Somehow this wonderful rabbet hole escaped me until recently, but I'm disappearing down it fast. I don't even play (yet) but I'm very interested to learn 12 bar blues slide on a three string of my own making (in the planning and parts accumulation stage now).

My personality type is 1/2 artist & 1/2 scientist, so you can imagine how Cigar Box Guitars tickles my fancy in so many ways...

I see a guitar as I see a wonderful meal. The better the quality of the ingredients, the better the dish is likely to be. Each component, each design decision is going to have an impact on how that guitar sounds (accoustically and electrically). Yet there is enough variability in the process and materials that even two guitars made with "identical" ingredients may not sound exactly the same. There are only a small percentage that seem to come out "sprinkled with pixie dust".

For an electric, even the guitar is only one piece of the puzzle. You've got different pickups, and different amps (and amp settings) so you may find that even a less-than-great guitar sounds awesome at a particular setting.

I'm also interested in plugging my guitar into GarageBand on my iPad2. I got an iRiffport for that. I like the idea of being able to learn to play a measure or two and then assemble it into a decent sounding song (long before I can even play that whole song myself!) It think it sounds cool to play over backing tracks also. Amazing what is available to the common man these days.

I've got a local luthier that is a GENIUS and very willing to share his knowledge and opinions. I spent a couple of hours with him last night and learned SO MUCH. I don't want to wear him out, but I have the feeling that I'm going to meet with him on a semi-regular basis, maybe have him evaluate what I create and give me suggestions.

Anyway, I'm an information sponge and this place looks like I'm dipping my sponge into the Pacific Ocean. So much knowledge and inspiration here. Thanks for putting up with me and my questions!

:)