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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on July 7, 2009 at 5:13am

Well,,,,,
My path was a bit different I think.I was building and selling banjos, the old mtn style fretless.
When the economy tanked the banjos stopped selling( they wasnt selling all that well anyway.)
While I found that I really enjoyed building necks I just HATED building the hoops.So I started doing research ,,,and doing research,and one day while noodling round the puter I stumbled on CBG's ,and I was hooked.
I had faintly heard of CBG's but had never bothered to see what they were all about.I went down to our MALL bacca store and got a couple of boxes and built a few.I discovered that I could enjoy building necks and the "body " of the instrument was already basically built for me.
I also found that the public is fascinated with these old style instruments and when you explain the history behind them a lot of them are hooked too.
Last month I made $1200 selling slider CBG's and Didly Bo's
This month I made $1500 so the public "gets it".
My time is so limited with working my full time Mall job and building that I have trouble keeping enough stock in the store.
I'm very lucky in that I can show demonstrate and sell while I'm on the clock working for the mall itself.I get away with it because the mall gets 30% of my take, so its in their interest to allow me to push product.
The slight drawback is that I have to turn out as much product as I can to really make any money.But thats ok because I'm having so much fun building and showing off at work that I dont mind the extra work.
Another plus is talking to the public and seeing their amazement when they follow the music and find me playing a 1 string DB, they cant believe all that music is coming from 1 string.I'll be playing ,draw a crowd and all of a sudden I'll stop and say that" I can only afford 1 string" and start playing again, that always breaks them up and the questions start.
I was surprised when I noticed that teenagers are just as fascinated as the adults.
Its a nice clean hobby and we're all lucky to be able to pursue it.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sprague (Knotlenny) on July 7, 2009 at 6:09am

Me?
i'm just an obsessive-compulsive-chain-smoking-cigar-aficionado. I got all these damn boxes around and had to do SOMETHING with 'em.

I also construct miniature log cabins dioramas out of the discarded butts, and have reupholstered my entire living room set with cigar bands - (utilizing the ashes for stuffing.)

If I could only find a use for the spent matches and these big old lugies that I hack up, I think I might be entitled to some carbon credits or something.

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Permalink Reply by Tam Givens on July 7, 2009 at 6:18am

I was browsing the net for stick dulcimer instruments, when I found CBG's, now I'm hooked.

Tam

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Permalink Reply by William Bannier on July 7, 2009 at 6:22am

I was actually looking for a strumstick or some variation that wasn't a McNally. Somehow I stumbled on a site with CBGs and got facinated by them. Originally, I was just going to buy one but my central AC went on the fritz and cost me more money than I had in the bank. With that being the case, I decided I would try building one and save some money. I started doing random Google searches for CBGs and building plans. Eventually I staggered in here late one night all bleary eyed and half awake. In my sleep deprived state, signing up as a member sounded like a good idea at the time so I did. This place has turned out to be a real stockpile of info and amusement. The saving money part hasn't quite panned out so well though.... *shrug*

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on July 7, 2009 at 7:08am

Dumb luck.

I have a lot of that. Mostly the the part of the first part.

The question kinda reminds me of a quote from David Lee Roth. When asked by a Japanese host "How did you find Japan?", meaning how do you like Japan, DLR replied "I didn't. I took a couple of Valium, closed my eyes and let the pilot find it".

Nah, I stumbled on this from http://cigarboxguitars.com/ and from the Yahoo group.

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Permalink Reply by toasterburn on July 7, 2009 at 7:25am

I was googling for more information about cbgs after seeing a guy selling them at a local trade show. Bought one off ebay and then decided to build a few myself.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on July 7, 2009 at 1:49pm

I'd been into "making things" for a long time. I've also been a guitar picker for a long time.....
I was wandering through the university book store and I saw a copy of "Make" magazine with a CBG on the cover. I said to myself, "I could make one of those.", and proceeded to look for more information. (I didn't want to spring the money for the magazine!)
Found the old Yahoo group right away, and started building.

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Permalink Reply by lenny purnell on July 7, 2009 at 2:03pm

I was following a thread on Weanie Campbell.Its a pre war blues site.The thread was about Diddley bows.I didn't know what they were .So that led to a cigar box guitar.I had to try one.About a year or so after that I was invited to check out this new Cigar Box nation site. I just do it as a hobby,but it is alot of fun. Lenny

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on July 7, 2009 at 5:06pm

I saw Fuzzys guitars on Youtube by accident, then did a search on youtube and found Lenny Parnells vids, and it took me over.

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Permalink Reply by joe cerroni on July 7, 2009 at 11:20pm

I guess I read about them in books about Blues history and kept the idea of building one in the back of my head for years, but i didn't know where to begin. I went to ultimate-guitar.com (great site for Tabs BTW) and went on the forums for builders and asked if anyone ever built one and got flamed off there by half a dozen guitar snobs! So i looked on wikipedia and found the article with the links and then built a three string canjo slider. About a year later a huge liquor store with a big humidor opened in my neighborhood and an almost limtless supply of cheap empty wooden cigar boxes became available. Well, that sealed my fate as a chronic CBGer! Hey, great idea for a thread, Jkevn, I'm enjoying reading everyone's CBG testimonies.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on July 8, 2009 at 3:12am

I belong to a wood turning forum and a guy there posted a picture of a guitar he made and he turned the "box/bowl on the lathe. I was very impressed and asked questions. He directed me here. Got me going. He just posted pictures here of his latest build. Check out Raymond Overman (Naked Woodturner)(really don't like to picture that!?) Anyway, I can't play music, but I love to build instruments. The Ukuleles are the most fun for me.

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Permalink Reply by Ishmaelprophet on July 8, 2009 at 5:56am

I have been a guitar player for about 13 years. Its my life, when I’m awake I think about music
When I’m asleep I dream about it. It was always about evolve evolve evolve. Then one day
On a trip to see some close friends that like in Knoxville TN, I saw this ragtime playing fool , and his
Rhythm section was just a washboard player with tin cans and bells on it. It just hit me why evolve
When I can just devolve and try to grow a new branch in my personal evolution. So I got on the net
And started looking for what type of washboard to use and for what ever reason (we’ll call it fate)
Google brought me a video of Shane making a stick and a box his BI@^%. I listened to it over and over .
This is what I have been looking for, the next step, devolution, raw primal soul, the primordial ooze of
Music. I am very lucky to have a huge wood working shop 4 steps from my house (Thanks Dad) and just
Started building the rest is obsessive history.

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