on the new Don Thomas today, should be finished in about a week. I'm figuring on using an old key for the bridge just for novelty. With the Birmingham UK CBG fest coming up in October, I'm hoping to get quite a few made before then. I even had to let one of my 'keepers' go last week so my stock is getting pretty low.

Mark C. - a good buddy of mine has suddenly got busy with his CBG stuff. He made a cracking guitar a while ago using a very old and beautiful box called Rough Havanas and has just sold it to one of the band members of The Paperboys. You can see them playing it on his Youtube vid here. http://www.youtube.com/user/roughguitars

UK cigar box guitar meet

2009-05-21T19:17:00.002Z

Exciting news for cigar box guitar fans in the UK! Plans are under way for a one day event at Birmingham later this year. It's hoped to include a day of workshops for players and builders followed by a Hollowbelly gig in the evening. Builders will be bringing some of their CBGs for swap/sale etc. The event is hosted by Chickenbone John to be held at the the Crossroads Blues Club on Sat 3rd October. If you are interested please contact me so I can pass on your details to John. Full details haven't been finalised yet but I'll keep you posted on it. If you are into CBGs then it looks like it's gonna be a gig not to miss.

cigar box guitar documentary

2009-04-21T08:33:00.002Z

Shane Speal announced - On Tuesday night at 11:59pm, Alabama Public Television will re-play "Songs Inside the Box," the Max Shores cigar box guitar documentary. It will be shown on no less than NINE tv stations throughout the state. The documentary is an hour long and covers everything from how-to-build & play CBGs to the magical music these things inspire. Most people who have seen it give the EXACTLY SAME REACTION: "I want to build one of these, myself."

Can't get it in the UK but all you guys out there in the USA should tune in to this. It should be fantastic.

New cigar box guitars

2009-03-26T20:11:00.002Z

Just started two new builds. One is going to be my first 4 stringer and it's going to have frets which will be a first as well. The box for it is a beautiful Indian Tabac Cigar Co. This one's going to be a keeper so I'm going to town on it a bit. I've rounded the back of neck for comfort and experimenting with creating a cracked paint finish to cover it with. I will definitley add a volume pot and might invest in a magnetic coil pup (another first). It's good to break the mould and try something different.

The other box will be for sale and is a three stringer. Mahogany neck again (I got several solid shelves from the local Freecycle). I've cut grooves for fret markers and filled them with white undercoat. The marker dots have been routed in and also filled with white paint. Not sure what else I'll put on it yet, maybe a drain cover for soundhole or maybe something completely different. I'm in the mood for innovation.

Had a go at making a stomp box too. The sound from the piezo I fitted was disappointing though - too harsh, so i need to experiment some more. Cushioning with a piece of carpet on top improves it and so does using a shoeless foot for stomping.

Nice to see we're getting a few Brits over on Cigar Box Nation. I started a discussion just for us, so if you're a Brit and into CBGs why not sign up and meet the other guys.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/thebritsarecoming

cigar box guitar soundholes

2009-02-27T15:48:00.002Z

Had an interesting question from a reader and after spending a while replying, thought it would make a good post for others. Norm asked:

I've cut the neck for a 6 string acoustic CBG to learn on. Have a beautiful piece of leopard wood for the fret board. Trying to select the box. Going to go with kind of a plain Jane so I won't feel bad about cutting a sound hole in the middle. Since some of the art work on the CB's I have picked up is so beautiful I can't bring myself to put a big hole through it!!!

My question is this. I'm going with a 25 inch scale, how large of a diameter sound hole should I cut and how far from the bridge do you think I should place it. I'd like to get the biggest sound as possible. Would you suggest reinforcing the inside of the box? I am building with the neck and tailpiece as one unit going all the way through the box.... hmmm that right there would limit placement of a central sound hole. What would you suggest with that in mine? Maybe two smaller sound holes on each side of the neck/tail piece? If so what size diameter or radius?

Answer

There's been a lot of debate on CBG forums about soundhole sizes. I'm not an expert luthier, I reckon you probably know more than me on regular guitar building. I tend to like to keep things fairly quick and simple in the original spirit of CBGs being rough home-made instruments. I do like to know the science etc behind things though but don't actually apply it to my builds. Here's a link to one article http://hal9000.ps.uci.edu/Weber%20H90%20Physics%20Paper.pdf just Google "helmholtz resonator" for more info.

As far as I understand, soundhole size has nothing to do with the scale length but is relative to the volume of air inside the box. I'm sure there are online calculators to give optimum sizes if you can work out the internal volume of your box. Theory suggests that size seems to affect the frequencies more than actual acoustic loudness - larger holes better treble but less bass. Some CBGers don't bother with holes at all and some put one in each corner. It seems that it doesn't make all that much difference what you do. I guess that's becuase the poor acoustic properties of a cigar box can't be altered enough to actually hear a big difference in audio quality. It's more a question of visual aesthetics where you place them.

My personal slant is usually to put one about an inch diameter in one corner. Sometimes two or three smaller ones. (I think the optimum worked out by someone was surprisingly small - only about 3/8 inch for the average size box). I built one with it in the centre but hid the neck by fitting a sink drain cover over it. Very little 'hole area' when you add it together but it sounds great and is one of my favourites. I also fit piezo pickups to all my guitars so if I want some volume and variety of tone I just run it through an amp.

I reinforce the box by simply running a bead of wood glue (PVA) around the inside of the corners. Some people use wooden beadings glued for extra strength. I think soundboard bracing would be overkill.

Theories seem to go right out the window with CBGs. Standard acoustic guitar builders consider the type and thickness of wood for the soundboard, type of internal bracing etc. Doesn't seem to make much difference to a cbg. Example I built one with a very thick lid. I thought it would sound dead but it has the best sustain of them all. In fact it's the thinner box lids that seem to be a little dead, I would have thought the opposite though perhaps they give more volume. A pal built one out of an all-cardboard box and it sounded great.

My advice would be not to get too caught up in all the technicalities or striving for the ulitmate sounding CBG. Just have fun, experiment, try a different approach each time you build one and see what works. You will be surprised what does. Every one I've built has sounded and felt different, some better than others but unless I use the exact same box and neck wood, I doubt I could repeat any one exactly but that's one of the things I like about it all - variety and the element of surprise. Don't get drawn into being too precious about them. It's a guitar made out of a cigar box after all! You're not competing with a Martin or a Gibson. Be guided by your imagination and whims and just enjoy the whole creative aspect.

Slack Key music

2009-02-20T09:20:00.004Z

My last post on the Balalaika drew a very interesting comment from 'Wood Finery' about 'Slack Key music'. I love to go off in different musical directions so had to find out more. He sent me a link explaining it, so here's the starting point if you want to find out too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slack-key_guitar

So from there I just had to hear some and found this on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6jZ8O7oAU8&feature=PlayList&p=A97B34248F91C95A&index=3

and this sweet little lady playing her own composition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VsMxS5u6lM&feature=PlayList&p=A97B34248F91C95A&index=2

So how does this possibly tie in with CBGs? There are several connections. Slack Key seems to be of Hawaiian origin and is basically played with a detuned guitar to an open chord - typically open G or D - same popular tunings that blues guitarists use for bottleneck or slide work. Same tunings as we tend to use for CBGs. The two styles, blues and hawaiian music, may seem miles apart in musical content but if you read up on the history of blues you'll find the connection. At the time that blues was gaining popularity in the early 1900's in the USA, so was Hawaiian music. Many blues players borrowed the styles of Hawaiian players, detuning guitars to open chords but playing them in their own bluesy styles. One of the main differences though, seems to be the use of a slide in blues (often attributed to the story of Charlie Paton hearing a guy playing slide with a knife on a railway station) whereas the Slack Key music I've seen on Youtube so far seems to be fingerstyle. I have also seen Hawaiian slide playing but not referred to as 'Slack Key'.

The small samples I've heard of Slack Key so far are beautiful and I shall be spending some time exploring it more. Many thanks to 'Wood Finery' for bringing this to my attention.

latest cigar box guitar

2009-02-16T20:06:00.006Z

Here's a piccy of one of my latest cigarbox guitars. It's tuned to low open E. Neck is mahogany and it has a piezo pup. Bridge and nut are threaded bolts. Strap is hand made from some webbing with strong hessian twine to anchor each end.

I've had a go at a stompbox using a cool looking French butter box. I attached a piezo disk and amped it up but it sounded rubbish. Just a plain tapping sound. I want a deeper thump but as yet don't know how to get it.

balalaika

2009-02-12T18:34:00.003Z

I just bought this at a charity shop for about £8 ($12) for my collection of cool instruments. It's a Russian folk instrument called a balalaika . I thought you might find it interesting. This one's not top quality and has some water damage to the bottom right but it's a nice little thing. I was interested to notice how much it has in common with my cbgs. Three strings, small soundhole, simple moveable bridge, no truss rod, string anchorage over the bottom.

Apparently it is normally tuned to EEA - the two Es in the same octave. At the moment it's only got one steel string but even so I've had a lot of fun with it. The string is under very low tension so I can get some really big note bends. I've tried it with a bottleneck too. I can get some really buesy sounds out of it, though that's not how they are normally played.

february cbg update

2009-02-03T19:52:00.005Z

Two new cbgs on the go, should be finished soon. A Ramon Allones green box and a Robaina white box, both with mahogany necks made from some solid shelves I acquired on Freecycle. There's some good stuff to be had from that site. The other day I got a Realistic megafone speaker. It's one of those metal horn shaped things for outdoor use. I'm thinking about building it into a rough old wooden box with one of my Smokey type amp modules as a sort of busker's amp.

I've finished the cigar box amp booklet (I think) and the first copy has gone out to a friend to test drive it. He's an electronics novice so he will be able to tell me if there's any tweaks needed. Once I'm happy with it, I'll put it up for sale for about a fiver (£££). I'll post details on it for anyone interested.

I bought an old 1970's USA license plate off Ebay. Mainly because I think they are cool items and partly because I have ideas of using it in some sort of CBG related item. I'm thinking of a stomp box using it as the footplate. I'm also trying to figure how I can add some beer bottle tops to it to rattle like a hi-hat when stomped.

Saw Seasick Steve live at Leeds alst week. Absolutely love that guy. He played a couple of cbgs in his act as well as his 'Trance Wonder' beat up old solid body electric. I can only say that if you get the chance to see him live - go go go.

The Cigar Box Nation site continues to get better. There are so many fantastic creations to be seen in the photos file and lots of advice in the classroom section. If you haven't had a peek at it yet it's well worth it.

I've been looking at steel resonator guitars and whipped myself into a frenzy over one. It's made by Republic Guitars and is called the 'Resolian'. I have a cheap wooden bodied reso which I like a lot. This type of guitar is very loud and has a lovely bluesy sound and just a cool looking a cbg. I'm hoping to sell a few more cbgs and some of my nondescript standard guitars to fund the reso.

what now

2009-01-05T19:11:00.002Z

I've just about finished the GPO tin amp. It's such a cool little bugger - I love it. Mostly because it's a little beauty of an old tin, secondly it turned out better than I expected. It's the first amp I've made from scratch using the diagrams on the beavis audio site. Basically, it's like the guts of a Smokey amp. The tin lid is working great as a gain control. Whacking it up full gives some wicked distortion. I fitted a jack socket to allow it to be connected to a speaker cab but as I haven't got one I can't try it through a nice big speaker yet. I'm hoping to get time to record a short vid of it on Youtube soon.

Some new ideas I'd like to do this year.

Make a speaker cab from a rough old wooden box that had French butter in originally. Or it might become one of those box drums that you sit on and drum with your hands.

Make a solid electric dulcimer. There's a brilliant clip on Youtube of someone playing one. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Zt2MwrIwA

Make some more Smokey amp units to fit in cool looking containers. I've got some nice old tobacco tins.

Someone gave me a massive voltmeter that came out of an electric sub station. I might put an amp in that and try to get the needle to move when it's playing. That'll be a challenge.

Have a go at winding my own magnetic pick-ups. That should keep me happy for a while.

Now don't laugh but I've just been given an old Shackleton high seat chair. Remember those corny ads in the 1970s of dear old ladies looking at the catalogs and ordering these tall-legged armchairs? Well I wanted something comfy and free to sit on when I'm working in the cellar and that fitted the bill. You know, sometimes something is so unfashionable and uncool that it's cool for that reason alone. Well this is so uncool that it goes beyond that and becomes uncool again. Ha! It's beige too - yikes. All I need now is a zimmer frame! Actually thinking about it, I might look out for one. I could cut it up and make hundreds of slides. I might pimp up the chair. Maybe turn it into a CBG players version of Jimmy Saville's multi-purpose chair. I bet there's a cable tv channel on called 'pimp that chair'. I'm heading over to Youtube now - bound to be something on there. :)

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:50:00.002Z

Happy New Year

A post to say Happy New Year to you all and thanks for visiting this site. I hope it’s given you some pleasure. I’ve enjoyed writing it and getting the occasional comment back from some of you. It has brought some new friendships and rekindled one or two old ones. Nowadays, more than any other time in my life, I am appreciating that gift of friendship. I don’t want this to sound like some sort of sermon or lecture but because I consider you all to be my friends to some degree or other, I’d like to offer you a little comfort if possible.

You know, there’s a lot of craziness going on in the world today, the likes of which we haven’t seen before. It can make us feel quite insecure and wonder where the hell it’s leading to. The trouble is, there’s virtually nothing we can do to avoid it or improve it. We can’t make changes on a global or national scale, we have to leave that to the madmen who are in charge. That’s the scary bit, and feeling powerless. But we can change our own little worlds. We do have the power to do that to some extent. So that’s my bit of advice to you all. We can try to make our immediate environment a place where we can feel more at ease. We can offer some comfort and support to those we meet during our daily lives.

I am constantly puzzled as to why anyone should want suffering of any kind to continue in the world. Why would anyone choose war, pain, fear and anguish over peace, love, comfort and happiness? We can have the latter just as easy as we can have the former. I had one of my moments of inspiration the other day. I was thinking about all the badness that goes on in the world and trying to understand where it comes from. I’d say it mostly comes from greed and selfishness. That’s why countries fight each other, why arguments start, why people steal from others. Then I tried to think of the solution. That’s when it came to me. It’s so simple and here it is. Just be nice. How difficult is that? We all have the choice of being nasty or nice. Nobody can force us to be mean, lying, violent or greedy. If everyone just behaved in the way that they would like others to treat them, we’d have it cracked in no time. There are enough resources in the world for everyone to have a decent life, if governments and world leaders co-operated and looked after each other.

OK I’m deluded if I think I’ve solved the world’s problems here but it really could be that simple if only everyone could embrace the principle. That’s the problem though. For some reason, many people seem incapable. Well here’s my slant on what we can do. Firstly, try to embrace those nice principles ourselves as much as we can. There are many good people out there who already do. In fact I believe there are more forces for good than bad but unfortunately, many of the people in positions of power don’t practise it enough. We can always do a bit more though can’t we.

Secondly, have a little courage and empower yourself – make your personal world one you can enjoy. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, follow your dreams, talk to a stranger, put a coin in a busker’s hat, sing out loud, say sorry when you know you’re wrong. Take time to visit an old friend or make new ones, take up a new hobby or learn a new skill, grow some fruit or flowers, or just sit quietly and listen to the birds sing and feel the sun on your face. Don’t be afraid to try something new because you think you’ll be no good at it or someone will disapprove. I can’t remember which rock star said ‘no-one gets out of here alive’ but it’s a great line and also true. The point I’m making is - it’s these small things that add quality to our lives and to those of others. The warmongers and governments can’t take those away from us. This is the world we can create for ourselves whenever we wish to.

Sorry for the rant. It started out as a short post to wish you the best for the new year but I got carried away. Take care, have fun.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T08:48:00.003Z

Just a short post to say a Merry Christmas to everyone. Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm still going strong with this stuff. The new cigarbox nation website that Shane Speal set up is brilliant. Go find it. Have a great holiday. Best wishes

David (aka smojo)

some cigar box guitar news

2008-12-13T10:22:00.004Z

There are a few things to tell you about today. I've had a number of people asking about how to build a c.b. amp. I've been putting a small booklet together for a while now and just about finished it. It's going to be available at a very reasonable price. I need to do some work on a new site first before I offer it out. The site is called Folksy and it's a UK site catering for all manner of craft items. It doesn't have an image that fits well with CBGs but it will allow me to put items up for sale and take payment via Paypal. I'll post here when it's up.

I'm having a go at selling a guitar on Ebay. I've gone off Ebay recently as they seem to have got greedy and the hefty fees they take when you sell along with Paypal fees, eats into your sales. I tried a couple of CBGs there before and although there were plenty of watchers, they didn't sell. I noticed there have been a few UK CBGs sold there lately, so it might be a good time to try again. I've put my Quality Street tin guitar on. It has a nice natural reverb sound to it. It has the usual piezo pickup so you can amp it up. I've started the price at £35 which is about half of what I normally sell CBGs for so if you're interested, have a look here and you might grab yourself a nice little bargain. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=260331120035
Sorry to say this though - I am only shipping to the UK at present. The complications, cost and risks of shipping abroad are still too much for my brain to cope with at present. I will get my head around it one day but too much to think about at the moment.

I have a few unfinished CBG projects that you have seen on here in the past. I really need to knuckle down and get them done. I seem to have difficulty in focussing my attention on them for some reason. Too many 'irons in the fire' is my problem but it niggles me that I have all these half-finished things. They'll all be really cool when I have them made so I'm going to concentrate on them this winter. I've started work again on the GPO tin amplifier. The screw-lid-used-as-a-volume control idea has been the stumbling block but I think I have it sussed now. I also restarted the big case that will hold two CBGs and a built-in amp. Lot's to do on that yet though.

Finally I just found out Shane Speal has set up a new Myspace/Facebook type of site called Cigarbox Nation. Had a brief look and it looks really cool. Lots of stuff to help the CBG builders and players. You may know Shane as the self proclaimed 'King of the Cigarbox Guitar' who set up the Yahoo CBG Forum some years ago. He made a sudden exit from the CBG scene earlier this year due to various pressures but seems to have bounced back now.