more about the UK cbg fest

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.

Cigar Box Guitar questions

I had a couple of questions asked about how to make a pick-up and anchoring strings. I thought it a good idea to post my answer on here too.

Q. - "I'm totally fascinated by the cigar box guitar and am trying to put one together right now. I think the first problem was how to get the strings/tail done, and I'm opting to just make very small holes and let the ball at the end hold things. The other problem is amplifying, a piezo has me stumped. I know Radio Shack has them and I've been told they simply wire over to an input jack ... but I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to how I can easily get the thing wired for amplification."

A. - The neck passes straight through the box and out the back about 5cm to provide anchorage for the ball end of the strings. I drill three holes about 1cm apart. I find that when strung, the strings start to cut into the wood so I make a small metal plate out of brass or alloy which I screw onto the tail just in front of the holes so that it takes the pressure of the strings off the wood and stops it cutting through. It helps keep the thing in tune as it stops you losing tension from them cutting into the wood.

Pickup - easy. It's a ceramic piezo transducer disc. Some people buy a piezo buzzer which has one in and they rip it apart. Hard work when you can just buy the disc anyway. It looks like a thin a brass disc with a white coating in the middle (like a fried egg). There are two wires soldered to it, one to the brass outer and one to the coating. Carfeully unsolder them and discard the wires. You need some screened twin cable and a 1/4 inch jack socket. On one end of the cable solder one wire to the inner of the jack and the other wire and the screen wire together to the outer. At the pickup end trim the outer covering back about 2 cm and cut off the screen. Very very carefully solder one wire to the brass and one to the coating where the old wires were. Be carfeul because the coating is fragile. If it breaks off when soldering just try soldering another small blob on another area, it usually works OK. Before fixing to the guitar, plug it into an amp and just tap the disc, if it clicks it's OK, if it's dead then you got it wrong. When OK I fix the socket into the body then glue the disc (brass side) with Araldite to the inside of the box just under where the bridge/saddle is going to be. I also add a blob of hot glue to stick the cable to the lid just to stop it flapping about and ripping your wires off. I don't bother with vol. or tone controls, just use those on the amp. Job done.