Art Or Function?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JUJU on January 17, 2010 at 5:59pm

i try and save the art by using the Bottom of the box for the top - this way you save the art work and can still open the Box / Guitar
juju :-)

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Permalink Reply by THENUGE on January 17, 2010 at 7:59pm

i look at the neck as the "art" since i don't make the boxes

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on January 17, 2010 at 8:54pm

I generally make the smallest possible sound holes in a box with great graphics for just this reason. Someone somewhere posted once about the optimal sound hole size on a cbg and it was really small anyway, so I'm taking that fella at his word.

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Permalink Reply by O-DAD on January 17, 2010 at 9:49pm

once you make it in to a cbg ,you have opened up a whole new realm of art -- FUNctioning ART!

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on January 18, 2010 at 12:47am

Tell the wife that art is in the eye of the beholder? But thanks for the input, , then make sure you do it her way next time,,,,,,,

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Permalink Reply by Jerryrig240 on January 18, 2010 at 2:29am

I am not much into "art" as you would say. But is making cbg's a craft or an art? I like something that looks raw and rough around the edges. I want it to look like I just pulled it out of the junk heap. I like the idea of using everyday objects on my builds. I am wanting to make a diddley bow with a 2 prong outlet as the jack instead of a jack and I want to work on a pickup made with peices of a yard stick. I call a lot of this stuff diddly bow bling. With this said, I don't go looking for a really nice box because I know in the long run I will just trash it, and plus, it's just not my style.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on January 18, 2010 at 7:30am

VERY interesting point of view. -WY

THENUGE said:

i look at the neck as the "art" since i don't make the boxes

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on January 18, 2010 at 7:33am

My latest, I tried to make the holes around the art. Tho I didn't completely miss the box art, I did manage to balance the f-hole art/function as much as possible.

Also another point of view is that the f-holes are as much a part of the art as anything else -- they are then adding to the whole rather than being a necessary evil.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by L.J. on January 18, 2010 at 7:52am

I will move neck position for a nice bridge placement.(if its fretted) To keep the box as pretty as possible. Or try to install the pickup with less damage to the artwork on the box by adjusting it a lil this way or that way. But once I built a Partagas Box for the local Cigarstore, The wood was thick. The bridge was a copper pipe. I concentrated more on the looks than the guitar sounding good. Even though it turned out a pretty build. When I was done I was disappointed in the volume of the instrument. And felt as though I wasted my time. I decided that if I am ever going to build again just for looks. that that would be more like work. and Though I would do it,I would want to be paid properly . Instead of doing what I love. And getting pennies for my time.(which is how I feel about my prices now). So its your choice. Do you enjoy the artsy side of the CBG more. If you were building for the pure look you could be more creative in choosing bridge and nut material or tuners. Save a bunch of money on strings by using thick fishing string.Or whatever you got simaler. For me I want to be able to play it and be proud of it. So I may adjust a bridge or soundhole for looks. but the instrument must be an instrument worth playing if Im taking my time building it. And if they think its pretty enough to hang up in the end. Then I hitt both sides of the fence!

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on January 18, 2010 at 8:32am

This box is very old. S.S.Pierce was a major importer located in Boston.
"The 1886 catalog for S.S. Pierce & Co., Importers and Grocers lists myriad items for sale in its Grocery, Wine, Cigar, and Perfumery Departments: gelatine; isinglass; chutneys; French vegetables in glass jars; Alghieri's soups; Wiebaden goods; wines; Russian cigarettes; Egyptian cigarettes; quadruple essences; tooth brushes; soaps assorted; inexhaustible salts; and much more."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikqSVj9WviI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onXcQirQMok

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Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on January 18, 2010 at 9:26am

To me in a way a cbg is like the atoms that makeup water, separate them you just have gases. But together they can be so much more beautiful and useful than in the original form. The completed instrument makes for a good story well beyond the any loss of the art work on the box.

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on January 18, 2010 at 10:17am

As an artist here is my 2 cents. I think the finished CBG that can play music is a functional piece of art, be it a finely finished instrument with lots of polish and shine or one that is a bit rough around the edges, both are valid. As for incorporating the box art, form follows function so if its in the way of a bridge, so what its still a cigar box and the art is still part of the guitar. Play on people. I enjoy looking at them all.

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