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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Boy ,nice easy task for a 1st post.Welcome Jakob.think it might be pretty difficult to find the variety of string you need,but a couple of ideas that might help.Your comment re the car parts might work,but unlikely to get you multiples of required guages.In Nairobi,maybe there is a piano tuner/repairer?At  Mombassa in the port area,there's bound to be a ships chandlery of some kind,and it may be worth a call there to see what they might have,good luck!

hmm, you are the third person suggesting heading down to the docks.. Think I´ll have to take a trip to Mombasa over Christmas :) If i found a piano tuner, which part of the string would i use? can i sort of de-wind the outside metal (the yellow part of a guitarsting) and use that as one string? or do you mean that they might just have a fuck-ton of used string I can take and use straight away?

A lot of hard-core ukulele players swear by nylon fishing line/weedwhacker cord. And when you find the right thickness, you get a roll that will last for a lot of instruments.

Hi Jakob,

I think that you can improvise with strings but they're also very cheap on eBay (about a dollar a set).  Of course that depends on you having access to a computer (which you have) and also on the Kenyan postal service and import tax regime, which I know nothing about.

If you're going completely acoustic then you could try fishing line of various thicknesses.  Maybe even fishing wire for electric.  They'll use some sort of wire for sharp-toothed fish.

Good luck and welcome to CBN  :-)

yea, strings are basically cheap everywhere but here! I´ve been in Nepal the last few years and there you can find Dáddario strings for 2/3 of the price for chinese crap strings here..
I bought a set for my guitar a few days ago and the G-string snapped even before it reached tune!

For my own purposes I can probably get friends and family to smuggle me strings over here when they come for a visit.
However I´m planning for this project to grow; I´m setting up a small shop where i build guitars and also teach others to build them,, For when that happens I want to have a few options where people can scavenge strings for extremely cheap.

So far it seems like fishing wire or weed wacker strings are the most feasible options!

Yup, nylon fishing line in different weights works great for a ukelele type instrument.

Here's how Sotho Sounds do it..fishing line.

Brilliant video!!

While I can't and won't speak for others, it seems I spend my time getting anal over this or that cut, this or that design, this or that fret, this or that pup - when all it takes is a burnt can a stick and what looks like fishing line then PLAY with the emphasis on ENJOYMENT.

ladies and gentlemen, THIS IS MUSIC!!

Once I overheard a discussion on a bus, two musicians where talking and what I heard was:
well.. Of course it´s interesting to see what new companies can come up with but the fact still stands, you can never find a proper guitar for less than a thousand dollars.

I would love to shove this video down their throat :)

(quote) I would love to shove this video down their throat :) (end quote) followed quickly and with much force one of their hand made tin can guitars!! ;-)

I remember watching a news story a little while back on a fella in I think it was Ecuador who made violins, cello's drums etc out of materials from the local rubbish tip and made an orchestra for the local kids. These local kids went on to perform in some prestigious places and even with Metallica, so that alone shows to me that money is irrelevant when it comes to making music unless of course your ego dictates the need for the latest and greatest from the one of the big 4.

Annoyingly I think I'd find it hard to make a Cigar Box Piano or Modular Synth so I'll stick to making my CBG's out of bits I find in the shed or can scrounge.
Actually, this post raises (for me atleast) some interesting commentary points regarding the building of CBG's but I shall refrain as I might find myself no longer a member ;-)

“Landfill Harmonic” The Recycled Orchestra Of Paraguay

http://handmademusicclubhouse.com/forum/topics/landfill-harmonic-th...

I knew it was down that way somewhere, not that Ecuador (as I said in my original post) is that close to Paraguay :-0 but in my defence it was a while ago since I watched that doco '-)

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