Cigar Box Guitars - More info!

[Greeny]

Seems like the song I did with a 3-string cigar box (electrified) guitar aroused a bit of interest, so I'll add a bit more info here.

My gf booked us and our kids on a workshop where you get to build one - about 4 hours long I think. It was all pre-prepped, with everything cut and ready to assemble, but there was still loads of sawing, drilling and fiddling around. I remember that adding the tuners was very tricky. What surprised me though was how simple these things actually are: a box, a stick of wood and 3 strings. The nut and bridge are just metal bolts. There's no frets or fingerboard: just a paper photocopy of some frets stuck on with glue! There's a simple guitar jack plug you add to the body, and a very simple flat pick up / mic (see below) that gets soldered to the jack plug and stuck inside the guitar. Incredibly cheap, but does the job just fine...




I think it was only £35 to do the workshop (with food!!!!) and get a working instrument at the end of it. How cool is that?!

The guy running it is called Chickenbone John: he's a very entertaining, kind and interesting guy. And clearly not doing it just for the money! I think he does the workshops at different locations - ours was at a Folk Club in West London.

Check out his website for all the details on upcoming workshops, festivals, parts, videos, pre-built guitars etc....

http://www.chickenbonejohn.com/

I took my own stickers so I could jazz my one up...



Finally, when my gf told me we were doing this workshop with Chickenbone John, I said 'I know that name!', but couldn't think why. Then I realised that I had a bottle neck slide with chickenbone john etched into the glass (it's a really cool slide, btw). I took it along, and indeed, it was one of his! I'd bought it on eBay 9 years previously.

[Greeny]

When I recorded with it, I ran it through a Pan + Delay Lead patch, straight into the MBR. The panning gave a nice 'swirl' to the sound. It's a raw, un-tamed tone, but I love it.

Can't remember what tuning I'm using for the three strings though - sorry. Open G tuning maybe???