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.

the creative process is like magic

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

Ian Clayton - Bringing it all back home

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

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