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Why do Music Shops dislike CBG's?

Hello all,

I have always been pretty good at crafting things since I was a little boy. I've always tore things apart just to see how they are put together. I’ve built a few CBG’s back in High School in the 80's and started building them again a few months back since it’s been a bit easier to pick up cheap cigar boxes.

When going to a few local music’s store in my area to try and pick up parts, (New Jersey) I seem to get the same reply from some of the store owners or employees when they ask me what I am using the parts for.

“Why do you want to build that for, they all sound like crap” or a get the old eye roll.

I firmly disagree with them and usually thank them for their time and walk out. It seems to me that CBG’s are look down on. I work at a school and even the music teacher here gives me a look when I mention it to him. I have bought one in and even he said the my craftsmanship is very nice and professional, he tells me I should just save my money and time and buy a nice guitar. Has anyone else run into this kind of behavior, or is it just a north-eastern thing.

I have many interest including playing the Bagpipes, Guitar, and Drums, but having a wife and 4 wee ones have been taking up a majority of my time.

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on May 31, 2014 at 8:17pm

Well whaddya know? The very day I posted this they sold it! Only took 4 months... :)

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 30, 2014 at 7:02pm

I just played a gig last night with 3 CBGs, a Guitalele, and two commercial acoustics (a Yamaha and a Taylor), through a Pignose amp, as well as a homemade cajon. Yes, I got several standard comments (remember, half the crowd were musicians waiting their turn to go on stage):

1) Oh, look, a cigar box guitar! that's kinda kewl..
2) Why don't you play that on one of your "nice" guitars?
3) What is that weird resonator thing?
4) Why does it only have 3 or 4 ( or doubled 3) strings?
5) Oh, he's the weird guy with the homemade instruments...
6) Can't fault a guy for instrumental diversity or versatility (one of my bandmates)...
7) That amp is too small ( uh huh. sound system engineer thought otherwise, hehe)

As MC and blues historian for the show, I was determined to throw them my rough melodies, slightly distorted blues tone, honest lyrics, and feeling, in the face of much technically better players than myself. And you know what? Most of the technically better players paid me numerous compliments, along the lines of, "Wow, I never would have thought you could do that with only 3 strings!," or "Show me how you did that...," or "that was an awesome song!" Of course, I played into it by saying repeatedly things like,"Y'all are probably wondering what the hell is this thing I'm playing..." and "Yes, I'm a big guy, and this here is a little guitar. I don't feel I'm having to compensate for anything..." And one of my truly gifted musical buddies spent most of the load out time plinking around on the dual course reso and the Guitalele, making both of them sing in ways I can only dream of.

But there was still a feeling of disbelief, fear and even loathing when I first took the stage. So I later pulled out the Taylor when sitting in with one of the other bands, and everyone seemed to relax. They know I can play and sing, but it was truly amusing to see and hear all these reactions. I just keep playing my CBGs, and people slowly seem to be coming around.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 30, 2014 at 7:20pm

And let us not forget how the whole "blues" industry got started: W.C. Handy, a conservatory-schooled black composer, sitting waiting for a train in Tutwiler, Mississippi, listening to a poor black man who may have been Henry Sloan playing knife blade slide and singing about "where the Southern cross the Yellow Dog." Some people get it. Some people never will.

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Permalink Reply by Blue Collar Devil on May 31, 2014 at 3:14am

Exactly Ron, Some folks will never warm up to the thought of some homemade instrument being "cool" while others( Like us folk on here )that have fully embraced CBGs.

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Permalink Reply by jim on May 30, 2014 at 8:29pm

I think it's because there all POOPYHEADS!

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Permalink Reply by Reeds Taylor on May 30, 2014 at 8:39pm

I've learned more about guitar in the last two years being a member of CBN then in the 50 years I been playing....well not playing more like trying to play guitar.....and I attribute it too the simplicity of open tuning on 3 or 4 string cbg..Everything I know about music had all come by ear up to my joining the nation, there was no formal training.....but it seems these days I know more about woods, finishes, strings and gauges....parts , not to mention the ability to build and the feeling I get after every build....just knowing I did that. I know more people now than I thin I've ever know, people whom also dabble in something I've come to enjoy. Seeing others take these handmade instruments and do what they do is amazing in its self, but it also inspires people like myself too create, and make the next build that much better...maybe put some lyrics to a cool tune or heck even sing....

I think music stores see the cbg movement as a threat too their business...and with good reason. With all the different name brand competitors out there, and now someone throws in the cigar box guitars, it's probably not in their best interest supporting one of their biggest contenders.

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Permalink Reply by jim on May 30, 2014 at 8:47pm

naaw, just all that is out on the market is what they see, and brainwashed and/or life and .... Fruitflies...

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on May 31, 2014 at 12:06am

It's very difficult for a music store to survive these days. When I was a kid they were everywhere. Their business model relies not only on the sale of new instruments and the consumable components thereof (strings, reeds, rosin, sticks, skins etc) but on maintenance/service (think fretjobs, setups) and the big daddy, lessons.

Now the lessons may seem small potatoes at $40 - $65 + tax a pop or whatever, but they are an ongoing commitment from (usually) a parent.. A person who will stop by every week, providing opportunity for further sales, but also that guaranteed income that keeps things going in slow sales weeks. Even following the time honoured tradition that I've been part if for extended periods of my life where half goes to the teacher this cash flow and guaranteed 'bums on seats' is crucial to keeping the small mom and pop music store going.

In our information age the internet is not only taking those instrument (and consumables) sales from the stores, you tube and various chord and tab sites are also slowly killing tuition. Now you stroll in, king of the shit with your homemade box thing.. Hah. They don't even have a guy who teaches that shit. Obviously they can't sell you a fret dress or a setup if you built it. And wtf, you only want three strings. Get the fuck out of my store!!!

Hahaha think about it. :)

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Permalink Reply by Uncle John on May 31, 2014 at 12:24am

Music snobs. Try not to be one.

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Permalink Reply by Muddy Creek Guitars on May 31, 2014 at 2:28am

I actually have a good relationship with my local guitar shop. He sells my guitars on consignment. When I say sell, I mean he puts them in the window, no one has bought one yet. I have it there for more of an advertisement. One of his employees owns a few CBGs (one of them from me, the other from Glenn Kaiser).

But I understand the snobbery. I used to be that way. I have a degree in music. When I graduated I thought that I knew "everything" about music. In 2012 Glenn Kaiser held a CBG worskshop at the Cornerstone Festival that my family went to every year (2012 was the last one). I saw the ad and thought it was a kid's craft thing. He had a picture of something made out of a broom stick and a coffee can, what I now call a canjo. I thought it was absolute junk.
My wife convinced me to go. I was humbled by now much I learned about music in those two hours. Now I am absolutely addicted.
Some people think that what I make is junk. Some even think that after I play it for them. I can't change people. Some people have a need to be right which means that I'm wrong. The most snobbery I see is at sales when college kids who play a six string tell me that my guitars are out of tune. They have no idea how to play a slide guitar and push the strings all the way to the neck. I can show them, but they don't care, whatever.
I love what I do and that's what matters. When I play out or do a sale I'm sharing the love. This sounds corny but building and playing CBGs has really returned my love for music.

Thanks for reading my long, rambling post.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 31, 2014 at 3:56am

Seems Dr. Hanson was correct...I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu. ;-)

BTW, Jef has some great points, music teacher that he is. Much of that work has moved to the Internet, or been gobbled by big box stores in the States like Guitar Center. And he's right, too, on the score of not being able to make much money from DIYers ( although Ben Gitty has a nice adjunct parts biz going, again on the Internet!). Almost no mom-n-pop stores can compete, even on customer service. Most of the legendary music stores in New York City have closed, due to GC and high rents, as well as shifts in musical tastes and instruments. They've either gone extremely high end, or gone fishing.

So a bunch of old farts showing up with their cool factor just looks like declining revenue. Which is why I personally make a point of e-purchasing parts, strings, repair jobs for my commercial gits, etc. at my local GC when I travel back for vacation. All the guys in there are working / struggling musicians who gotta eat. Our hobby don't feed em. But some can still see past all that, get the vibe and convert.

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Permalink Reply by ron carlson on May 31, 2014 at 7:03am

Why do Music Shops dislike CBG's?

Pretty much for the same reasons high end audio shops don't embrace or encourage DIY audio guys like myself I would imagine, I used to frequent such an establishment throughout the 80's to early 2000's before moving headlong into DIY. My audio purchases from this shop and others had topped 20 grand during this time and my visits were always very welcome as you can imagine. This place is like a cigar shop where you go to sample the wares. Also hang out and discuss audio with other like minded folks, I was treated like family around there.

By the early to mid 2000's I found myself looking for a sound I was getting close to, but wasn't able to completely get a grasp on with the direction I was going. Spending a shit ton of money to get similar results just wasn't cutting it. I started to hang with DIY folks who had been through the same and finally found my answers,

Your probably asking yourselves, What the hell does this have to do with the question at hand??? and it goes a little something like this...

The very same audio shop that used to embrace me with open arms started to treat me quite differently as they started to realize I had opened the DIY door and building what I was seeking and probably wouldn't be dropping money down the high end audio rat hole like I had in the past. I had educated myself, learned from some of the best and was now rolling my own as it were.

I know it's not personal, but I believe I became a counter productive voice in a world that's business is to sell and not build.

I'm sure the same applies to Music shops. Although they may embrace the notion privately, it's probably not in their best interest to do so publically.