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Jehle

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Everything posted by Jehle

  1. I've just released my 2nd how to build a guitar DVD, "Vintage Cigar Box Guitar Construction" Here's a link to the store... http://stores.ebay.com/Cigar-Box-Guitar-Emporium The old cigar box guitars made back in the 30's typically used a broom or mop handle to make one-string instruments. I went to the extreeme and made a 6-string electric slide guitar. The result is surprising. For $15 in spare parts and trash off the street, I made a guitar that sounds as sweet as Ry Cooder. Yes, it's that good! Enjoy! Bill
  2. I like the looks of it and you get extra points for using unusual materials. Makes me wonder about using some pelts with a little fur on them. That would be a little creepy. Good work!
  3. I like this question, and I also like the answers. I have a spreadsheet that I keep updated of what guitars I've made, who owns them, details that made the build special, how much the sold for, and so forth. My count is up to only 28. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm not killing myself to churn them out. I average about 1 per month. I have 9 more in the queue to make. If I only had more time... didn't need to eat or sleep... I'd be golden.
  4. Hello again everybody. Since I've been totally focused on making cigar box guitars for the past 2 years or more now, I've gotten to the point where measuring the fret positions for every guitar is a tedious chore. I don't look forward to it. I came up with a design for a jig to simplify measuring the frets to customize the string scale to fit the cigar box and the neck attached to it. Just coming up with the design was the hard part, or so I thought... I drew up my design and started hunting around for a place to stamp it out of aluminum, steel, or laser cut it out of clear acrylic. Just to make one jig the cost skyrocketed to anywhere from $500 to $1000 and up!!!! I started looking at homebrew CNC machines today. Like I really have the free time to tinker with something like that. I've looked at just buying one off the shelf - 5 grand right there (or 5 fret jigs). Anyway, I'm at the point where I'd like to open up the topic to you guys. I have a really good idea. It's never been done before. It's so dern simple that I think other guitar makers could use something like this. But, the cost of having something made for me is way out of my price range. I need to find a cheap way to make a bunch of these things. They have to be accurate which is why I was going for CNC or laser cut templates. Any tips, advice, offers to help are welcome. Thanks,
  5. I'm not trying to be funny but you do know that upside down guitar chords (bass four only obviously) are mandolin chords? Yep. That works to get started. But, for example, a G chord played on a mandolin (by a mandolin player) would be: _3_ _2_ _5_ _4_ And an upside-down guitarist would just play... _3_ _2_ _0_ _0_ Both work, but the proper mandolin chord sounds a little better. I really need to make the sound clip of this little animal. You are not going to believe the sound that it has for what it's made of.
  6. This one is tuned like a Mandolin, in 5ths. GDAE or something like that. I don't know anything about mandolin playing so I just mess around and find a few frets that work better than others and strum like mad. "Boobs" or the Quintero Esquire Tele is my main guitar now. That's the one that I can't sell. I think that box was masonite or something. Masonite has a great tone to it actually. The cedar boxes work well too. They are just getting harder to find. Oh, and the rustic look, considering that those parts are from the 20's and 40's that's real dirt on there. All I did was splice the two bits together and string it up. It would figure that some of the best things I make take about 5 minutes to put together.
  7. I've got most of the pickups in there now. TOM, Strat, and Tele bridges added. All those strap buttons added. Still quite a few things to add. :-S
  8. Thanks Hector. I know that what I do is a niche kind of thing. There's not too many folks that would play this stuff by choice. Call me crazy, but I love these odd ball guitars.
  9. It's a long story, but I'm trying to raise money to buy a large collection of antique guitars. I'm listing a bunch of parts over the next few days in my fleaBay shop. I've hoarded some of this stuff for years. It's time to let it go. Have a peek, there's a lot more to come. Thanks for your help.
  10. Some things never change. Man, I got ripped off years ago and fighting it just caused more trouble. I lost THOUSANDS from that ordeal. What really bites is that it took away a lot of the fun and willingness to share how I do stuff on forums. Everything I used to post for free gets published and sold now. As a matter of fact, I'm celebrating 5 years in business. I make enough to cover the cable bill each month, so that's pretty rockin'.
  11. Howdy folks. Just wanted to show off the latest mad creation from the shop. Take a pre-war Banjo neck and splice it on a 1940's cigar box repurposed as a Ukulele, string it up with Mandolin strings, then call it a Guitar... and you get THIS... Still working on the sound clip, but this is a great player. Really bright sounding but a mellow tone at the same time. It's hard to explain.
  12. Man, this is awesome looking. This could be the smallest GOTM entry (hint hint) ever!
  13. Hmm, I'm going to have to go with a rectangular shape... about 8" wide, 6" tall, and 2.5" thick.
  14. Another one?! Yes, these were all part of my 10 guitars in 10 days project. You could have been subjected to MORE! This is the last one, I swear. Name: The Hoyo Cannon (for radio DJ, AJ Cannon) Oooh, antique brass corners on this one! More drywall screws and dress washers. AJ wanted to have his airname "Cannon" on the guitar somewhere. I found a small metal tobacco tag from a Cannon tobacco company. Attached to the headstock with a little epoxy and covered with a clear enamel. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/jeh...on/P1030860.jpg Stats: 24.75" Gibbo scale, reused neck from some LP copy. A nearly matched pair of old strat single coils with aged white (now cream) covers, wired in series as a humbucker. Gold hardware everywhere. Locking tuners (on a CBG?!?!). Output jack cup is reused cabinet hardware, similar to the Quintero Tele. String through ferrules are some surplus press-in screw anchors. Sound: Oh, yes. Paul Kossoff, and Carlos Santana for that wicked vibrato. Also (cringe) Yngwie J Malmsteen if you rip through the harmonic minor scale. Listen back to the Band Of Nixies clip up in the Dixie Maid Cigar Box Bass... This is the guitar playing the "Shave and a Haircut" riff.
  15. Is there a rule about how many guitars I can enter? On we go... Name: Quintero Esquire Tele (a.k.a. Boobs) All dressed up with a set of nickel corners. Converted hex nut for the volume knob. And, the output jack cup is a finger pull cabinet door thingy. Poplar has some ugly grain, but this will be painted over with white epoxy enamel and the "Gloria Estafan with breast enhancements" paper will be put on as an overlay. Truss rod cover made from a peach packing crate and a thin slice of cedar taken from a cigar box. Nothing too surprising on the back. Black felt paper added. More deck screws and dress washers for the bolt on and ferrules. Stats: Short scale (about 23") single coil Tele, Old style 3 barrel bridge, hidden Piezo electric pickup switch hidden in the input jack (stereo plug). Still needs a finish coat and the "boobs" overlay put on the headstock. Sound clip... She's is dead on for Funk 49 by the James Gang!
  16. Name: Dixie Maid Factory Throw Outs - Cigar Box Bass. Note the black drywall screws and dress washers for the bolt on. Door stopper added to the butt end for "stand up" playing. More eye screws! I love these little babies. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/jeh...ss/P1030831.jpg Stats: It's a P-Bass made from a bunch of parts from eBay. Everything on this bass was broken. Neck, cheap second or third rate work. Lots of chip outs on the side that were filled with a epoxy/sawdust mix. Strings, used, another eBay find. Rusty squire bridge. Pickup, probably an active pickup, or just a really bad passive one. There's very little output from this thing. Dixie Maid Factory Throw Outs box dates from 1936, badly cracked on the back, and another cheap eBay find. Surprisingly snappy sound fit for Primus or early Rush. Plays the bass part in this clip... Band Of Nixies
  17. Name: Jimbo's Dobro (named for my chum Jim Frets for whom this was a gift) Shopping on the hardware isle I got a drawer pull, a few brass bolts, and some eye screws. Oh, and a galvanized deck screw for the single "bolt on" screw. http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/photos/jimbro4.jpg http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/photos/jimbro5.jpg Stats: Somewhere around a 22" string length, 4-string, resonator cone attached to a tamborine in a mid-1950's western cedar cigar box. Brass hardware, Corian nut borrowed from Home Depot sample drawer, poplar neck. Sound clip (not bad for a $25 guitar): http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/guitar-MP3/jimbro-dobro.mp3
  18. That's your "calendar girl" isn't it, Bill? Why yes, it is Mrs. February. Glad that you noticed.
  19. Hey Doug, I just sent a message to you through the PM here on the forum. Didn't think to use the email addy directly. Doh! Now that I have your number and email, I get in touch with you directly soon. Go ME!
  20. Howdy folks, I know it's been a while since I've posted. I feel like a noobie. Perhaps I should say that I used the search button and didn't find anything and that's why I'm posting this question. There... An ounce of protection... First off, I have a question about CAD/CAM and getting wood parts laser cut. I'm reaching the point where doing repetitive work by hand is too slow. Making templates and jigs speeds things up, but that still uses a lot of my time to make raw parts. In the process of getting CAD stuff up and running, I naturally thought about going into CNC or CAM stuff to do the bulk of the work for me. Then I remembered that another guitar maker I know uses a friend with a laser cutter to make his fretboards. So, do any of you guys have any suggestions or contacts that you can share with me? Perhaps you even have this stuff in your shop and could do the work for me, I'll pay a resonable amount as well. Any help is appreciated. ------ Secondly, I've got some great news. As many of y'all know, I'm building cigar box guitars almost exclusively now. Just this past month, I sold this cigar box guitar to a two-time Grammy Award winning folk artist... and no, I can't tell you who it is because it violates laws on promotion and what not. I'm over the moon about the sale though. To think that one of my CBG's is going to played on stage by a real artist is overwhelming! Go Me!
  21. Hey guys, the new store is going gangbusters. I've put a bunch of stuff on sale too (just playing around with all the cool store features). I'm fighting to keep up with the shipping of all the orders. Seriously, it's that heavy! Thanks for all of the feedback, PM's, emails, and so forth. It all helps to fine tune things, and find spelling errors!!! :shock: Thanks!
  22. Wow, I never saw this post before. I ordered 5. 1 for me, 1 for mom (can't forget mom now, can I), and the other 3 will be some propaganda to sell guitars with.
  23. Ah, another good question. There are two schools of thought (at least two) on cigar box basses. Milk crates, fruit packing crates, any kind of packing crate for that matter is an option for this kind of project. First is to use a wine box. I've seen a few wine box basses before and they look pretty cool. I actually have a wine box too that I was going to use. They are about the size of an acoustic guitar and about 1/2" thick on all sides. Seriously sturdy stuff. My wine box is a tool box in my shop at the moment so it's probably not going to turn into anything else soon. Which brings me to... Another way to go is to use another type of cigar box which is really long. Boxes like these tend to be much older and were designed to hold hundreds of cigars rather than the typical 25 or 50 like these smaller boxes do. I have an old (1920-ish) Dixie Maid cigar box that I'm going to put a P-bass neck on. It's going to be a tight fit, but it will just work. If you think to yourself, "OMG! He's going to cut up a vintage cigar box from the 20's to make a bass?!?!" Yes, I feel the same way. I've had ONE vintage cigar box implode on me before. It's not a mistake you make twice. Not at $50 per box. Since you've asked about it, when I start working on that project, I'll post some pictures here in the in progress section. I think y'all might like to see this come together. You are about the 5th person to ask me about cigar box basses. It's time to take up the challenge.
  24. That's a really good question. I'm glad you asked. It's more of a matter of string tension than anything. There are no trussrods or any form of support in the neck. Also the cigar boxes can be a little fragile since they have no bracing inside of them. It's a trade off really. The simplicity of the design is elegant for being so minimal. Keep in mind that the cigar box guitars I've made like this, I've only pushed it to 4 strings. I know that Hitone made one with 5 strings (think Keith Richards 5-string tele), but I think he used a truss rod for that one. For the 6-string models that I make, I build them more traditionally with the truss rod and all the usual fixin's.
  25. Okay. The mando is touched up, painted, and all put together. It has a bright tone, and just a little mellow edge to it. It's a great ballance since it's tuned A to a, perhaps higher. http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/photos/tmando2.jpg http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/photos/tmando3.jpg http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/photos/tmando4.jpg http://home.hiwaay.net/~jehle/photos/tmando5.jpg And here's a short sound clip. tMando sound clip Enjoy! Feel free to ask any questions, comment, critique, etc.
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