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Jehle

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Everything posted by Jehle

  1. With the small following that cigar box guitars have, I've seen the interest grow steadily over the past year or so. After much prodding from emails I went and opened a cigar box guitar shop on feeBay. It's done surprisingly well in the short time that it's been open. And I've got plans to expand it with more stuff that's suitable for cigar box guitars. Pop on by, browse around, and share your thoughts with me. Hey, if you've got something that you think would go in there, talk to me. I'm all ears. I'm looking to add more pickups, more hardware, and other bits and bobs. Any crappy guitar part will work on a cigar box guitar. Cigar Box Guitar Emporium
  2. I've been a long time user of the Sans Amp. Dead simple to use and since I don't gig, I can set it to the sound I need for the bass, guitar, acoustic, voice, and overdub to my hearts content. I tried using the POD, Johnson, Pandora, and other amp emulators and they all tried to do too much. The Sans Amp is just an amp in a stomp box and that it.
  3. I sure have. Here's one of my electric cigar boxes run through my 2x12 combo with loads of gain. Playing around with the pickups, gain, and where I stood in front of the amp led to this epic recording... http://jehle.home.hiwaay.net/guitar-MP3/jehle-the-urge.mp3 Listen through the song as the gain and volume levels go up and up. This was a blast to record.
  4. It's more fun to cobble one together with a door hinge. Oh, it's going to be cool, that one! No, this one is all acoustic. Those hand wound pickups would add to the price. Plus, that magnet wire I have dates back to the 1960's. I picked it out of a trash bin in the 1980's. Yes, I'm a packrat.
  5. So there I was... I had the little mando all finished and ready to do the final photos, record it, and then hand it over to the new owner that commissioned the work. My wife looked at it and said... "It's not done yet. It's too plain. It's not finished and I won't deliver THAT." Ouch. On the up side, it sounds effing brilliant. I just have to gussy up the headstock a bit and put more coats of clear on it to "finish it". The bad news is that there is no way I'm going to finish the resonator by Xmas. Well, maybe I can if I sell my soul or something.
  6. One search after another on cigar box guitars led me to this contraption. To me, it's begging to drive a set of spinning saws to slot an entire fretboard at once.
  7. Thanks Drak. One of these days, a cigar box guitar will make GOTM. It doesn't have to be me, but that will be a proud day for me anyway. Just wait until I get the one with the whammy bar working.
  8. Thanks for the kind words on everything. That headstock shape has been gradually taking shape over the years. It started with just the simple S curve on the end of a 1x2 for those first cigar box guitars. When I needed more room for the tuners I just had to push out the sides a bit, gave that a little curve, and presto... A headstock design that's my own. It's not too unique though. I've seen loads of similar designs since then. Coming up with a unique headstock shape is difficult. Well, to have it functional at the same time. I will say that the po-boy's scarf joint is something that I have not seen anywhere else. More on that later because I know y'all will want to know about that. Ah, the f-holes were copied off of an old violin (presumably dated to the 19th century) that I picked up for cheap over in England. I copied the shape using the old pencil trick, scaned that, enlarged it for the cigar box and went from there. My template has gotten a little worn out so they keep getting larger. I just have to shave the neck down a bit and rub an oil finish on it. It sounds REALLY good now.
  9. Dude,you lost me.Knowing you,this is probably incredibly funny...but clue me in on "THACO" please. Ha ha ha, that's an old AD&D reference. To hit armor class zero = THAC0 I just threw that in as a joke.
  10. Busy, busy day today on the workbench. The little mandolin sized 4-string CBG is close to being finished. Here's a few shots to show you what's going on inside the box and with the neck... Shot #1 is the neck (notched out to fit the box top and rest on the heel block). Shots #2 and #3 just show the neck held in place by hand so you can see what the final CBG will look like. It's actually all together now, strings and tuners on, all that. I need to work on the nut and bridge a little more to get the action right, and I have to shave down the neck more (it feels a little to clubby at the moment).
  11. Ya know... A fancy cardboard cutout contest is possible to do in a month. We could just have a simple design contest. No actual building needed. It could be a sketch on a napkin, a CAD, or cardboard mock up. Extra points for if the cardboard guitar actually plays a note. The main complaint about having any sort of monthly competition (which it doesn't have to be) is that a full on guitar requires a lot of wood working and time to get everything done, let alone to let the finish cure. I say, set the bar lower. Here's a few ideas: 1) build a fret bender to pre-radius fret wire 2) find an inexpensive alternative to an expensive tool 3) wind your own pickup and post a sound clip 4) you open the door and find a group of orcs. What's your THACO Wes? 5) find a creative way to use a 5 position strat switch to do something else 6) make something usefull from plywood There's all kinds of easy stuff like that we can do in a short time frame. New tools and jigs are always welcome too. Any thoughts? Oh, and the orcs roll a 2 on initiative...
  12. Oh man I'm loving this one. You need to search on youtube for "the honeydripper". There's a movie coming out about a poor black man in the south that builds a guitar just like this from an old guitar neck and a box. Better yet, do a search for Ben Prestage. He owns the 2nd Honeydripper ever made and he plays it really well. Ben Prestage will let you know what the CBG is all about. This guy is the shizzle.
  13. Sorry to say, but no. I had to let it go before I could record anything with it. I'm kicking myself for that now. I'll just have to make another one.
  14. Big difference between a three stringed instrument with a premade box and bolts for machineheads, versus a guitar that most people would spend $500 just on parts to build (not to mention months of time). Yep, that was an experiment with mini-build competitions. We had a few cigar box guitars entered for that one, and one made from plywood IIRC. To build a guitar in one month would be a push for me. I don't build for a living and often I get 5 minutes to do something at a time. I could whip out a $15 CBG in a month with no problem though (and that's even winding my own pickups). Like Perry said, this has been tried before. Yes, it's a cool idea. Yes, I'd like to do it. But, I don't know how many people could actually get their stuff together that quickly... unless you just buy a guitar made that meets the rules. eBay anyone?
  15. The dobro guitars, from what I've heard other people play, have a really wicked nasal sound, just like you would expect. Electrified, they sound freaking awesome. I've got a link around here to Jim Frets playing on one of his. Hard to believe that all that sound comes from a cigar box. Sound clips will be made of these before I ship them off. Don't worry. I had to rush to get the ACID out the door so I only have the photos of that one. It sounded killer and I should have recorded something, even something stupid like Smoke on the Water or something like that would have been okay just to give an example. Alas. The little mando/uke is the one that's going to blow your mind. With the short scale, those little guitars have a chime all their own. Really, it's probably the best thing to make out of them because that's the note range where they are the loudest. There's some higher math that proves it somewhere (please spare me from Helmholtz frequencies) and I'm waiting for that book to arrive.
  16. Well, I've got several on the bench at the moment. Making them up as I go along. I know that most of y'all don't care for the cigar box guitars at all, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of making them. First one is going to be a 4-string Dobro thingy... No clue of the string length yet. Probably 18" or there abouts. And this little fellow, measuring in with at a minute 14.5" string scale is going to be some sort of mandolin / ukulele thingy... I got vetoed on the box. The buyer didn't want any "men in tights" which the Romeo Y Julieta clearly does. Alas. I'll have to use a Corina Larks here instead. Enjoy. I have to finish these before Christmas.
  17. From CD's to DVD's to Cigar box guitars... My list of stuff to sell keeps growing. I've only just gotten to the point where I'm comfortable selling the guitars that I build. I tweak them until they can stand up to the usual abuse that I put a guitar under. I bend strings like crazy. Once I get them set up, to me they're perfect and I hate to part with them. But, if someone buys one of my guitars, I know that it's a great guitar. Anywho... step right up and get your tickets... http://www.bellyjellymusic.com
  18. Sorry for the ultra long delay... I got the Krylon in KMart. I like KMart because nobody shops there. It's like one big flea market all to myself.
  19. Okay, last note from me on this unless y'all have any questions about it. I got a voice mail from the fellow that ordered it. He was stunned at the sight of the guitar when he opened the box. He said it turned out beautifully and that it was truly a work of art, and the I am a genuine craftsman and an artist. It's not often that I get to actually hear the enthusiasm in someones voice when they first see one of my guitars. What's really cool about this guitar is that I know where it's going and the guy collects rare guitars, ones that have been played and signed by famous guitarists. It's freaky to think that I'm going to be on that wall too! :shock:
  20. Just wanted to point out that it's a hot rail copy so it's a humbucker. The thing screams. It's also on the graphic right where the tail pipe is, and as the old saying goes, "Loud pipes save lives!"
  21. Thanks for the comments guys. This guitar was a total pain to make. But, it turned out really well, looks cool, and plays like a dream. Getting the neck attached as a bolt on took some serious thinking. There's a 5 degree back angle on the tenon that goes into the cigar box. The bolts are actually under the lid, screwed down into a swamp ash heel block. Very sturdy and very clean looking from the outside so I'll probably do that again on another similar guitar. The volume and tone knobs are real lug nuts that have been converted to be used as knobs. It adds to the motorcycle theme really well. The nut was cut on the bandsaw from a Corian sample taken from Home Depot. Filed smooth, sawn for the string grooves, and burnished with a torch tip cleaner, this nut is great for a number of reasons. It's hard but not brittle so there's no risk of it chipping. It's also slippery so the strings don't snag on it during heavy bending so it goes back in tune and stays in tune well. The real innovation that I found out during this build is the paints I used to finish the neck. I didn't have time to wait on lacquer. I found an Epoxy Enamel by Krylon that dried in 30 minutes. It didn't sag, run, bubble, nothing like that. I accidently touched a wet spot in the paint and let it dry figuring that I'd have to sand it back and respray later. It leveled out over night and you could barely see where I touched it. This stuff works like a dream. With the black Epoxy coat done, it was time to add the satin finish. Another wonder paint by Krylon was used for that. Satin finish clear. It cures fast, doesn't really need to be buffed out, doesn't show any sign of rings (like polyeurethane can) and tend to melt in to the existing layers a bit like lacquer. For speed and ease of use, this stuff can't be beat. I was able to complete the paint job, sand down any trouble spots, retouch, and play it within ONE WEEK! I'll never touch lacquer ever again. Another innovation here is in the box. Where to put the ground wire for the strings? Well with the posts firmly set in a block of wood, I wasn't about to remove them and risk chipping the top design. I drove a screw into the wood block below the bridge and aimed for the post. Once the tip of the screw hit the post, I checked for continuity and it worked. A quick bit of soldering to attach a ground wire and it was done. Alas, it's sold off and on it's way to it's new owner. Hey, I got paid though. Yay! I also got 2 more commission builds from people seeing and playing this one. They want them for Christmas gifts too! Now you'll know how to get a quick and sturdy paint job done if you have a short order like that too!
  22. Well, not much to add in the way of in progress pics. The ACID cigar box guitar is done though. Here's a few pictures of the finished guitar. Top view. Rear view. Note the signature and date complete on the lower corner of the box. I'm really sad so see this guitar go. The pickup placement is somewhere between the bridge and middle pickup position of a strat. It has a really mean knarlly distortion sound. To make the bridge and string scale work out, the fretboard had to be replaced with a 23" scale. That adds a really nice slinky feel to the strings. Even though this guitar was a complete pain to build, I'd make another one just like it. By far this is the most comfortable cigar box guitar I've ever seen or played. Not wanting to boast, but this guitar is the shizzle!
  23. I need to take some pictures and update this. No surprise really, the finished work looks a lot like the corel draw version in the first post. I got the neck bolted on last night. Honestly, that was the most difficult part of the build. Not being able to route a neck pocket for a bolt on neck required some creative thinking. I had to remove the lid, drill the neck from the top down into a block of Ash, and bolt it down that way. The lid covers up this part so the neck just appears to be slid into the side of the box and held in place like a set neck. The really frustrating part was removing the fretboard and replacing it with a shorter scale fingerboard... and only have 18 frets. I owe a lot to Kevan and his early tutorials to getting that part to work out.
  24. I say, go for a Purpleheart body, neck, and fretboard. It would dull every tool in the shop in the process of making it, and, it would be PURPLE!
  25. You've got some great NEW YORK BOOBS!
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