January 2012 Blog Posts (23)

Here's a goofy little project me and the kids threw together today.  Originally posted at (http://howandsometimeswhy.wordpress.com/)…

After getting some nice maple from my buddy Rob the week before Christmas, visions of cigar boxes began to dance in my head. Reality intruded, however, when I realized that I had no place to actually build my CBG. All of the surface space in the Wig Shop (my basement lair) was cluttered with the typical rockstar detrius: guitars, pedals, recording gear, and cocaine. After hastily cobbling together a workbench out of an old palette, wine crates, and a few cinder blocks, I commenced to sawin'…

I've been pretty busy making and repairing more regular-type guitars over the past few weeks...here's one, a telecaster resonator electric...

..and another resonator guitar..this time a 12 string converted from a Harmony Stella...…

Hey folks, after years of building CBGs, making the "How To" DVDs, and writing the CBG History book, I've just released my first all cigar box guitar CD.

First off, here's the link to it on Amazon... Nadaband CD

This is probably the heaviest cigar box guitar music you'll ever hear. We really tried to push the capabilities of the cigar box…

Bolstered by the encouragement and enthusiasm of the good people of the Nation, I decided at the last minute to head on up to my first ever open mic night last Friday.  I'd never even been to watch an open mic, so I had no idea about the protocols or whether the sound system would work with my cigar box guitars.

I really only had two songs I felt comfortable with - Pancho and Lefty and Waitin Round to Die.  So I rehearsed my tail off Friday afternoon and waited until the last minute…

Well i'm at the electronics stage of my build and have a Pizzio type Pickup which apparently mounts on the underside of the Cigar Box lid,so i'm looking for some advice about the best position for tone and volume between the Bridge and the last fret or altenatevly some advice about better pickup options.

Cheers Steve AKA Geordiebluesman.

Starting to build my first cigar box guitar, at this point I am collecting anything that maybe useful for my project.

Cigar box....check Piezo transducer...check Tuning pegs from mandolin....check Mandolin pick guard...check Mandolin bridge....check

The search continues....

Check out Ian MC Donald's new website. It's fantastic. Wishing you well Ian.

http://www.justplaytheblues.co.uk/

Despite it having been one HELL of a heavy duty week at work so far i managed to fit the string tensioners and frets to the neck of my CBG build today so it's starting to look like a bit of a Guitar now and not just a lump of wood. I'm gonna have to spent some time with the file working on those trimed fret ends though coz they're like jagged teeth at the mo!

So I was sitting,  mesmerized,  by the sight and sound,  this revelation,  this kazoo video,  "Hum... Don't Blow,"  featuring a mysterious white-bearded shaman named Captain Kazoo...  how best to describe it?  Methinks it begins,  innocently enough, much like the opening theme music to Hawaii Five-O,  then something,  something,  something...  the voice,  so soothing and innocent,  yet ever so relentlessly insistent...  then some other thing or other happens that sounds like exploding…

     I made this CBG for my bud, Jack. The s.o.b. moved to Arizona years ago but comes back to IL to visit family/friends for the Holidays.He's in a band and has been playing slide for a while now. So, he needed a John CBG.

     I usually make kinda nice, real purty CBG's but I wanted to make Jack's more personal and give it that beat up "lived in" look. I added little mementos and had some fun putting some lit cigarettes on it for that extra "touch."

     There's a 1982 Taste…

Here are a few pics of my latest build.  Video to follow in the next day or so...…

   So I was listening to Olds Sleeper's Born To Lose while eating my lunch, half watching

   the video, when out of the corner of my eye I caught an incongruity of a sort...  a ripple in 

   the fabric of reality, if you will.  Across the room from me was a television,  on but muted,

   set to CNN.  What should my eyes behold?  A so-called tech reporter.  Doing what,  you

   might ask?  She was idiotically strumming away at some sort of stringless digital…

                                                             Hey Porter

After arriving in Chicago in 1919, Jackson Black played a lot of blues and worked a variety of jobs. He hoped to make a living playing harp. That did not happen. He began to realize that he was good, but maybe not ‘make a living’ good.

He tried the stockyards for a year. He lasted two at meat packing. He did house framing, shingling and sewer work.

He bought a Harmony guitar and…

                                                       I'm hungry.  Can I have a cookie?  

                                                      Guess that was to much bourbon!…

Ted Crocker custom instrument for Harrison Withers.  

EDIT:  Finished instrument

A gorgeous slab of walnut from Sid Workman…

New Build! This LBG was built this morning by my eight year old (youngest) son. I think he's getting the bug!

Enjoy the looks but don't hold your breath for a sound check! :)…

I received bemuzic's CD 'Playing (No Rules)' this morning and have been playing it ever since.

Beautiful voice, beautiful tunes. Belinda this is a real treat. Thank you...

Follow the link below to have a look/purchase it for yourselves.

 http://bemuzic.bandcamp.com/

Were all friends here  So I thought Id ask a simple question

When you post pictures or videos isint it nice when other members respond?

A little feedback  How does it sound  How does it look

So how come most members dont take the time to make any comments?

Im not saying ya have to do it all the time

But if you like others to tell ya how good you are  Try it for the other posts

Just a thought

It doesnt hurt to be nice

Wes

Song writing Lesson.

Recipe for an easy blues song.

3 lines per verse.  First and second lines are the same words.

The third line ends in a word that is a rhyme or near rhyme for the last word in the first lines.

The third line resolves or answers or somehow completes what was said in the previous 2 lines.

The first line is often about 12 syllables give or take a few…