Jim Mitchell

Hi jim thanks for the invite
also thanks for the comments on my builds - no mate never made a guitar in my life before i started building CBG's - i'm a late starter lol!!
i like the story of the Spalterd Maple thats cool it will be a constant reminder of your Youth
Hope to talk soon
Regards
juju.

Nice to see some local interest Jim. My roofing company is based outta Land O lakes.

Jim, the amp in the photo I posted has the guts from a Danelectro Honey Tone Amp. Sounds much better in it's new cigar box case. The tailpieces I use are kitchen cabinet hinges from Lowe's. I can dig up a close-up photo later.

Jeff

hi there jim. if you go back to the picture in question, i have your answers to your questions there. i like the pics you have here, its nice to see what other people do and how they go about doin it, nice.

are you talkin about the wood dowel? if so, it is kinda like a sound post. it is glued to the aluminum and the top of the box under the bridge. sorry but no pics, i will be takin more of the ones i am workin on though. i think flashing should do just ass well. the aluminum sheet i have is 3/64'' thick.

Hi Jim see if this helps you out any Regards juju.

Hi Jim No worries over the Drawing hope it sheds a bit of light on the internals of the reso
As for the cones (reso kit ) i got my first one from Republic guitars on Ebay - but the last two i bought were from Big Daddy , he bought a few and let me buy two from him , dont know if he has any left give him a try if not try the republic guitars web site the guy who runs it is called Frank he's a good guy - i'm sure i have seen somewhere that if you contact Frank and mention the Cigar Box Nation you get a slight discount , but cannot remember for the life of me where !! sorry !!
BTW seen the pics you uploaded , your guitars are looking sweet my friend
regards
juju

the padauk looks great...i might try using that sometime.The punch 4 string has a piezo from an old alarm clock with two 10k pots and a .02 mf cap.next one i'll buy the electronics from my local guitar shop, so hopefully it'll sound better

beautiful work jim.

Hi Jim
Thanks for the comment on my CBG#2 - as regards the pickup it was the first pup i made , i have some pics of it in my (in Proggress pics)
off hand i can't remember the actual amount of winds i put on it but i seem to think it was about 7,500 ish , the top and bottom Bobbins aremade from some electrical board material similar to vero board but without the copper stripes , the magnets are 15mm x 6mm alarno which i bought , got 20 for £12 - $8 ish enough to do 5 four string pup's
wound it on my lathe and when finished coverd it in african Pauduk veneer
i'm very pleased with the output from it it sounds well balanced and kicks some great volume out
hope this helps - have a look at the in proggress pics should give you more idea they also show the dead Charlie Christian pickup that i brought back to life and now lives in my Reso
Regards
juju.

Hi I'm so glad to find this group ! I've built 10 CBG's but they have all been one's that I saw on line, so I copied them & fooled around with the size of the strings & placement of the bridge until I liked the sound. Today I'm going to start one of my own... I guess I'll try the no wood contest & see how I do..

No one know's where Grand Island is. It's a magical place of unicorns and gumdrops...... Actually, it's around Leesburg/Mt Dora area. About an hour north of orlando. Its old orange grove land....oh and it's not an island ha

Just ran through your pictures, Jim, you really do some nice work. I know where to come for inspiration now. I'm working on my second, and because I can't play one of the darn things, it is about the woodworking to me. I just have to hope they sound good because I am very musically challenged.

Thanks for the response. Just in case someone else reads your responce the link you gave had an error. It is: http://jimsguitarbuilding.blogspot.com/

Will worth the trip to the site.

I get most of my stuff from ebay. Those jazz pickups are all over ebay. around $15. They come in black, gold, and chrome. I love'm. They've got a great sound for CBGs.

I'll have to pass right now...I have basically no tools. I even have to keep my table saw in the trunk of my car. I basically have a crap table saw, a dremel, and a drill.

Oh that's cool. You wouldn't happen to know where to find good acoustic wood would ya? I'm trying to expand my field in guitar building. Let me know. Thanks man!

Well I was hoping for some type of spruce and some better choices on side, back, and neck material. At the moment I'm talking with Ed Braun about some Western Red Cedar as my tonewood and I've found some cherry for side and back wood. I haven't found a real good neck wood yet. I'm thinkin about trying oak as I've found mixed opinions and just want to see which is right.

Thanks a bunch Jim! Alot of that stuff's gettin hard to find cause so much has been wasted. So I'm trying to hoard a stash of wood at every chance I can get otherwise I may not get that deal again ya know? It's terrible

Hi jim
Thanks for the mail always good to here from you mate
Well i dont seem to be able to make a start on anything what with work falling i'll and refurbishment work on our home - it's killing me "I NEED TO BUILD "
dont know if i told you but i purchased a Bandsaw a bench planer/jointer and thicknesser over a month ago cost me £1,000 about $1,400 ish but not had the chance to use them as yet , managed to get them all set-up but that's as far as i got , itching to use them
i have lots of builds in mind and two orders that need doing first just got to make time to get a start on them , need to get all these little jobs tied up then thats it , aint no stopping me "Build mode" here i come lol!!
As soon as i make a start i'll be posting pics , until then my minds eye will be working overtime !
keep them sweet looking builds commin
Regards
juju
p.s i like the sander thicknesser post you sent Eric thats a cool project i would like to make myself at some stage .

Hi Jim
Yes i'm feeling much better thanks
The bandsaw is classed as a medium size heres some spec on it Blade length 93" , blade width 1/4" - 3/4" , depth of cut 8" , throat depth 12 1/4" , table size 19" x 17" cast iron and heavy gauge steel weight is 85Kg it's big enough for what i will ever need the bench planer/ jointer is 6 1/2" max width of cut and 4mm depth of cut all cast iron weighs in at 56Kg and the thicknesser is 13" width of cut by 1/8" - 6" height also cast iron weighs in at 56Kg also
i was looking around for weeks deciding which tools best suited my needs also my pocket , i think i did quite well for the cost plus space is at a premium so anything any bigger would have been a hindrance
the bandsaw has a five year guarantee and the jointer and thicknesser both have a two year guarantee
i tried them after set-up and all worked superb more than pleased with them just need to put them to work now to earn there keep lol!
Gonna be easy to make necks now a batch at a time , also i scored a good amount of spanish Cedar from work which is 6" x 1" x 30' so i'm gonna saw it down the thickness (1") then thickness it and make a shed load of my own boxes , cant wait , i also found a local supplier for hard maple , oak (english & american ) and Cherry at a very good price so things are looking real good , no more buying timber from ebay and taking pot luck with it
Thanks for the intrest mate , hope to be able to show you some CBG very soon
Regards
juju.

i'm undercover - no just kiddin , i took the pic the other day just before i went out on the mountain bike , it's been such nice weather here i have been making the most of it while it lasts , and i thought i needed to update my profile
well on my bench right now is nothing , i'm just building a new bench , but i have a couple of orders the first one is a Rat Rod build someone askked me to make for them - not really my style but i'll give it a shot (plus i have pre warned him not to tell anyone i made it for him lol!) the other one is a Reso with a differance can's say too much about it right now ! but i'll be posting pictures thats for sure .
so you scored two reso sets from Frank , be good to see what you make of them , i'm sure they wil be top notch
good to here from you Jim
Remember i'm undercover you ain't seen me !!
juju

Ouch!! i'm also a sucker for endos been over a couple of times myself but i still do em lol!! , most of the time i do wear my helmet i always have it with me , theres a webbing strap on the back of my Back pack for it , if i'm going to be doing any heroics i'll put it on
Glad i had it on last year , ended up in hospital for two days last sept the Bruise on my legs has only just gone in the past week , went blasting down a hill that i go down once in a while , anyway i had not been down this hill for a week or two , i just set off at full wack only to find 3/4 of the way down some earth movers /excivators had removed the bottom of the hill , shock horror ,going too fast to stop so i went for the jump !! and boy was it the biggest and best jump i have ever done !! but sadly as i came back down to earth the back wheel clipped the edge of the void i had just jumpped sending the back end of the bike into orbit , i did the biggest and baddest endo and landed with my Groin on the end of the Handle bars and Brake lever ,just missing the main vein in my leg by 10mm , i was very lucky , well you live and learn , well most of the time lol!!
thanks for the reply
take it easy mate
juju.

haha!! i'm just a gluten for punishment !!
cheers mate
juju.

Real nice work, Wow!

Thank you Jim for the kind words. Well, you know the life of a Blues player. Saturday night is all cheap booze and loose woman. Come Sunday morning, it is put on your suit and your T...i...e. Saturday night swinger and Sunday morning singers. lol. Enjoy.

Hey Jim, Did you see that the Cake Pan CBG video on youtube got linked to a site called BoingBoing and is almost up to 9000 hits. God, you would think, you have to get some interest out of numbers like that! lol. Enjoy.

Thank you again Jim for the encouraging comments and support. I believe the stringing and tuning video will really help to spark some creative ideas. There are some really great builders on this site. It will be interesting to see where they take it. Enjoy.

hey Jim...lol, I just now caught on to the comments on mypage that were completely independent of threads I was following.

Yeah, I'm still trying to sell em...stomp boxes too, but its slow going. I sent a number of 3 string slides down to Hot Springs, Arkansas but no luck yet. I wish trying to sell em was as much fun as makin em

Ya, I saw the picture of the neck on the main page and I knew it was yours Jim. Ha! Looking good. Enjoy.

Thank you Jim. No, not Wall Street...Lexington and 53rd underground! lol. BTW: that bound neck looks real sweet. Enjoy.