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Permalink Reply by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker on January 14, 2014 at 4:52am

And now, in an attempt to head off what is almost certain to be a firestorm of complaints, I would like to talk about this year's results... namely, that fact the first place winner's entry broke the #1 rule of our contest, that of needing to prominently feature a cigar box in the build.

As the owner of this site and sponsor of this yearly contest, I like to keep things pretty loose in terms of rules. Personally, since the name of the place is Cigar Box Nation, I like to see cigar boxes in our contest builds. I consider the cigar box guitar to be the heart of the whole handmade music movement. But, one of the founding themes of the cigar box guitar revolution is that there are no rules, and breaking rules is one of the core principles underlying the movement. In making musical instruments from what is essentially garbage and cast-off materials, we are all breaking the rules and honored traditions of luthiery.

Because of this, while we do state a couple of rules for this contest, we also don't stop people from breaking those rules if they choose. So we don't automatically disqualify entries or anything like that. We make the judges aware of the rules, and encourage them to score accordingly, but in the end we leave it up to them to ignore the rules if they want... and their decisions are final. Sometimes ignoring the rules can pay off. And for Keith Allen this year, that is the case.

It would have been easier for me, as site owner, to massage the results so there would be no controversy. I could have applied an arbitrary 5-point penalty to any entry that broke the rules. But I didn't, because I felt it was important to stick by the structure we had created - that of not disqualifying any entry, and of leaving it up to the judges.

So the results stand as posted. To help smooth things over, I have decided to give a $25.00 coupon to every non-winning builder. I do this as a "thank you" to everyone who went through the time and effort to enter a build, and especially those of you who did make use of a cigar box in your build. Also, Dan Sleep and I are also discussing ways to revise the rules for future contests to prevent confusion and controversy.

I would like to thank everyone who participated, and at the same time encourage folks to take a deep breath and carefully think the matter over before firing off angry or accusatory comments, mails, forum threads and the like. This is a free-to-use site that I pay to maintain and keep online, and I am putting up over $1100 in prizes for this contest. Anyone who feels that they were somehow cheated by this contest's results is free to either not participate in future contests, take part in contests elsewhere, or even organize their own contests.

In the end, the decision of how to handle the contest results was mine, and I take full responsibility. 

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Permalink Reply by Robin Bott on January 14, 2014 at 5:18am

I am left baffled and wondering. Why have rules at all? If they can be broken, then why have them? Break the rules and still win? Integrity and standards? When people work hard to conform to a rule or standard only to be beaten by something that broke the rules is nothing short of a smack in the face. But then, you can do what you want, it is your site. A site that has lost integrity in my opinion and it is only mine.

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Permalink Reply by Piht Bull (Delta Dawg Guitars) on January 14, 2014 at 6:08am

i think the rules gives it a bit of a guide line for the judges . and if your gonna break'em better bring something bad ass . now with that being said it would have been way easier and 3 weeks less work if i diddnt have to use a cigar box . I just diddnt trust my abilities enough to break the rules . 

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on January 14, 2014 at 6:57am

Probably a few non-entrants now kicking themselves for not participating despite ample encouragement to do so.

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Permalink Reply by Piht Bull (Delta Dawg Guitars) on January 14, 2014 at 5:23am

No complaints here , If we were voting Keith would have still won . Thank you for the coupon . And you know what ? just a big thank you for everything Ben and Judges . 

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Permalink Reply by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker on January 15, 2014 at 9:36am

Keith's withdrawal of his entry makes this a moot point.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on January 14, 2014 at 5:08am

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/2013-cigar-box-guitar-bu...

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Permalink Reply by Stevie Miller on January 14, 2014 at 5:06am

I ran a fiddle and banjo contest for years, and one of the things I did was hire the judges. I always made it known that their decision was theirs and it would stand. You won't hear any whining from me. I'm glad to have the opportunity to build and enter the steampunk contest, and thank you for not only running this contest, but for considering my entry as well. Looking forward to next year!

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Permalink Reply by Jim_N on January 14, 2014 at 5:16am

Fun contest, great entries, and congrats to the winners!

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Permalink Reply by SlowFoot on January 15, 2014 at 3:50am

Would you have scratched your head a little if a Tuba player had won the Fiddle and Banjo contest? I love the winning CBG. I also would have been a bit peeved if no one told me the rules don't matter. Thing is, everyone follows them or no one does. Otherwise it's just cheating.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on January 14, 2014 at 5:12am

Congrats to the 4 winners!

Thanks to all the judges and everyone else involved in admin'ing and Ben for sponsoring the contest.  Couldn't have been an easy job with such a great group of entries.  Glad I was part of it with an entry.

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Permalink Reply by Maddog on January 14, 2014 at 5:37am

Congrats to Keith and to all the winners and participants! Ben, Thanks for everything you do here on CBN and with C.B. Gitty!

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