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built from Hunger

So recently I was looking at some sweet cbgs for sale at a local folk festival. They were way better than my own and when the builder told me about how deep he goes into debt in time and parts I was not surprised. Now I love these guitars but I am just too poor to invest this much money into producing one. My question is what brought you to this crazy revolution? Was it the unique guitar? Was it the possiblity of a guitar on the cheap? was it a sense of history? Or something I have not thought of. So here is my story. I always wanted a guitar as a kid but my folks could not afford one. At about 8 years old I made a toy one out of a box and a piece of wood I attached as a neck. I even put fishing line on it for strings. It did not tune or play but I had a ton of fun pretending to play. At about 15 I get a beat up electric guitar from a friend. I learn to play from books and by watching others. The Ramones rule my world. The raw simplicity takes me into the idea that I might be able to actually do this. I eventually learn how to play a little. Join a band try to chase the dream. Time goes by but music never leaves my life. One day I am looking for music projects to do with kids in the community center I run. I find Shane speal and his recordings are so incredibly unique and raw I can not help but feel like I felt the first time I heard Beat on the brat. As I investigate I find that Shane is convinced the sound is in this simple musical instrument. I find a simple set of plans and can not believe that it actually works. From that day back in the early 2000s I have not played much else but home built guitars. The feeling of owning the ability to make one has made me feel rich beyond beliefe. I can have as many as I want as they are cheap to build. The guitar itself teaches me a new way to play and to sing for that matter. I decide that pounding a song out of one of these things is more exciting then driving 100 miles an hour down the freeway and throwing your steering wheel out the window. My life in music was changed for ever all because I could not afford a guitar..

Now how about you all?

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 23, 2014 at 5:58am

I'm only in it for the prestige, the beer, and the womenfolk.

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Permalink Reply by Bufo Bill on May 30, 2014 at 10:40am

Hi, I'm new to this forum and to CBG's. I suppose what made me want to make my CBG Banjo was the fact that I wanted something more unusual than regular shop bought brands, but I don't have much money so could not afford to have one made by a professional luthier. I had made bits and bobs for one of my other regular banjos, so I decided to step it up a gear.
I am a big fan of unique instruments, and have drooled over pictures of high end custom instruments, but have been pleasantly suprised by the playability and sound from my first build, but am not sure if I will keep up the building side of things; however it felt mighty good when I first heard the sound of an instrument built by my own hands!
An addiction may be forming . . . :D

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on May 30, 2014 at 10:52am

I'm with Oily, but the women folk like me better. Hmm, truth is I like home made and making stuff. Saw some vids 10 years or so back on how to make a CBG. Did it. Didn't know how to play it until a few years ago when I found CBN. Then the building and playing thing really took off.

You don't have to spend a lot of money or time on CBG building. Especially fretless. I think I make a fretless with piezo in maybe 5 hours. And cheap enough. Often it takes some playing and tweaking to get it 'right'.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on May 30, 2014 at 11:20am

Well Matthew sounds like you've got the bug as bad as me. In my my case, I've always loved thumbing my nose at authority and this is my way of saying you don't need anything but an old empty box and a vibrating string to make pretty good music. I've got a pretty well known friend who has a Martin guitar valued at around 30,000 bucks and he has nothing but admiration for some of my instruments valued at 30 bucks. My first guitar at age 14 was a beat up old Stella and I miss her to this day! I think showing this stuff to kids has been one of the highlights of my instrument making. Just to see the realization light up in their faces of what's possible is worth way more than making and selling. I had a friend play one of my cigar box fiddles and say "this is pretty good ... you should try to make a real fiddle" I just laughed and thought "this is as real as it gets for me" Being poor is one of the mothers of invention!

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Permalink Reply by Muddy Creek Guitars on May 30, 2014 at 12:27pm

I have a degree in music. In 2012 I went to a CBG workshop ran by. Glenn Kaiser at the Cornerstone Festival. I was humbled by how much I learned about music in those two hours. I walked away with a hideous thing built out of a piece of banister and an old drawer. It didn't play well at all, but I was hooked. I took it apart and rebuilt it as a canjo. I since rebuilt it twice and now is very playable and plugs into an amp via a piezo pickup.
I met up with Glenn again at a concert that fall. I was utterly amazed at what he could build an instrument out of and how well he could play them. After the show he gave me some pointers on how to play a CBG. He pointed me to CBNation for more ideas, lessons and plans.
In December 2012, I got a free Macanudo box from a tobacco shop. In January 2013 I built my first CBG.
My family has been very supportive of my new hobby/addiction, and it has ended up being something we can do together. In 2013, I stopped counting at 44 CBGs, also made several canjos, little kid 1 string canjos, a diddly bow, 5 amps, and a bunch of tin can microphones.
When I graduated college, I was cocky about knowing "everything" about music. Now music is a fun adventure for me because I'm constantly learning. My ear for tuning and playing by ear have increased immensely.
The funny thing is originally I didn't want to go to the workshop. I thought it was some silly kid's craft like making a guitar out of a cereal box. My wife convinced me to go. I'm so glad she did!

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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on May 30, 2014 at 2:03pm

I was a dulcimer player. Got tired of playing lap style so started playing so-called stick dulcimers instead. Saw plans for making one with a cigar box body. Couldn't fret it right at the time. Saw about fretless 3 strings and grabbed a short piece of metal tubing to play it slide style, initially like a dulcimer noter, but later like a guitar slide. And so it goes...