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A Tour of Maddog's CBG Cabin

Maddog's (Patrick Mallette's) riverside cabin is a cigar box guitar emporium, workshop, and antique shop. It is a lot of fun to visit. It makes me feel like a kid in a toy store. Even more so on the day of this impromptu video. Justin Johnson's newly released Christmas CD was playing as I made the rounds. Great CD! I am going to order one. Pat (Maddog) is proud that one of his builds is used on the CD.

The cabin sits on a high west bank on the Nebraska side of the river. It is just a stones throw from Pat and Janet's steak house, The Driftwood. In the massive flooding of 2011, many area homes and buildings were ruined by the flood waters. Maddog's place was just high enough to escape, yet it is a stones throw to the water.

The Missouri River is swift, deep and powerful. Janet and friends catch catfish – large catfish- from the bank or from a boat. Pat is a river man. In his younger days, he made a living commercial fishing the river. Now he is a contractor, restaurant man, antique dealer and cbg man.

Pat's cbgs are good players and well crafted. He is primarily a three string builder and player, but there were d-bows and a deuce on hand as well. His antique dealings lead him to some great amp and cbg parts, such as his old drive in movie speaker – amps.

Currently, Pat is into fretless and he is using a lot of vintage auto license plates. Most of his guitars on hand were fretted. Unlike most CBGers, he started with frets and now has gone the other direction.

Besides guitars and amps, I sampled 2 MojoBone slides, made by artist/CBG man, Randy Bretz. They are light in weight, comfortable on my finger and play very nicely.

More on the river. I love looking out on it and across it to God's country, the Iowa side. Wildlife is plentiful. In the few times I have been there, I have seen deer, bald eagles, mallard ducks, coots, not myself and Maddog, but a duck like bird, Canada geese, wrens, juncos, herons, swallows and crows.

Pat and some family have seen mountain lions across the river on the Iowa side. I've never seen one, but would like to, from distance. The river valley is flat bottom land. A few miles east, Iowa's Loess Hills jut up abruptly from the plain.

Pat is a good guy and welcoming host. If you CBN folks are ever in the eastern Nebraska region, contact him and if you can get there on a Thursday through Sunday evening, I recommend you order a a ribeye steak at the Driftwood.

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Comment by Clock The Wolf on November 28, 2013 at 1:31pm: OOPS!!!

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/maddogland

Comment by Clock The Wolf on November 28, 2013 at 1:26pm: It is just a 24 hour drive away :-o

Comment by Maddog on November 28, 2013 at 1:13pm: Illinois is only one State and 2 little ol' rivers away :-)

Comment by Maddog on November 28, 2013 at 1:12pm: Like John has mentioned, anytime any of you is in the Nebraska neighborhood you had better stop and see me. I would Love to meet each and every one of you in person, sit and play for a bit and have a good chat by the fire. I may even have a cold beer or cocktail available close by ;-)

Thank You so much for all your nice comments!

I hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Comment by Muddy Creek Guitars on November 28, 2013 at 1:11pm: I rarely make it out if Illinois anymore. Thanks for the virtual tour, Uncle John.

Comment by BUGGY (C) on November 28, 2013 at 11:24am: One Cool Place...!!!....

Comment by Marcus Darwell on November 28, 2013 at 10:38am: Damn, now it have to go to Nebraska.....great promo for maddog :-)

Comment by Uncle John on November 28, 2013 at 9:27am: Thanks so much for all the tour takers and kind words. I am pretty sure that Pat would give you the real life tour and enjoy talking with you.

RTZ, it is a good condition to have and Pat does sell quite a few. Some of those, like the paddle guitar shown are already sold. And! It makes me feel better that Pat has a lot more than I do!

Comment by William Scott on November 28, 2013 at 9:18am: nice film, look at all the neat goods,yeaha

Comment by RTZGUITARS on November 28, 2013 at 9:10am: Maddog had no Idea you problem was so severe hope you see now that you need help.

Nice work john keep us posted on his condition. Happy Thanksgiving guys