which one of us is crazy

The other day I called at an old fashioned tobacconist to see if they had any cigar boxes. I always feel slightly embarassed for some reason. The usual customers are often connoisseurs of fine tobacco. They are there to buy some of it, and me - I want empty boxes. I usually tell the assistant what I want them for. I think it gives me a bit more street cred and lessens the embarassment. On the other hand, I wonder if they think I'm some kind of crazy nut.

There was a customer already in there, closely examining some Monte Christos. He was taking each one out of it's aluminium tube and carefully squeezing and sniffing at it. The assistant was a friendly young man and started dealing with me whilst the other guy continued with his minute examination. These cigars were obviously something special.

I was looking at various empties and commented that I liked the Bolivar one because it had 'a nice design' on the front. This brought a reaction from the other customer that I could only describe as a snigger. Maybe he hadn't heard my first conversation and thought I was choosing cigars based on the box design. Either way it made me feel a little stupid. He closed the deal agreeing to buy four Montes, handed the assistant £60 and seemed very happy with his purchase. I bought five empty boxes for £5 and walked out of the shop, also happy.

Now the question is this. Which of us is the crazy one and who deserved the snigger? He spent £60 and will stick some rolled up leaves between his lips and set fire to them. I spent £5 and will make five guitars.

I want to add that I don't wish to offend cigar smokers, but you have to admit, it's a weird thing to be doing if you think about it. The young man who served me, was really friendly and helpful and I did promise to add the link to his shop so here it is http://www.thebackyshop.co.uk/

distressed cigar box guitar

Here it is, the latest creation - my artificially distressed CBG. It's tuned to open A. The volume is low when played acoustically but when amplified it's a little belter! I used the bowl part of an old spoon to make a jack socket plate.

smojo logo stamp

I've been trying to find a better way of adding my smojo logo to the headstocks. In the past I hand wrote it with a woodburning tool. Not easy to get it looking professional, not easy to control.

I'd been discussing it with my CBG buddy Mark and the idea of using some sort of stamp. So he has kindly made me a small rubber stamp, based on the new logo type I am using now. It's a little beauty. I tried it on my latest build using some white undercoat. I probably applied a little too much pressure and the paint bled out around the typeface - but I like it. Take a look.

distressing a cigar box guitar

I've started building a new CBG and wanted to have a go at making a distressed one out of a new box. I stripped the labels of this plain looking Monte Christo box, then sanded all the corners and edges to round them off to look worn.

I added some marks by wacking the surfaces with various metal items to produce a random marked effect that would make it look like it had been used a while. Some coarse grit sandpaper scratched across the grain in a few places added to the effect. Lastly I gave it a couple of coats of stainer which gave it a mellow golden colour and picked out the distress marks.

Next stage is to make a neck to look equally old. Probably use some mahogany and paint the fretboard. I'm thinking of white, then dulling it down somehow. Compare the before and after photos - I think it worked quite well. I may add an old label or two later.

pinched harmonics on a cigar box guitar

You'll probably already know that if you pluck a string on a standard guitar and quickly touch it at the 12 fret, you get the harmonic and octave higher. You can also find harmonics on the 5th and 7th frets easily too. Well heavy metal players make use of this phenomena to get those high pitched squeals common to that genre using method know as "pinched harmonics". It's a bit of a dark art to me so excuse my ignorance on just exactly how they produce it. There is a definite techinique which I'm noy 100% sure on.

Anyway, I was just messing about with my CBG and found a way of getting an unusual harmonic which I think is similar to pinched harmonics. It sounds unusual because you can get it to sing out whilst sliding. It involved using thumb and forefinger at the same time to pluck the string. Sort of plucking it in two places with these digits but in opposite directions. I posted a short vid on my Youtube site using it. Have look and take note of what my right hand thumb and forefinger are doing when I'm getting the harmonics.

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

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.