The Brits are coming

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The Brits are coming

A gathering of the UK cbg clan.

Members: 640
Latest Activity: Feb 26

Find out what's happening in the UK - Boxstock CBG festival details, merchandise, members and more.

Discussion Forum

Pink Toothbrush Alternative Market & Record fair

Started by Keith 66. Last reply by Keith 66 Apr 24, 2023. 1 Reply

Small box woes?

Started by Sleepy John. Last reply by Jock MacHinery Jun 15, 2020. 12 Replies

Newby

Started by David Tarry. Last reply by David Bowes May 11, 2020. 7 Replies

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Comment by BluesBeaten Redshaw on October 7, 2009 at 7:02am
Yeah, my dad did that video. He's got the 2nd song too...I believe he's puttin' it on tonight. They're legendary Anthony man!
Comment by anthony on October 7, 2009 at 6:58am
do it. Put it in the 'how-to-play' section under 'how-not-to-play', or possibly 'this is what happens when you let banjo players play out'...
Comment by Roosterman on October 7, 2009 at 6:49am
Good news!! I have video of Anthonys performance which I will post - if Anthony is ok with it???
Comment by anthony on October 7, 2009 at 6:45am
A bit late in the day, but I just want to add my chorus of thanks to John and his mates down at the crossroads club. Everyone clearly had a right laugh and it was nice to be able to put some (undeniably ugly)faces to names and make some new mates.
I thought the warmhearted welcome you all gave a poor banjo player was quite touching to me, and the fact you only took the piss relentlessly out of me nonstop for the 15 hours I had let the cat out of the bag was a testamant to your understanding and sympathy for a five-stringer.
I now also know what it takes to get me up on a stage - about 11 pints of lager.
cheers guys, I had a ball.

ps. For anyone who saw my "performance", I would like to say I am available for weddings, birthdays, bah mitzvahs.... funerals? errr...
Comment by Mark on October 5, 2009 at 10:21pm
As well as being sensible from the point of view of cost/risk, the size of the Birmingham event was good for other reasons. It was not so big as to be impersonal, if you get my meaning. I think it's important not to underestimate the value of just having a group of people sitting around in a room where they can just chat and try out instruments. That was something that (for me) worked well at the Crossroads Club. If these events get bigger then I hope we can find ways of hanging on to that side of things.

PS. Call me Mark, Junkbox Instruments is really just the account name I use on here because there's another Mark C.
Comment by ChickenboneJohn on October 5, 2009 at 7:35pm
Hi Junkbox...I think my approach to promoting the cause is pretty much the same lo-fi attitude most of employ in making and playing these instruments. When I cobbled together the CBG Fest I tried to employ a low risk / high output strategy that seemed to have worked.

A few weeks ago I had a few of my instruments on a stall at Moseley Folk Festival (sold 2 out of 3)...I was actually invited by a local violin maker to put my stuff on their stall and just paid a small a commission on any sales...I wasn't even there..the instruments just sold themselves! I'd though abut taking a stall at folk festivals in the past, but sort of ran out of energy and couldn't get together enough stock (unlike Ben who seems to tirelessly keep building the damn things!).

The last time I did a guitar show it was about £50 -100 for a small stall and I made my money back plus some towards my hotel bill. If several of us chipped in we could get quite in impressive stand for not much money per head I reckon.

I'm very wary of doing things on too large a scale...that's why the 1st Fest was like it was..a modest sized venue that turned out to be a pretty good physical fit for the numbers...if I'd gone and hired a bigger, higher-profile venue we would have been rattling around in it with no atmosphere and there would have been a good chance that the whole thing could have gone tits up financially too.
Comment by Ponkster on October 5, 2009 at 11:07am
I had a great weekend with many highlights - some quite unusual ones - Helena jamming 12 bar blues on a cello was quite unexpected and pretty cool. Thanks again to john and all at the blues club and for all the locals for putting up with the visiting loonys. Hollowbelly was just outstanding and gets better and better and Young Redshaw is a growing tallent that put on a good show and fitted in well in a cround 2 - 3 times his age!
All round a great event - well done John!
Comment by Sherb on October 5, 2009 at 9:37am
Wish I had known you were at cambridge I had mine in the car. Id would have been fun to meet.

G
Comment by Mark on October 5, 2009 at 9:21am
I certainly hope this is the first of many occasions when CBG enthusiasts meet up in the UK. The ideas posted by John and Smojo certainly seem to have some mileage in them. I'm not too familiar with guitar fairs (last one I went to must be 20 years ago) so I'd be keen to know more about them (where the best ones happen, how big they are, what sort of costs are involved). I also think the idea of exploring festivals is a good one. I think it's mostly a question of being opportunistic at this stage. Given the state of the world at the moment I don't suppose any of us has a tons of spare cash they're prepared to risk on big promotions so I figure it's a case of looking for ways to have a presence without taking on too much in the way of logistics and staging.
In addition to any bigger schemes people come up with, it seems to me there's something to be said for looking out for small scale opportunities. A friend of mine and I took home-built instruments to the Cambridge Folk Festival this year - just for playing while we were sitting around at our tent - and quite a few people came up to talk to us about them. It's part of the tradition of Cambridge that people take instruments for informal sessions around the site but I don't know of any other festivals like it. Anyone have any thoughts?

Finally, I've posted elsewhere about how much I enjoyed the day but I'd like to reiterate my thanks to John and everyone at the Crossroads Club for doing a heroic job. I wish I could have contributed more but I've been really ill and I just wasn't up to it - perhaps next time.
Comment by Pete Handy on October 5, 2009 at 7:41am
Hey bairfoot, cant see why not, its like having an active bridge at both ends!
It's maybe been thought of and tried beore thats why I put it out for comment.
I once spent 6 months on a project, first doing a little research to see if anyone had already done it , then drawings, calculations, rough costings etc only to find it has already been invented 20 years before, lol
Peace.
 

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Discussion Forum

Pink Toothbrush Alternative Market & Record fair

Started by Keith 66. Last reply by Keith 66 Apr 24, 2023. 1 Reply

Small box woes?

Started by Sleepy John. Last reply by Jock MacHinery Jun 15, 2020. 12 Replies

Newby

Started by David Tarry. Last reply by David Bowes May 11, 2020. 7 Replies

FX rigs and recommendations

Started by Alex Rigby Mar 25, 2019. 0 Replies

London One Man Band festival with Hollowbelly

Started by Blind Boy Fullers. Last reply by Blind Boy Fullers Mar 20, 2019. 4 Replies

Best Amp

Started by Seasick Mick. Last reply by Seasick Mick Mar 13, 2019. 18 Replies

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Started by Alex Rigby. Last reply by Alex Rigby Jan 13, 2019. 3 Replies

New Site goes live!!

Started by John Pilling. Last reply by t-belly johnson Oct 30, 2018. 14 Replies

Demise of Gibson

Started by Sleepy John. Last reply by Sleepy John May 3, 2018. 3 Replies

boxes for sale

Started by Rick D. Last reply by Tony Dec 14, 2017. 5 Replies

My latest build - hubcap resonator

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My CBG

Started by Steve. Last reply by Steve Sep 13, 2017. 2 Replies

Some of my songs

Started by Alex Rigby. Last reply by Alex Rigby Jun 7, 2017. 2 Replies

School project

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Help with parts please

Started by Toofy Peg. Last reply by Fomhorach Jun 14, 2016. 19 Replies

Brass Eyelets - big ones - where to get?

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