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Art Or Function?

I just finished cutting a hole in a Fuente box for a paint lid resonator. My wife looked at it and said I ruined the art. So I guess the question is....Where do you draw the line between having a working CBG or a wall hanger? I have some really nice boxes that have great art on them and know they would sound great. Should we slice up the art in favor of getting the sound we desire or have a cool looking box that makes people say wow? As a working muscian I know the value of a fine sounding instrument. As a builder I also know the value of something that catches someone's eye. I'm torn...

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Permalink Reply by Tim on January 18, 2010 at 4:55am

work around the box theres no reason you cant have your cake and eat it too in this situation. try building abox with out a sound hole if you are amplifying it then it doesnt need one any way. (take a look at some to the modern acoustic electrics) or put the sound hole on the top and bottom or personaly i like electromagnetic pickups so any holes are just to for looks to me i dont want the top to resinate at all so i glue as much wood as i can to it.

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Permalink Reply by Greg on January 18, 2010 at 5:24am

Lots of good opinions. I agree that the finished guitar is the art. Think I'll just let the chips fly and see what comes out at the end. My background is in creating electric guitars as far as making instruments. Problem is there are to many "standards' in that market and people that buy them are not always open to new styles and shapes. I need to get that way of working out of my head and get back to my Southern Cracker yard art roots! Think I'll hit the flea market this week and see what kind of things I can find to compliment the box art.

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Permalink Reply by Zack Burke on January 18, 2010 at 7:11am

Jerryrig240 said:

I want it to look like I just pulled it out of the junk heap. I like the idea of using everyday objects on my builds.

Man, what you don't realize there is that there shows clear intention of artistic direction in the build. We've all just been taught 'Artistic' means 'artsy fartsy' and therefore uncool so we try to distance ourselves from the term. But look at the stuff that wins Featured Instrument of the Day; its always stuff that makes us go "Dang that is the most creative use of a sink drain cover I've ever seen." That's just someone being the artist and us being the folks at the gallery right?

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Permalink Reply by Zack Burke on January 18, 2010 at 7:34am

The thing I would say is this: If you are making it for yourself to play all that matters is that you like its look and you like its sound. If its for someone else, you should like its sound and subtract anything that would make anything look as if it didn't fit in the build. No one likes something that looks slopped together and like a stream of second-thoughts.

That being said the most important aspect is that is makes music. If someone wanted wall art they could have gone out and printed out one of our pictures in 22 x 36 inch size, framed it and hung it up.