Saturday and I got the blues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.