#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

Your Group Needs You!

Ey up!

Hopefully by now you are all aware that something is well and truly 'going on' with our UK CBG scene.

The first festival was a huge sucess, with around 25 folk attending the day sessions, and 60 for the evening gig.

This almost doubled to 50 and 100 respectivly for this years fest - and from what I gather, a lot more than attend many of the US events. And they invented it! ;o)

Clearly our scene is exploding... and I reckon it will continue to do so.

A lot of this is down to you, the participants, the anonymous benefactors, and the hardwork that Chickenbone John and a few others put in throughout the year doing all the planning and organising.

As it stands at the minute, John shells out his own cash, then worries if he'll get it back on the night! He spends hours planning, meeting, travelling, discussing - all at his own expense.

The performers play on the assumtion they will not be getting paid. They pay their own travel and accomodation costs. As it turned out this year, the anonymous donation and the good turn out, coupled with the deal done with the venue, meant they did get a little financial help, but they were there out of their own good will and dedication to the scene.

So, heres my point (FINALLY!!)

Wouldnt it be great if we had a little money in the kitty to help with all these little costs? Maybe to lay on food at the next fest? Help John with some of the planning costs? Or to actually pay the preformers something like a proper wage? Maybe cover venue costs so we can avoid the dreaded door split? Or, to put it another way;

To support the scene we all take so much from, and to ensure its continued success.

Lets just imagine for a moment that John cant afford the time off to organise next years fest, or that Hollowbelly cant afford to come and give a workshop and gig... pretty dreary picture huh? You would be left with me, in a dingy pub, talking nonsense for 15 hours. Not worth 25p...

I know what youre thinking. Sounds like a begging letter, but trust me, its not - I have a plan!

And better than that, everyone gets a little something back too :o)

The plan is to set up a UK CBG Registry (for want of a better name - it would be cool to include all homemade instruments).

And this is how it would work;

* There would be a nominal fee to join - say £5 per year. This would give us a few hundred quid to do something with next year.

* There would be NO obligation to join, and not joining would have NO effect on you attending the festival, etc etc - the idea of this is to support our democracy and help it grow, not to divide folk.

* For your £5, you would get a membership number, maybe a downloadable logo with said number (so if you are building / selling / preforming etc you can show you are affiliated, so to speak - handy if you Ebay etc) and your name on 'The List'

* 'The List' will therefore be a Uk directory of of builders and players and interested folk. If someone was activly looking for an artist, or a builder, or even just folk to interview for a documentary, what better resource?

* The registry would also have the benefit of drawing in folk who are on the fringes of what we do. Plenty of folk build and sell on Ebay, but dont come here or to the shows. Maybe seeing everyone else affiliated would motivate them to get a bit more involved. Same goes for players - lets get everyone together and share our tips, help each other, and educate the rest of the musical world together!

* As an additional benefit, once we have a proper group set up in this way, and with a little extra paperwork, we can apply for outside funding. Want to see Seasick Steve play the next UK festival? This could pay for it. Seriously.

Incidentally, I did also think about a sticker for your guitar case, but this then becomes a 'money in, money out' affair and doesnt actually raise anything for the kitty. Maybe a bit of merchandising could be done as a seperate venture?

I am volunteering to help set all this up, and it would be done properly with an elected board, proper accounts etc, so its all above board and,most importantly, for the good of the group.

So - thoughts please!

Im asking for honest open opinions here folk, so dont hold back! DO, however, try to read the whole thing before you start on about making it elitist etc etc - I think its pretty clear thats not the point!

Thanks again

Ben

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ian Drury on November 25, 2010 at 1:17am

Sounds great, re:t-shirt printing, i have dealt with a few smaller concerns in the past for shirts for my car clubs' annual event and they do vary in cost, quality etc and depending on the artwork complexity....
I love the plastic credit card concept and also a club pick/ plectrum.
Could stickers be avail in different sizes ?

keep me posted when the sign-up / payment goes 'live' !

ian drury...in cold & snowy rural norfolk.

Roosterman said:

Anyone out there in Collective land in the printing business?

Specifically able to print T shirts, or mugs, or plastic membership cards, or stickers, or whatever....?

Be great if you could get in touch with me so we can have a chat - the bank account is almost there so as soon as the paypal goes up I want to be ready with the membership packs and merchandise.

Our current thinking is that a sticker and a membership card would be cool, along with your £5 discount voucher.

And hows this for a genius idea (or not - you tell me!) - a plastic credit card sized membership card that has our logo in one corner, which we will cut with our club plectrum cutter, so you get a card AND a Homegrown plectrum all in one! :o)

Permalink Reply by JUJU on November 25, 2010 at 1:25am

What about asking our very own hollowbelly if he'd be intrested in Printing some Tees - just a idea dont want to put him on the spot , but i know the couple of tees i've had from him have been spot on i'd rather pay a few quid extra and get quality - and as hes goin to be a member keep it in the Collective so to speak
just a idea worth asking him he can only say Bog off :)

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on November 25, 2010 at 2:00am

Re T shirts, Norm did put us on to a company that does limited printing, even one offs, and they even post them out, but I think as one of our aims here is to raise funds for the cause, we should try and keep this in house and as profitable as possible. It would be ideal if there is one amongst us who can provide this service. Im not asking for a freebie by the way, but someone who knows what we are about and the nature of our market would be an ideal partner in this.

My thinking is we (the Collective) can prolly afford to get a batch done (say 50?) to keep costs down, and we can take care of our own posting etc. Id also like to have the items in hand so we can assure quality.

If there is no-one here in the trade, then I have a local guy who is very reasonable.

Stickers - yes! Car stickers, case stickers, window stickers, small, medium, large.... again, anyone out there?

Permalink Reply by HOLLOWBELLY on November 25, 2010 at 2:20am

@ Juju-Very kind-unfortunately they're rather labour intensive/time consuming to produce.I find Its a struggle to keep up stocks of my own tees to be honest..but ta for the thought. :0)

Permalink Reply by MrRandomWritings (Backwater Bri) on November 25, 2010 at 3:01am

Don't forget my badge!

Roosterman said:

Re T shirts, Norm did put us on to a company that does limited printing, even one offs, and they even post them out, but I think as one of our aims here is to raise funds for the cause, we should try and keep this in house and as profitable as possible. It would be ideal if there is one amongst us who can provide this service. Im not asking for a freebie by the way, but someone who knows what we are about and the nature of our market would be an ideal partner in this.

My thinking is we (the Collective) can prolly afford to get a batch done (say 50?) to keep costs down, and we can take care of our own posting etc. Id also like to have the items in hand so we can assure quality.

If there is no-one here in the trade, then I have a local guy who is very reasonable.

Stickers - yes! Car stickers, case stickers, window stickers, small, medium, large.... again, anyone out there?

Permalink Reply by JUJU on November 25, 2010 at 4:58am

Ok mate just thought id mention it yep i guess they do take some time to make you can see that in the quality of them :)

HOLLOWBELLY said:

@ Juju-Very kind-unfortunately they're rather labour intensive/time consuming to produce.I find Its a struggle to keep up stocks of my own tees to be honest..but ta for the thought. :0)

Permalink Reply by Little Soul Eric on November 25, 2010 at 8:50pm

MrRandomWritings (Brian) said:Don't forget my badge!
......................And dont forget the Mugs too !!

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on December 13, 2010 at 2:02am

Just an update guys.

Things are on hold a bit due to this 'Christmas' thing, but rest assured things are still happening behind the scenes.

I think realistically we are looking at end of January to open for business - that gives us time to get the printing done and organise a bit of press. Press? Sure - No point doing it halfarsed!

Hope you all have a great Christmas :o)

Permalink Reply by Darren Edmett on December 13, 2010 at 3:09am

I know i'm yet to even hold a CBG let alone build or play one, but i've been reading through all the posts and having something like a paid for membership seems like a good idea.

I currently pay membership in a small local car club, and these funds help loads throughout the year. I'm also in another car club that currently doesn't have a membership fee, but will probably be moving towards it so as not to have people being out of pocket etc etc.

As someone starting out, i'm sure having something like a UK based list / club / group would be very handy, so please count me in.

Permalink Reply by James Deeds on December 30, 2010 at 9:49pm

hope everyone had a great christmas came across an ad in the local paper for a mug printing set with mug press, printer and a supply of mugs for £125.00 ono if anyone is intrested been looking up the going prices on ebay without the mugs and it's about £100.00 just thought I'd throw the information out if anyone wanted the number on the ad is 01785664491

Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley said:

MrRandomWritings (Brian) said:Don't forget my badge!
......................And dont forget the Mugs too !!

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on January 20, 2011 at 2:34am

Firstly, sorry for the silence over the xmas holidays.

Like many of you, I was snowed under with getting guitars out / seeing family / celebrating / being cold etc etc

But now its over, so lets get back to business!

Shortly before xmas, I had an email from fellow Brits group member Malcom Wright offering his services. Turns out hes only a pucka graphic designer, and a dab hand at logos!

Now to say my initial attempts at a logo were 'juvenille' would be an understatment of the highest order, so, to cut a long story short, we have worked together (him more than me!) to come up with a cool logo that says who we are, what we do, and sells T-shirts! Pretty tall order, but I think the results speak for themselves.

So you want to see it?

Im sure you do - sadly, I cant figure out how to cut it from its complex designer program and turn it into a simple jpeg, so youll have to wait until I get all the formats in a few days! Sorry!

Elsewhere, we are still trying to secure an international artist to perform at this years Cigar Box Festival and will hopefully have news on that very soon...

So, give me a few weeks to get the membership cards printed, merch sorted out, web finished, and it should be all systems go.

In 5, 4, 3, 2.......

Permalink Reply by Norm Fasey on January 20, 2011 at 5:48am