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2017 Plumber's Challenge Winners

The 2017 Plumber's Challenge asked you to build wild instruments out of plumbing and HVAC parts. There were fewer submissions than past contests, but the ones that got chosen in the top three were just as inspiring.

FIRST PLACE: Kevin Perlic of Bellevue, NE claims the First Place bragging rights and a $100 gift certificate from C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply for this incredible Plumber Plucker instrument.

Kevin says, "I was looking to build a Plumber Plucker that had the shape of a traditional guitar. I wanted it to be easy to assemble using only a few tools.

The guitar is constructed of the following:

Black pipe
steel hoses90 degree black pipe angles
3 electrical boxes
one old Washburn humbucker
a piece of wood, a small amount of blood and a hint of snot.

SECOND PLACE and a $50 C. B. Gitty gift certificate is awarded to Paul Craig of Horn Lake, MS for this 27" Baritone PVC Tubulum Guitar.

Craig describes his guitar: [The] body is made of 1" Schedule 40 PVC(has a 1 & 1/4" piece over the 1" neck piece) [and] has 4 sound holes pointing forward for acoustic Tubulum sound.

The fretboard is made of a couple Lowe's yard sticks, aluminum braces make the nut and bridge, 4 tuners from CBGitty that were left over from other projects, electrical box cover for control plate with a 500k volume and a input jack. The 4th tuner is for a string running along the inside back for adjusting the neck relief/ramping if any.

The pickup is made from the motor coils of a power hand drill that I had and hacked for a pickup. The pickup slides from neck position to bridge position for alternating tones.

THIRD PLACE and a $25 C. B. Gitty gift certificate is awarded to Jim Morris of Springfield, WV for his Duct Cap Banjo.

Morris is a frequent contributor to Cigar Box Nation and always has several creative entries for each contest. This one is no exception.

He says of the build, "The body was intended for a banjo but when I found that the 10" galvanized duct cap fit right in it made for a pretty quick HVAC/ Plumber instrument. The neck is 3/4" PVC with a T-coupler head. I put a wooden dowel inside the PVC for more rigidity." The banjo also has penciled fret indicators and zither pin tuners.

Congratulations to all the winners!

-Ben & Shane

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 24, 2017 at 8:53am

Congrats to Kevin Perlic for 1st place.
Congrats to Jim Morris for 3rd place.

As for me, I'm happy to have won 2nd place. Thanks to Ben and Shane.
I see some CBGitty tuners, pickups and pots in my future. Haha

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on July 24, 2017 at 10:00am

What??? 3rd place? Mine was a masterpiece of creativity and a stroke of genius that took me a whole hour and a half to build. Sure Kevin Perlic's and Paul Craig's builds looked cool and all but I mean ...... lol
I'm real happy to be in the money. Congrats to Kevin and Paul, even my wife looked at them and said "those are way cooler than yours"
Now, I forget, is there another challenge this month?

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on July 24, 2017 at 10:35am

We decided to take a break on the contests during the summer due to the number of entries. Everyone's too busy jamming on the back porch with a glass of iced tea, I guess. :)

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Permalink Reply by JL on July 25, 2017 at 12:15am

Saw Kevin's Plumber Plucker in the posts and said "that's the winner right there", Excellent Job!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 25, 2017 at 9:01am

That was also my thoughts JL.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on July 25, 2017 at 12:29am

Whew! Thanks Shane. I, for one, needed a break. Now, back to the porch and my iced tea. See you in York.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 25, 2017 at 9:00am

I expected the Steampunk builders to come out of the woodwork on this challenge.

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Permalink Reply by Milt Haselmire on July 24, 2017 at 11:23am

Congrats Jim!!

You were the guy who stuck to it. You are an inspirational man.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on July 25, 2017 at 12:29am

Thanks Milt. I appreciate that!

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Permalink Reply by Dano Schultz on July 25, 2017 at 7:14am

Congrats to Kevin Perlic, Paul Craig & Jim Morris for your outstanding ways to checkmate this challenge! As a homeowner with terrible luck doing even simple plumbing chores, I particularly admire y'all's courage and resourcefulness, and the fact that there are no (visible) leaks, anywhere...

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Perlic on July 25, 2017 at 11:04am

Been so busy with work I haven't been to the CBN site until just now! Congrats to all the winners and thank you for selecting my build as the winner. Now anytime my wife says "What, you are building another one...and your are making it out of (insert building material that has nothing to do with guitars, but has everything to do with home made guitars here)? I can yes, yes I am. Ok, gotta run, I have a new idea for another plumber strummer!

Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Perlic on July 28, 2017 at 7:15am

This is probably a dumb question, but how does one get the Gitty gift card?

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