Hi Diane in Chicago,
sorry, I thought I posted a link to my newly created 'cigar box' fiddle. There is now a picture on the 'cigar box fiddlers' page. A 3/4 view is also in my photo album 'fiddles'.
Diane that 3 stringed banjo is a dream come true. I can not get over how great it sounds. I really want to thank you. I was not even sure if you could make one of these dulcijos out of a cigar box, but you did it. When I get home I will record a whole cd worth of traditional songs on it. It really has the down home sound. Thank you so so much. Matt, ps. Phil has asked me to log him onto your page the next time we work the night shift so he can write you himself. I will do that in a few days once he gets off day shift. Thanks agin
hi Diane I heard great things about you from Mat. You are a great builder and I would love for you to do me the honors by building me a 3 string guitar. I will be enternally greatful. Happy new years from Afghanistan!!!!
I recently joined and heard Matt Borczon playing a 3 string banjo that you made him. It was beautiful. I currently am working with Rich and he is going to set me up. I was looking through your pictures and saw the Indian Tabac Cigar Co. CBGs that you show and I love them. My question is would you be able to build one of those set up as a banjo similar to the one you sent Matt? I was also wondering how much that would cost. Thank you so much for your time. You make some beautiful instruments!
Diane, loved the Reader story, read it when it first came out. Love your arty and cool variety of cbg's, etc..
So when might the next Spring gathering happen?? I'm interested in that. Any more info. on The Grafton as well, cbg-related performances in particular there... if and as I can swing the calendar I'd love to attend. Thanks,
-Glenn... heh... in Chicago... on Wilson Avenue in Uptown to be exact :)
ok ,, never tought about them popping out .. I "hope" to sell most all i make .. doesn t seem to b anyone building em in my part of world ,,, and we are eat up with a "music scene" here.I better invest in a fretting saw and the frets .. tks ,, and again ,,u got some fab gits ,, if ok i sure gonna use some ur ideas ok ???
I am interested in developing an adult day-long workshop to build cbgs for service personnel. The participant will be scientists and engineers who will also be learning about teamwork and project leadership.
Any advice will be appreciated, and any pointers to resources that I can use to structure a build process will be appreciated too. This will be different from the custom build activity matching individual service personnel to builders. I have buddies in the service who can route them where they need to go.
Diane, thanks for your suggestion. The class will be called The Art of Leadership, so maybe an artist should attend. You can help my daughter and me structure the build. Open invitation...Minneapolis is not that far away. Rich
There will be 30 builders who are mostly professional engineers and scientist. They will be new to this, but pretty sophisticated. It's a group that will include woodworkers (a usual hobby for these types) who may blanch at the low tech part of this. But the goal is organizational learning, not woodshop.
The role of cbg, stomp boxes, variations of homemade, dyi instruments is to provide a valuable exercise which can generalize to the questions of how to bring work to fruition in a larger sense. I teach a fairly "emotional intelligence" class so we'll talk about the psychology of coming together to do valuable work.
We are thinking of getting local teachers involved to stimulate the professional staff. Giving back is pretty big with this community and they would respond to doing this project if it has a takeaway such as producing a lesson plan for middle school teachers on the history and building of cigar box guitars...please contact me at rrgillen@yahoo.com if you have interest. Thanks, Rich
Hey Diane. I don't know if you're still on the fence about a router, but I bought the $30 jobber from Harbor Freight. If you're interested in my opinion, honestly, I love it. It's quite a tool (coming from someone who's never used a real router in his life). It's probably not necessary for making 3 or four string builds, but I'm already looking at the potential of even a cheap trim router being used on a 6-string build.
Diane just wanted to take a second and say thanks again for the 3 stringed banjo. I have played it every single day since it arrived. I play for the children who end up on the ward here. I plan to record a cd of songs I have practicing here since I got it. I will send you a copy when I finnish it. I really love the sound of it and my playing is improving rapidly. Thank you again
Diane, I like the D tuning it works really well for D and A and G is just a little stretch. On the 3 string I play only partial cords so I use that book the ultimate chord book here on the site. I find 2 notes on the strings I play and that makes ebough of a chord for me. I would not give up on the frailing thing, it is clunky for a little while but then it will be second nature
Thank you for adding me to your friend list. I have been reading a lot of different posts on the forums and was thinking that you are one person I was hoping to know more about.
I noticed you are quite knowledgeable, (from the little I have seen) but already there are some posts from you that I know I must check out. I only read the headline.
If you ever wish to chat or email I would like that very much. Lewin.
Very pleased to hear from you. As I'm new to CBN I don't know about posting photos or better yet videos that would help clarify what you asked. You won't find Phintaro in a search. I made up the name. I live in Thailand where I studied with an old man and his sons to play and to build a 3 string instrument called a "Phin". No use in me trying to explain scale or fretting to you as there isn't anything to compare it to. Some of the frets (notes) would be somewhere between the keys on a piano. Lets say the note between F and F#. Now, I have made my instruments in the same style as a Thai Phin (in looks) but changed the fretting to a more Dulcimer style and or traditional guitar fretting. So the melding of 2 or 3 instruments gives me a mix of a Phin and a guitar, thus I made up the name Phintar, I added the O to get Phintarro. I thought it sounded better. I try to spend almost every summer in my native country of Canada, which is where I am now. Actually I am right in the middle of a build and I would like to take a progression of photos for you. I think your way off base when you said I'm waaaay further along on the luthier trail. In fact, after looking at your photos I saw 2 small design features that I would like to steal from you. I rather like the simple curve you use for your heels, clean and neat. Also your profile pic, looks like your using a zero fret with a sloping curve down to the head. Clever. I could use your help with a couple other things concerning parts and such. but this is just a forum and I've probably used up too much space already. Thanks again Diane in Chicago. Lewin.
hi steve (aka lobo) here ive managed to get everything together i need to build my 1st 3 string stick dulcimer the only thing i cant find is a chart for the fret spaceing can you please help me i saw that someone was building one or had already built one on your site but now i cant find the spot where i was that i saw it at im listed as steve wootten and im anxious to get building this project i fell in love with the sound of this tiny lil insterment and i want one of my own pluss a know a few folks at the beach who want some new ones built and if i get this 1st one done right i may end up bein able to make a few bucks and as a disabled vet belive me a few extra bucks is always a blessing from God thanks for all you are doing for those of us who are new to the whole cbg thing ths again ill be waiting for ur answer when ever you get a chance
Hi Diane, thanks for the good words. The Royal Jamaica was my first attempt, a pretty poor one at that. My band "The 97th Regimental String Band" will be in Springfield
July 9. 10, Several shows each day in the rotunda of the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, free with admission to museum. Maybe you could drop by.
We've played in Chicago several time; The Salt Creek Civil War round table, The Chicago maritime festival, and others. Craig
So glad you saw the video where I am playing the wonderful banjo you made me. I play it almost every day since I got it back in Afghanistan. I will never be able to thank you enough for it. Really glad you liked the song. My wife really brings a lot of the mountains to my playing. Hope you are well.
Hi Diane, I saw your reply to Dan Sleep's post about donating a CBG to Raising The Blues fundraising event. I am the volunteer who contacted Dan. Thank you for your generous contribution to Raising The Blues!
Your contribution will allow us to continue our work of bringing the Blues to the kids. We truly appreciate your efforts on our behalf. Please send the CBG to my home address:
Deb Dugan
4 Plantation Circle
Sudbury, MA 01776
Also send us an invoice for the CBG (include your mailing address) so that we can send you a receipt. Your donation is tax-deductible. We will proudly put you up on our website as a supporter and also display your information at the festival.
With appreciation,
Deb Dugan
Thank you Diane! The festival is in July, so anytime before then would be awesome. Again, we are very grateful for your help in furthering our cause!
With appreciation,
Deb
Hi Diane, just got back from a fantastic Clifftop! Had a bunch of notable folks playing CB fiddles and mandolins. A young lady saw my fiddle and called her friend CrocBite who is a member here. The first thing he asked was "is it Diane". I had to laugh a bit.
That's pretty funny about the workshop! I think "serious" violin makers are maybe threatened by the fact that folks just messing around can make instruments that sound as good as they do. One of my favorite games at informal get togethers is to have a friend with an expensive instrument play a tune back to back on theirs then mine. Everyone usually can hear the diff. but most are surprised at how similar they are. Oh, check out the video of Allen Jabbour playing my CB fiddle!
Well Diane, most of my other cb fiddles are lacking in the lower register too. This one is special so I'm holding on to it! If you can take away one or two useful things from a workshop then I think it's worthwhile. Lack of enthusiasm from the "experts" is what I expect nowadays and actually thrive upon. One told me "this isn't bad! you should try to make a real violin" I tried hard not to laugh in his face. There's already too many real violins being mass produced. To paraphrase one of my heroes Pete Seeger - little fiddles made of ticky tacky and they all look/sound just the same.
I'm with you 100% on fixing old ones up to put in the hands of folks young and old who have a real desire to play. It's kind of cool that now a few people are aware of what I do and put me in touch with broken instruments for free that I can use for parts or fix up to let others have a chance to play. I don't know if you've seen my cigar box label that I use to replace the Surgeon Gen's warning. Mine says"caution: music has been found to be habit forming and may cure certain forms of illness" It certainly makes the world a better place!
Feeling a little better> I just wanted you to know I did finish building that guitar that I was making for Juanantonio. A service member got it through his wife that I met in an AA meeting.
hello Diane and thank you. i wish i could help you but those are the only pics i've got left (beside the other ones in my page). i never held a real cello in my hands so it is propably very far from the right sizes and scales altought it sounds quite good to me..
Long time since I've talked with you. hope that all is well. As I close in on retirement (finally, I'm 65 this month), I'm building and playing more. Maybe I'll have enough time to get to the Chicago fest. Are you coming down to St. Louis fest this June? It would be great to see you.
Yellowbelly Flatt
sorry, I thought I posted a link to my newly created 'cigar box' fiddle. There is now a picture on the 'cigar box fiddlers' page. A 3/4 view is also in my photo album 'fiddles'.
Thanks very much for your interest.
Dec 9, 2010
Matthew Borczon
Diane that 3 stringed banjo is a dream come true. I can not get over how great it sounds. I really want to thank you. I was not even sure if you could make one of these dulcijos out of a cigar box, but you did it. When I get home I will record a whole cd worth of traditional songs on it. It really has the down home sound. Thank you so so much. Matt, ps. Phil has asked me to log him onto your page the next time we work the night shift so he can write you himself. I will do that in a few days once he gets off day shift. Thanks agin
Dec 17, 2010
darren brown
Dec 23, 2010
Huntz Meyer
Dec 24, 2010
Branden Meade
Dec 28, 2010
Roadkill a.k.a. John Maw
Dec 28, 2010
allan sabino
Dec 31, 2010
Matthew Borczon
Hi Dianne, my name is phill, im one of matts mate s from the uk.
Many many thanks for the beautiful 3 string guitar you made for me and sent out.
No amount of words can tell you how gratefull I am, so i figure the best way is to learn to play real good and let the music talk!
Im practicing my chords and am now able to put together some simple tunes! i ll keep you informed and mattty and i plan to send you some pics soon;
Once again many thanks,good pickin and best wishes: Phill p.....xx
Jan 6, 2011
Dianne Woods
Jan 6, 2011
Theo
Jan 27, 2011
William Denson
Diane,
I recently joined and heard Matt Borczon playing a 3 string banjo that you made him. It was beautiful. I currently am working with Rich and he is going to set me up. I was looking through your pictures and saw the Indian Tabac Cigar Co. CBGs that you show and I love them. My question is would you be able to build one of those set up as a banjo similar to the one you sent Matt? I was also wondering how much that would cost. Thank you so much for your time. You make some beautiful instruments!
Feb 9, 2011
Glenn Kaiser
Diane, loved the Reader story, read it when it first came out. Love your arty and cool variety of cbg's, etc..
So when might the next Spring gathering happen?? I'm interested in that. Any more info. on The Grafton as well, cbg-related performances in particular there... if and as I can swing the calendar I'd love to attend. Thanks,
-Glenn... heh... in Chicago... on Wilson Avenue in Uptown to be exact :)
Feb 21, 2011
Richard G Caudill
Mar 5, 2011
Rich Gillen
Hello,
I am interested in developing an adult day-long workshop to build cbgs for service personnel. The participant will be scientists and engineers who will also be learning about teamwork and project leadership.
Any advice will be appreciated, and any pointers to resources that I can use to structure a build process will be appreciated too. This will be different from the custom build activity matching individual service personnel to builders. I have buddies in the service who can route them where they need to go.
Thanks, Rich
Mar 8, 2011
Rich Gillen
Mar 11, 2011
Rich Gillen
There will be 30 builders who are mostly professional engineers and scientist. They will be new to this, but pretty sophisticated. It's a group that will include woodworkers (a usual hobby for these types) who may blanch at the low tech part of this. But the goal is organizational learning, not woodshop.
The role of cbg, stomp boxes, variations of homemade, dyi instruments is to provide a valuable exercise which can generalize to the questions of how to bring work to fruition in a larger sense. I teach a fairly "emotional intelligence" class so we'll talk about the psychology of coming together to do valuable work.
We are thinking of getting local teachers involved to stimulate the professional staff. Giving back is pretty big with this community and they would respond to doing this project if it has a takeaway such as producing a lesson plan for middle school teachers on the history and building of cigar box guitars...please contact me at rrgillen@yahoo.com if you have interest. Thanks, Rich
Mar 11, 2011
Rich Gillen
Thanks, I'll contact Matte.
R
Mar 13, 2011
Mister Scott
Mar 14, 2011
Matthew Borczon
Diane just wanted to take a second and say thanks again for the 3 stringed banjo. I have played it every single day since it arrived. I play for the children who end up on the ward here. I plan to record a cd of songs I have practicing here since I got it. I will send you a copy when I finnish it. I really love the sound of it and my playing is improving rapidly. Thank you again
HM2 Matt Borczon
Mar 15, 2011
Matthew Borczon
Diane, I like the D tuning it works really well for D and A and G is just a little stretch. On the 3 string I play only partial cords so I use that book the ultimate chord book here on the site. I find 2 notes on the strings I play and that makes ebough of a chord for me. I would not give up on the frailing thing, it is clunky for a little while but then it will be second nature
matt
Mar 16, 2011
Mister Scott
Mar 17, 2011
Mister Scott
Jun 2, 2011
Highnoon
Jun 26, 2011
Lewin E Leven
Thank you for adding me to your friend list. I have been reading a lot of different posts on the forums and was thinking that you are one person I was hoping to know more about.
I noticed you are quite knowledgeable, (from the little I have seen) but already there are some posts from you that I know I must check out. I only read the headline.
If you ever wish to chat or email I would like that very much. Lewin.
BTW I love your photos.
Aug 3, 2011
Lewin E Leven
Aug 4, 2011
Bluesheart
Aug 13, 2011
Steve wootten
hi steve (aka lobo) here ive managed to get everything together i need to build my 1st 3 string stick dulcimer the only thing i cant find is a chart for the fret spaceing can you please help me i saw that someone was building one or had already built one on your site but now i cant find the spot where i was that i saw it at im listed as steve wootten and im anxious to get building this project i fell in love with the sound of this tiny lil insterment and i want one of my own pluss a know a few folks at the beach who want some new ones built and if i get this 1st one done right i may end up bein able to make a few bucks and as a disabled vet belive me a few extra bucks is always a blessing from God thanks for all you are doing for those of us who are new to the whole cbg thing ths again ill be waiting for ur answer when ever you get a chance
Apr 6, 2012
Rooster Reaves
Hey Diane, What the CBG sene like in Ill.? My wife and me are going to be moveing back that way.
Jun 24, 2012
Craig Franklin Wolford
Hi Diane, thanks for the good words. The Royal Jamaica was my first attempt, a pretty poor one at that. My band "The 97th Regimental String Band" will be in Springfield
July 9. 10, Several shows each day in the rotunda of the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, free with admission to museum. Maybe you could drop by.
We've played in Chicago several time; The Salt Creek Civil War round table, The Chicago maritime festival, and others. Craig
Jul 3, 2012
William H Bonney
Hi Diane,
would like to know where to get instructions on various builds of travel Violins.
Thanks,
ESQ
Jul 8, 2012
3 String Blues
HI, I found the link to your story, you were really great!
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/17/cigar-box-guitar-enthusia...
Sep 18, 2012
Matthew Borczon
So glad you saw the video where I am playing the wonderful banjo you made me. I play it almost every day since I got it back in Afghanistan. I will never be able to thank you enough for it. Really glad you liked the song. My wife really brings a lot of the mountains to my playing. Hope you are well.
Matt
Nov 6, 2012
Jim Morris
Hi Diane I'm a fan of your instruments as well. Looking at your fiddles was a big help in getting me started with mine.
Nov 8, 2012
james kay
I have seen one and thought it was really cool. I have never seen one before and would love to have one.
Jan 12, 2013
Rob @ SEG
Thanks Diane, I sent him a message and it looks like he's shopping it around. Thanks so much. Rob
Mar 30, 2013
Reeds Taylor
Happy Birthday Di....hope you have a great day!
Apr 25, 2013
Deb Dugan
Your contribution will allow us to continue our work of bringing the Blues to the kids. We truly appreciate your efforts on our behalf. Please send the CBG to my home address:
Deb Dugan
4 Plantation Circle
Sudbury, MA 01776
Also send us an invoice for the CBG (include your mailing address) so that we can send you a receipt. Your donation is tax-deductible. We will proudly put you up on our website as a supporter and also display your information at the festival.
With appreciation,
Deb Dugan
May 14, 2013
Deb Dugan
With appreciation,
Deb
May 14, 2013
George Simpson
Diane,
I am almost finished Juanantonio's guitar. Had some some health issues, put me back a couple of days. I will probably have in the mail by Monday
Thanks for looking out,
George
Jun 6, 2013
John Hall
Diane,
Thank you for the reply. I will be here until mid-October. I look forward to hearing from you again.
John
Jul 11, 2013
Jim Morris
Hi Diane, just got back from a fantastic Clifftop! Had a bunch of notable folks playing CB fiddles and mandolins. A young lady saw my fiddle and called her friend CrocBite who is a member here. The first thing he asked was "is it Diane". I had to laugh a bit.
Jim
Aug 5, 2013
Jim Morris
That's pretty funny about the workshop! I think "serious" violin makers are maybe threatened by the fact that folks just messing around can make instruments that sound as good as they do. One of my favorite games at informal get togethers is to have a friend with an expensive instrument play a tune back to back on theirs then mine. Everyone usually can hear the diff. but most are surprised at how similar they are. Oh, check out the video of Allen Jabbour playing my CB fiddle!
Aug 7, 2013
Sable Norlin
Thank you Diane!!
Aug 8, 2013
Jim Morris
Well Diane, most of my other cb fiddles are lacking in the lower register too. This one is special so I'm holding on to it! If you can take away one or two useful things from a workshop then I think it's worthwhile. Lack of enthusiasm from the "experts" is what I expect nowadays and actually thrive upon. One told me "this isn't bad! you should try to make a real violin" I tried hard not to laugh in his face. There's already too many real violins being mass produced. To paraphrase one of my heroes Pete Seeger - little fiddles made of ticky tacky and they all look/sound just the same.
Aug 8, 2013
Jim Morris
I'm with you 100% on fixing old ones up to put in the hands of folks young and old who have a real desire to play. It's kind of cool that now a few people are aware of what I do and put me in touch with broken instruments for free that I can use for parts or fix up to let others have a chance to play. I don't know if you've seen my cigar box label that I use to replace the Surgeon Gen's warning. Mine says"caution: music has been found to be habit forming and may cure certain forms of illness" It certainly makes the world a better place!
Aug 12, 2013
Slowpaw Steve T
Thanks Diane! i guess it might be easier to make the correct sized box myself rather than a neck and fretboard, will keep you posted how i get on (-:
Aug 13, 2013
George Simpson
Diane,
Feeling a little better> I just wanted you to know I did finish building that guitar that I was making for Juanantonio. A service member got it through his wife that I met in an AA meeting.
Sep 25, 2013
George Simpson
Cool Diane! I would like to see the violin sounds interesting
Oct 2, 2013
King Harvest
hello Diane and thank you. i wish i could help you but those are the only pics i've got left (beside the other ones in my page). i never held a real cello in my hands so it is propably very far from the right sizes and scales altought it sounds quite good to me..
Oct 19, 2013
Wichita Sam
Hey Diane,
Long time since I've talked with you. hope that all is well. As I close in on retirement (finally, I'm 65 this month), I'm building and playing more. Maybe I'll have enough time to get to the Chicago fest. Are you coming down to St. Louis fest this June? It would be great to see you.
the best,
Sam
Apr 6, 2014