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Idea for Diddley Bow head stock

I hope to make a Diddly Bow in the near future, but in looking over photos and videos of such, I wasn't too hep on either not having a headstock or simply modifying one that really wasn't all that impressive. That was when I started looking for something that may work out as a unique piece and different than others I have seen so far.

I went to WalMart and started looking in the art supplies and could not find anything. All the garden stuff had been removed to make room for Christmas items, so no luck there. By sheer happenstance, I waled down the bath and bodyworks isle and happened to find a clip on dove made by LuckyDuck. It was a single dove and someone had misplaced it onto a shelf in the Bed and Bath area.

Interesting that these things sold for about $12 bucks for six in the Sporting Goods area and this single dove cost me $2.88 by itself. When I went online, the Lucky Duck website sells the singles for more than what WalMart charges for six. Go figure???

Any rate, my plan is to drill a hole the size of the fretboard/neck of the Diddley Bow and make it a bit longer than normal. I'll drill a hole the same size into the sides of the dove decoy and slip it over the end and slide it down the dowel to make it look like a dove or even a crow is sitting on the end of the head of the Diddley Bow. The weight is negligible as they are made of plastic. I can anchor it down with some silicone to keep it positioned at the end of the Diddly Bow neck if I decide to drill a hole into the dove, but I am also thinking of just attaching it with a screw in some manner. .

Maybe I'll do some lettering on the main Diddly Bow box that says, "Flippin' Ya' Da' Bird" or such. If it works out, this should be unique and a fun piece as a conversation piece, too.

If these two photos attach okay, I clipped the bird onto a CBG that is unfinished. It has a square neck and is not what I'll be attaching the dove to. It was all I had handy to show essentially what the dove may look like, except the dove isn't cut with a hole to slide onto this CBG in the photo. Also note that I had not pulled the bar code tag off or removed the clip on device shown in the photo.

Any rate, it may give someone some ideas to play about with when they make a Diddly Bow or some CBG.

Enjoy.

Huey

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Permalink Reply by James Huey on December 9, 2016 at 3:13pm

I forgot to mention that I clipped the dove onto the zipper of my coat and wore it right up to the check out line. Folk waling toward me saw it and thought the bird was real. Had a great chuckle at some ot their expressions, but my wife was embarrassed by my childishness. Made my day. I was tempted to stop off at the pharmacy area and squeeze out some tooth paste onto my coat to make it look like pigeon poop droppings from the bird, but that would have really upset my wife. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 9, 2016 at 7:13pm

You mean, like this?:

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Permalink Reply by James Huey on December 9, 2016 at 7:53pm

Very similar to what it could look like.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 9, 2016 at 8:02pm

Hmmm. You might want to consider either one of these, then:

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 9, 2016 at 8:04pm

Or this:

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on December 10, 2016 at 5:40am

Nice skeletized buzzard, Oily. Is that an image you found, or is that real for-purchase item?

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on December 10, 2016 at 5:44am

Answered my own question. Just found some on Google for sale. At $22.00 it isn't a cheap git decoration, but where else are ya gonna get one?

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Permalink Reply by Lane Martin on December 12, 2016 at 6:59am

I was looking at the Raven. It's only $10. Go figure.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 10, 2016 at 7:04am

It's real, and they're cheaper on Amazon

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on December 10, 2016 at 6:01am

Toothpaste bird poop - lol. I like it!

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Permalink Reply by James Huey on December 11, 2016 at 4:38pm

Just a sidenote of interest: One of my cousins, George, was nick-named Skeesix. Apparently it was from the comic Gasoline Alley, if one is old enough to remember that comic strip. It was back in the day when the comics in the funny papers were actually funny. :-).