#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

Those other days - bad testimonials

As I read on CBN I am struck by the positive upbeat, success oriented nature of what everyone posts.

Life ain't like that chum.

Yesterday for example. Had been by Lowes to pick up the parts I had heard listed in Uncle Gus' 1 hour build videos. Had the neck preped to begin. Took each bolt and nut out of the plastic shopping bag, not nairy a one was a match to what Uncle Gus had said buy. I'd heard wrong in my excitement tp build that 1 hr build. or just not paid enough attention.

I had found a great little mini amp on Instructables I wanted to build. Ordered the Capacitors, pots, etc from a company in Thailand cause they are cheap. Took three weeks shipping, but finaly my lucky day - they arrived. Took out the solder, flux and iron. Tried it out. Not even the indicator light worked. Rewired - soldered three times before I gave up. rats.

Tried to fix the thin and tinny sound of my first build and broke two strings - it just would not tune in the lower registers, my tuner kept screwing up. FInally the tuner cooperated but the two high strings are not what is ment to be on the guitar for EBE tuning, but after nut and bridge adjustments and other adjustments it sounds much better.

Thr replies to my blogs, posts, and emails on CBN are drying up, I am addiccted to checking my mail and finding at least eight email regarding post on CBN. Only one or two is such a let down, especially if there are no new members or it is not related to one of my posts/blogs.

So sitting here cannot build, wife's in bed so cannot play, no new posts so am bored outta my skull, no good vids. Ok vids, I do not like the "heavy metal" play the hell out of it just to make racket style so many like. I like actual music. Not many of those More artistic vids out there and you have to search, I get tired of searching.

Why can't people just label their style, loud and obnoxious,, loud but rhythmic, rythmic and understandable, real blues, crisp and clear, finger picking banjo style, dulcimer style, etc? I would not get so frustrated. My nerve pills are not doing what they are designed to do lately. Make note - make drs. appointment before I have one of my episodes.

Ok, breath deep, calm thoughts, oh, where were we?

Days like yesterday and today and I actually contemplate friending Ted Crocker just to see if he would answer so I'd have a bud to talk to. Do you know what I mean. I have sent out a kazilion friend request and gotten four or five back, but they are not chatty, not a one has sent me an email if you know what I mean.

Hell how many of us - as in we, are on FB?

I digress. I am really bored. Things are really going badly. Maybe I'll find my pocket knife and carve a headstock - thats it - bye ya'll!

1 member likes this

Comment

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Comment by frank tennyson on October 8, 2012 at 3:03am: Gosh, ll kind's mistakes 1 hr build, tiny, you figure the rest out. Ted, you all know we all love you mn.

Comment by frank tennyson on October 8, 2012 at 2:58am: Appologies to both Uncle Gus and Uncle Crow. Both look younger than me. Thanks for all the comments. Hopw all you realize all I write in any of my blogs is tounge in cheek. We call it dry humor here in these parts.

Yes, making CBGs will eventually qualify one to sing the blues, but only a certain kind. Doing fret calculations on my "2-hour guitar" I converted to metric - found a tape measurer with inches and metric. Clamped it to the neck, then since I used very hard red oak used a tuny nail to start tack holes.

The wife had laid down for a pre bedtime read upstairs in the bed. Like us all in a build I was oblivious to time, and anything wlse. When she called down "a little whole later" and said something I had just said "OK". What I missed was looking at the clock - past 1o PM and her telling me she was turning in. When I started hammering - just say she was not pleased. Hence one type of blues I am now qualified to sing - dog house blues.

Back to the tacks where frets go. This morning I got those in - only to discover they were on the wrong side of the neck! I've constantly done things backward or just plain wrong or stupid on this build. Take the end where the strings go. Cut the slant, drill small holes, find small nuts string strings through nuts then holes and nut holds string in holes. Oh no not this guy, I have Gold String Ferruels from Gitty! I drill large holes, then ream them and press in the ferruls. Yeah, the wood splinters and chipsout, and the sides an tips break off. A lot of wood glue later, and reinforcement with extra small wood strip reinforcement I think it is stabalized. Looks like I put on antique accent pieces, but don;t tell anyone it is to keep the end together so it will hold strings uder pressure. ANother type of bules, ain't nuthing going my way. And, "Oh Lord, if you gave me a Cadallic I'd just wreck it anyway"!

Lets see, "Last night I made my woman angry, Put out in that ol dog house, Aint nothin goin ma way, so Lord don't give me no cadaallic, cau-se I'd just wreck it anyway. Oh, I got them ol - Cigar Box Playing Blues".

Comment by turtlehead on October 7, 2012 at 12:42pm: I get the impression that we are all a bunch of loners around here for the most part. Every vid is some guy in their workshop or living room singing the blues by themselves. So you're not the only one. The content keeps coming and pretty soon your blog, vid or forum post gets pushed down the list and you just have to go on to the next one.

I say keep at it, build when you can and most importantly, play all the time. And if it makes you feel any better, it took me two weeks and about 6 trips to Radio Shack to get my amp circuit to work. I could've bought a micro cube for what I spent on parts for an amp that I wish sounded better.

Comment by howling on October 7, 2012 at 9:42am: Dude you got the blues. Use it how about writing a song no friend blues haha

Comment by Ted Crocker on October 7, 2012 at 9:34am: Must be scraping the bottom of the barrel if you're contemplating talking to Ted Crocker

Comment by Clock The Wolf on October 7, 2012 at 8:10am: I've been in a bad mood for a couple of years now Ծ_Ծ

Comment by Ron "Oily" Sprague on October 7, 2012 at 7:49am: Uncle Gus...I think you meant Uncle Crow. Crow has a lovely 1-hr build vid - maybe that's the one you mean. Sounds like you're having a crap day / week / month. We all have 'em. Everything here is (mostly) positive for a number of reasons: most everyone here is reasonable, reasonably humble, with a fair amount of life experience, and variously talented. Most everyone here is either trying to learn or trying to teach, or sometimes, both.

Many builders have failed, sometimes spectacularly, on their first...and second... and even 15th build. Many others seem to score right off, and never look back. Some people seem to play slide effortlessly ( though in many cases, there is a lot of unseen woodshedding behind it), while others, myself included, struggle to get more than the 3, 5, 7 and 12th frets sounding right. I have to work to get my songs sounding right, and my output is slow; others like Bug or Clock seem to crank out excellent tunes and vids like, well, Clockwork.

If you've sent me a Friend request, I haven't seen it. If you haven't, and can excuse my sometimes-tetchy online behavior, then send me one, and it will be honored.

Sorry your day / week / month is so sucky. It'll get better. It always does.

Comment by Cigar Box Gus on October 7, 2012 at 4:37am: I think you got the wrong guy...I don't have any how-to videos out there.

If I ever do, they'll be more like "How Not To." At least until I figure out how and why wood does the things it does, which will probably take years.