January 2011 Blog Posts (13)

I think I'm going though a phase of workshop & tool obsession at the moment, having spent 3 days sorting my office/workshop and garage/workshop...and buying tools. I needed a new try square as  my old one seemed slightly 'on the bonk'  and ended up buying two, 6" and 9"..Sheffield made..a tenner for the pair! I've also ordered a new Record woodworking vice, as I've been bumbling along with an old engineer's vice and a workmate for ages.  I've also just bought a digital 'vernier'…

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This site is great.   I just made my first 3 string fretless CBG and everything looks great.  My question is that the string height seems awfully high 1/4".  I am temporarily using a bolt and the nut and am using a plastic chop stick as the bridge. I would like to eventually use of these same chop sticks as the nut.  The strings make a buzz when I press down on the string and attempt to play a chord.  When I apply pressure on the string behind the nut (bolt) this buzz is reduced.  Do I need…

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Well everybody, I've just spent a week or so away at my parents and I suddenly realised how tired and fatigued I was. Dad got himself a cymera (or something like that) which is a trapezium shaped stringed instrument with each string tuned in a diatonic progression. It sounds really tuneful and would be great with a pick up and a bit of distortion.

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If anyone wants to catch more of what I do, that never gets posted here,...please do go to youtube and search cinderellalifestyle . lots off vids, uke specials, national steel guitar,...nature walks and my rambles , which a basically 

instrumental ditties put to pics, usually short and sweet...

if you want to look a vintage junque, or find my CD, that's here:…

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Well, to start a new year (and decade) I made this 2 stringed one. It can be called a canjo, but it's rather a cbg made by a can. When I was looking for a can to make a normal canjo, I found this Ballantines box, of course with no any bottle inside. The shape and size forced me to build the neck this way, and the result is acceptable enough for me. Made a small documentation with pics of the process here (in hungarian, sorry, but questionings can ask a translation from me):… Continue

Just had an interview published in THE Philadephia Examiner online..it will also be on www.nodepression.com later this week....i mentioned this CIGARBOX nation because its been a core of inspiration for me for the last year...if youre  interested in reading...here is the link

 

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I'm going to build my first CBG.  I love the tone of this four stringer:…

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Something about a snow day. I grew up in the midwest, where snow usually meant snowball fights and snowmen as we walked to and from school. Yes...it was uphill both ways. Later, my wife and I lived six years in Germany, and nearly four years just down the hill from Tahoe. Plenty of snow in those places, and life went on as the flakes came down.

 

Living in the southeast now for nearly 20 years, snow has become more an event than an occurrence. I used to grab my shovel, a broom,…

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So I've been able to enjoy my holiday break and get back into shape before any serious work begins again. I've really enjoyed strumming my new toy. I practiced the simple one string scales that Shane presented in his instructional videos and got a good feel for the sound of my guitar. My wife loves to hear me just play around making up some tunes (I must say I've impressed myself) just playing intuitively. I think she is living her dreams of dating a musician as best she can, so yes a CBG…

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Well there we are, another Christmas gone. There seems to have been so many.

 

I got an invite to play at a local pub (bar) on new years eve as part of their festivities. I played a selection of 1960/1970s English pop classics with a 4 string baritone tuned guitar. One of mine.

Songs included 'Honkey tonk angels', Honkey Tonk Women', 'The Ballad of Lucy Jordan', 'Memphis', Brown eyed handsome man' and 'Promised Land'. Things went well and the Landlord and family…

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A couple of months ago I read a posting about someone building a child's CBG with a dulcimer scale, does anyone remember who posted the original info?

Well, my dear friends! I made a paper model CBG, if you want to cut out and assemble a small paper CBG to hang it on the xmas tree (well, it' too late now, but maybe next time), or hang anywhere, put it on the corner of the desk, give it to some teddy bear's paw, or anything, download it. http://www.tabulatura.hu/blasius/cbg_papermodel-1.pdf

Hi everyone. one tip I can give to everyone is get yourself a Japanese Pull Saw. They are very accurate, cut 2 or 3 times faster than a push saw & give an extremely fine cut. Our Japanese friends have been using them for thousands of years & they are the best, I have 10 saws but I only use my bandsaw & my pull saw. Check one out, regards Barry Faulkner