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CBG´s like in the old days!

Hi guys!
I´ve been stalking this forum for a while, stealing ideas and reading all your private off-topic forum conversations, now I found it´s time for me to get in and join the fun! I´m also looking for creative tips and think this is just the place...

My deal at current is that I´m a guitarist (preferably full size and six strings, spitting in church) and recently moved to an area close to the slum outside of Nairobi, Kenya.

The thing with this place is that there is a common love for music around but not a single affordable music store. There is also an abundance of serious tonal wood: mahogany, Ebony, Mfuli... This led me to the idea to start a "CBG Factory/ Music school" over here, building guitars for 8 dollars and selling then for 20 or something.

So far I´ve built two CBG´s but im using tin- glue cans for the acoustic box instead of cigar boxes due to lack of availability.

So far I have realized how simple and straightforward instrument making is, a stick of wood, a box, a few strings and a way of making them tight.. Baffled about how good they actually sound :)

BUT!!! and here is where i need creative help, a set of strings in Kenya is about 15 dollars, which obviously tips the entire operation overboard.. impossible to sell an instrument for 20 bucks saying it will be 35 if you want it strung :p

What I´m looking for now is any and all tips and ideas on where to scavenge material to make my own strings, I´ve looked in every hardware store around without finding metal wire that could do the trick. It has to be serious scavenging like "in the generator of a Nissan Skyline there is a bronze cable that will be a perfect D-string in a 0.11 gauge set of strings.."

Alright, became a long post.. Consider it my presentation :) now I´m of building, today im making a prototype of a new set of tuning-pegs that i figured out yesterday..

P.s. not sure wether this post belongs in building-secrets or Off topic, I´ll post it here and let the moderators handle it as the seem appropriate..

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Permalink Reply by Blues Frog on December 21, 2015 at 4:51pm

Not sure what exactly is available to you, but I will point to the art of Capoeria for a reference.

Capoeria was started by slaves who wanted to learn Jusitsu to protect themselves, but had to disguise it from their owners. They incorporated dance and music to diguise it. One such disguise was the berimbaue, which was a stic, a gourd and the wire from a steel belted radial tire.

Point is, you can use anything for strings. go to the hardware store and bu some wire, three different sizes, and you have your strings.

Remember, no rules = a whole lotta fun.

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Permalink Reply by JL on December 22, 2015 at 7:34am

Is sewing thread cheap? or sausage casing? or sheep/goat gut left over from the abattoir?

long before the invention of machine-made wound metal strings there were strings for lutes, lyres, sitars, harps, violin/viola/cello/bass.

You could rediscover the art of making gut strings, possibly even take a shortcut and use natural sausage casing instead of having to dress raw gut yourself.

Japanese instruments, such as the ichigenkin used silk string made by winding together a few strands of silk thread. I would think some other types of thread may also work.

AND you can have a secondary business/school making/selling the strings.

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Permalink Reply by Jakob Lindqvist on December 22, 2015 at 9:55am

hmmm.. this created a monster :p think i´ll need to do some googleing about how to make natural strings out of guts! suits me just fine since i managed to jam a one centimeter long splinter into my finger, just under the nail, while sanding down my fretboard today :p

wood work will have to wait for a few days!

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Permalink Reply by Jakob Lindqvist on December 22, 2015 at 10:25am

found myself a rabby old lion, what am i looking for? whiskers? tail?

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on December 22, 2015 at 9:31am

You can pull wire from old tyres

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Permalink Reply by Bristol Blue on December 22, 2015 at 9:55am

Hey Wayfinder, I love cats ,so don't go there. Anyhow, I understand the Cats are a bit bigger in Kenya. Fucking ferocious in fact !

And what ...a Snickers? In Britain that's a chocolate snack bar containing peanuts and caramel. Tastes good but is useless for stringing instruments ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Don Cook on December 29, 2015 at 2:28pm

Here's an idea. Put together a presentation. Like maybe a 5-10 minute video showing the lack of affordable resources for musical supplies in that region to start a school. Post to Youtube. Then basically try to crowd source the supplies from donations or sponsorships. You have to admit that it is for a great cause. Especially when kids learning to play music is involved. Send the video link to every guitar string manufacturer that you can find on the web through their contact links. Post it in the comments section on their websites and social media pages like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. There might just be a company out there that would be proud to sponsor such an endeavor and be able to attach their brand to it. Think about it... 100 packs of strings for a company like Ernie Ball is just a drop in the bucket compared to the gains they would get in return by way of publicity. Many companies actively seek out charitable ventures to fund. I know that I would personally be more apt to buy from a company that gives back to the community. It's good marketing for them and great material source for you.