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At what point does a movement become an industry?

There a few mass produced, "cigar box," instruments on the market today. The Electric Blues Box Slide Guitar by Hinkler and the Eddy Finn Cigar Box Ukulele.

When it comes to the mass produced CBGs, here's a call to action. Instead of steering away from, and being appalled by them, embrace it. For example. I bought my nephew one of the Hinkler CBG kits, and I bought one for myself. If you see a CB instrument in a store, ask if you can do a show/demo there, and leave some of your business cards near the display. Doing the show would promote CBGs, and show that they're playable, but also promote local builders.

We also have some notable players in the Revolution, and celebrities are starting to play them. My question is when does a movement become an industry?

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Permalink Reply by Wade on April 6, 2017 at 1:07pm

When it stops being fun to make and play. Never let it be so!

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Permalink Reply by Gordon Cooper on April 7, 2017 at 10:35am

It is mainly a cottage industry. While I could see a major player selling a very bad pseudo-cigar box guitar, it would have none of the advantages of the real thing. To wit: repurposed junk, creativity, individuality, playability, and durability.

Someone needs to dig out a copy of the "Whole Earth Catalog:Access To Tools" book and see just how well a CBG fits the criteria for a successful tool. Short answer is that it meets all the criteria for an ethical, desirable and durable tool.

The other term for the "Maker Movement" is "DIY".

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 7, 2017 at 11:08am

DIYer Mak'r

;-E

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Permalink Reply by Moritz Voegeli on April 8, 2017 at 1:56am

At what point does a movement become an industry? Maybe there is an example to study the difference: actually «Red Dog» John McNair, a hurricane Katrina refugee living now in Puerto Rico, is selling a three string resonator with De Soto's Las Cabrillas boxes for 1650 USD, Montreal based two-man guitar company «Daddy Mojo», Lenny Piroth-Robert and Luca Tripaldi, a four string resonator with custom boxes for 1405 USD. Red Dog's has a seven inch Old Lowe aluminium cone, and a simple neck without fretboard, Daddy Mojo's a six inch aluminium Quarterman cone, and a neck with two-way adjustable trussrod and rosewood fingerboard.

With his own words on http://www.3-string-guitar.com/, Red Dog's «cigar box guitars are built with just a few basic hand tools that most people have or can borrow from a friend: a small hand saw, small hand pliers, sandpaper and wood glue, a small hand drill, a pocket knife, small hammer or rubber mallet, small screwdrivers phillips type, a quality ruler»: dont tell me that's an efficient way to drive a business, but that's probably not Red Dog's intent at all - he's selling the cigar box guitars built in his appartement he has for sale, maybe half a dozen a year, cigar box guitars from another world. What we can learn from the photos on https://daddy-mojo.com/ corresponds rather to what we would expect for a small business company.

We would have to kill a really fat piggy bank to buy one of these resonators, but that's not the question: at what point does a movement become an industry? John McNair, an institution of the cigar box movement, part of an industry? All jokes aside: what must happen to his personality and his business that we should call him part of the cigarbox industry?

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Permalink Reply by Wade on April 8, 2017 at 2:49am

I think of an industry as a business that creates mass produced goods. John's cigar box guitars are built one at a time using more traditional methods. As far as price, it is what you think the artist work is valued. He was one of a handful of people who got this movement going.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin Aurand on April 8, 2017 at 2:58am

I meant nothing bad by it. As K said, everything DIY/Maker gets the manufacturer's treatment. The biggest industry to come out of the DIY/maker movement is beer. More specifically craft beer. It was just out of curiosity.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Jordan on April 17, 2017 at 4:02am

I have seen St. Blues selling their CBG's everywhere. They are not Gibson or Fender, but I consider them a younger cousin. I won't stop building or selling CBG's, but I might consider it a bummer when Fender and Gibson get in on the action. Just my 2 cents.

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Permalink Reply by JL on April 17, 2017 at 5:20am

A movement is more of a social structure, an attitude/idea that catches on (rock and roll, hippies, rap, heroine chic, white wall tires, skinny jeans).

An industry is an economic/business structure, ususally referring to larger scale . (steel industry, auto industry, fashion industry, music industry)

and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

sew-your-own is a movement, well supported by an industry of sewing-machine manufactures and pattern designers.