cigar box guitar playing - tabs or not

I've been asked a number of times where I got the tabs for my playing on Youtube. The answer is I don't use tabs. I find them hard to translate into real playing. I prefer to listen and find it for myself. I have never tried much to learn specific numbers and copy them in the way the masters played them. What's the point, they all do it better than me? Besides it's boring and requires too much discipline. I prefer to experiment, improvise and find my own music, maybe using some well known tracks as a basis but putting my own stamp on it. So basically I just listen to the originals, and try to play it till it sounds something like recognisable. In the process of getting there, you tend to pick up other ideas and learn something about your instrument. I guess that's what the old players did anyway before they got famous. If you think about it, the version we hear on an album and get very familiar with, is just one performance. In reality the player will play it slightly different every time anyway, improvising and changing licks and tempo. It's what keeps things fresh and exciting. So don't try to copy anything too much lick for lick. Get the basics down but then find your own music, your own style and your own way of doing things. Far more satisfying.

major changes

I just quit my job today. It's been a total stress situation for a while and it made me feel like shit. So in a month now I will be free. Life will be a blank page. It feels kinda scary and liberating at the same time. I'm hoping that I can concentrate on this aspect of my life and get more productive. I've not done much CBG stuff for a few months now but want to finish some of these projects now and start some others.

Just bought a cracking book on guitar repair from Stewart McDonalds - "Guitar Player Repair Guide". Nothing in there about CBG's but a bit of everything on fixing and maintaining guitars. Real good stuff on three levels of experience which can only be helpful to any guitar building enthusiast. Highly recommended.

CBG buddy

Had a stimulating afternoon with my CBG buddy who we have now given the blues name of "Half Blind Clough" on account of his short sightedness :) We had a bit of a "show and tell" session and for me, the star of the show was his new creation. A really cool old box he bought on Ebay. He's fashioned the neck to reflect the nice jade colour of the original label and used his skills to distress it in keeping with the lovely time-worn box which dates from very early 1900's. Take a look :-

update on GPO tin

It's ground to a halt for now. I devised a method of using the screw-on lid as a volume control. I made a plate to mount the pot on and filed the shank down to be a slack fit D shape fit into a knob with a flat top. That was to allow the lid move up and down the pot shank as it will rise and fall as it is turned because of it's coarse thread. To fit it I needed to glue the knob to the inside of the lid. When set I screwed the lid on first, then introduced the pot and plate to the inside of the lid. The plate was drilled to accept two self tapping screws from the outside to hold it in place. It all seemed to be going OK except the knob must be slightly off centre in the lid and it won't turn all the way. So back to the drawing board on that.

I decided to fit a switched output jack so it will cut off the tiny internal speaker and allow it to connect to a cab. Most of the mechanical bits are done, mainly wiring up once I can get this volume lid thing sussed.

GPO tin amplifier

Made a start on the amp. I've cut a plate out of the bottom for access, fitted a nice old switch on the top and a 1/4 inch socket on the side. I've drilled out a pattern of holes for the speaker grill and started working on how I'm going to fix a volume pot to the screw-on lid. Just not sure excatly what other controls to add. Maybe an output socket to connect to a big speaker cab. It's a question of what amp module type I fit. The smokey type amp I built has some weird distortion that I can't seem to cure. It's OK really but I'd like to be able to have a clean sound too. Might have to try a different circuitry. I'll post a photo soon.

Car boot sale finds

I was telling you to check out your local car boot sales for CBG building bargain stuff. Well here are my latest finds. I wanted some small speakers to fit in my plans to build small smokey type amps and look what I found. Four brand new mini speakers in plastic cabs for a huge outlay of 50 pence for the lot.

Next - not quite so cheap but still a bargain for some cigar box amplifiers, I found a pair of 4 inch Kenwood car speakers for £3.

Even more of a bargain was this little Gorilla practise amp absolutely free on my local Freecycle site. Ideal for testing new CBGs in the workshop. So get out there and start grabbing some bargains.

I wanna do some cigar box guitars stuff

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms but still too busy with jobs around the house. I do have another project brewing up. It's a smokey type amp, going to put it in an old tin plated turpentine can. I'll cut a hole in the front for a small speaker but the real novelty of it is - I'm intending making the screw-on lid, the actual volume control. I'll drill a couple of holes in the top and fit an on/off switch and power-on LED. Probably put the jack socket in the side at the bottom so the guitar lead doesn't pull it over when connected. Should be really cool if it turns out as I see it in my head. I've already made the guts of a smokey amp and it seems to work fine. Just need to get busy.

Also in progress is a small booklet "How to build a ciagbox amplifier". It will be on sale eventually but I need to fine tune it and test drive it first. I'll post here when it's available.

just checking in

Sorry guys, I've been a bit slack on the cbg front. Spring is here and I'm busy painting the house and doing the garden. haven't had time for any CBG building at all for a couple of months. I am working on a new smojomusic website. The present one is very basic and boring, uses a limited template and was my early attempt to get something up and running on the interweb. I'm trying to get a similar look to this new yeallow scheme here witha more distressed look using Frontpage but there's a big learning curve to overcome.

Car boot season is here in the UK so any CBG builders should be out there looking for cheap and interesting bits and pieces. I'm sure garage sales in the US will produce some good finds too. Here's a few ideas to look out for :-

• cigar boxes (of course) but I have only ever found one at boot sales
• old webbing or belts for guitar straps
• sink drainers for soundholes
• cheap screws, eyehooks and other small hardware
• old battered guitars you can strip the machine heads, nuts and briges off
• car speakers for cb amplifiers
• old soild wood furniture that can be ripped down for necks
• old volume pots, knobs
• cheap guitar strings
• other interesting old boxes for guitars or amps
• specialist tools like forstner bits for cutting your soundholes, fret saws, soldering irons, smoothing planes, rasps and files, chisels etc

Don't forget to check out your local freecyle on Yahoo. I've had some good stuff for free here including a small gorilla practise amp, some velvet curtains for lining cases, a snare drum stand (need a drum to go on it now), computer speakers which I hope to turn into a cbg amp.

Hope to get back to some building soon.

what's new in my CBG world

Well it's a bit quiet because I'm busy decorating the house. No new builds on the go at present but I have lots of ideas bubbling though. You'll have noticed the new look of the site and I'm continuing to develop that theme in my other CBG promotional stuff. I've redone my help sheet that I give away with guitars and some labels for the guitars and amps. I've bought photoshop elements to help me with artwork.

Also bought Cakewalk music creator 4 for recording and mixing down some music. I'd like to experiment with some more home grown music and have a few ideas simmering. Been brainstorming some cool track titles and written a few lyrics - that's a new direction though I doubt if I'll ever do any vocals myself. I'd love to create my own album eventually.

Working on a zine about CBGs and other stuff too. If it comes off it will be a mix of CBG building tips, blues facts, cool photos and artwork and generally stuff that's real and basic and wholesome and home made. Keep tuned in here.

tips for soldering

If you're attempting to make a CBG and install electrics, you will need a good soldering technique so here's a few tips for novice solderers.

Use the right tool for the job, a small electric soldering iron around 25 -35 watts should do. Make sure the tip of the iron is very clean and "tinned". That means applying a small amount of solder around the tip. If it's a bare copper tip, you will need to file the end clean to remove any oxidisation, heat the iron and apply some solder. Use resin cored solder, the resin removes the oxidisation and aids good adhesion.

Make a good mechanical connection first, i.e. if attaching wire to a volume pot then wrap the wire around the tag so it's held in place firmly before soldering. Now here's the big one where most novices go wrong. Apply the tip of the iron to the thing you are soldering and heat it up for a few seconds, then feed a small amount of solder to the joint, let it melt and run around then remove the iron. The wrong way is to add a big blob of solder to the end of the iron and try to transfer it to the joint like an eye dropper. Remember - heat the joint then add solder to it. It should be nice and clean and shiny. If it looks dull you might have a "dry joint" and a poor electrical connection. Reheat it and add a small amount more of solder.

Be careful on small electronic components like I.C. chips not to overheat it. Just add enough heat to melt the solder and remove it as soon as you have a good joint. Follow this technique and you should get good results. Remember the key to success is cleanliness. Make sure the soldering iron tip is clean and tags/wires are also clean first.