3 string cigar box guitars

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Grizz
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3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

Been listening to some of these on utube and enjoying the sound and the story. Anyone in the room into these?

http://reddogguitars.com/cigar_box_guitars_1.html

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/

and videos galore here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_rhxGo4Qs0

there's some instructional ones on some of the pages

I've been assured many times that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, so it's a no-go for me. But I'm liking the sound.

Grizz
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Grizz, now dang it I am up to my shorts in dreams and unfinished projects, and you go and add another one to my bucket list. Sheesh!
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Grizz
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

I know it! It's so distracting.

But just listen to some of those players. It looks so E A S Y....... LOL
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by J35 »

How about a Four string

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH5gs0Grbro


Don't know much about guitars, only some sound pretty good.

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

And then there's this:

http://www.radio-guitar-amps.com/
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Blaine »

I always thought I'd like to tackle a 4 string banjo... :mrgreen:
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Grizz
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

ouch

sounds painful
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Ji in Hawaii »

I've always been partial to my ukuleles but the 3 string strum-sticks and stick-dulcimers have interested me for awhile too. They sound great, they are relatively affordable, and easy to learn to play due to the way they are set up and tuned. I'll eventually get one..
http://www.strumstick.com/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kICFqLJT ... ion_452950
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Bill in Oregon
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Well, I just fitted the red oak neck to my $2 cigar box. Bought tuning pegs, strings, piezo transducer, 1/4-inch input jack and guitar cord.
Glue is curing on the neck. Might jus' make me a small amp (to go with my small talent) while I am at it.

:D

See whatchoo done started Grizz? Next up, I book a gator hunt and pick me some poke salat.
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

That's outstanding Bill :!:

Glad you're doing it. I'm so UNmusical that I could play a strumstick off-key.

I have an electric bass and amp and don't play it at all any more. My hands are not trainable these days.

But I have to say that learning the bass pattern of the I-IV-V progression was a mind boggling eye opener. No one ever told me that those blobs on the music sheets were CHORDS for pity's sake.

Had an actual revelation when I was about 60 that most folks learned in second grade. I musta been awol that day and never got the info.

I cannot keep time to save my life. I can learn a drum riff and hit it in all the wrong places. I'd lead a metronome offbeat.

I also have the peculiar ability to sing off key and NOT HEAR IT. Like the poor souls trying out for talent shows who think they have it.

I don't and I know it.

My bass might be tuned well according to the electronical gadget, but if the band on the radio is off in their own relative tuning I can't hear it.

I was eventually able to cover a couple of blues songs and that was kind of fun, but I'd never let anyone hear me.

Well, actually my son and I jammed on the back deck sometimes when fishing was slow and we were bored. We'd go anchor up in a quiet spot on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and fire up the amps while Mrs Grizz was cooking dinner. Probably with earplugs in.

You saw the link about using radios as amps I hope.

I'm looking forward to hearing your instrument. I like the sound on the videos a lot.

Maybe I'll take a string off of the bass and open tune it and break a bottle. . . . . . . . .

nah.

Thanks for tripping my rememory cell, that was fun. :D

Grizz
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Heh, the Watco on the neck is dry this morning. Now I need to attach the three tuning pegs, finish the nut (from a spike) and the "bridge" (from an eye bolt), solder the piezo transducer to the 1/4-inch jack, string the thing and pick up a cheap amp from Guitar Center. I'll have the cat in tears and the wife filling out divorce papers in no time ...

:lol: :lol:
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Blaine »

Bill in Oregon wrote:Heh, the Watco on the neck is dry this morning. Now I need to attach the three tuning pegs, finish the nut (from a spike) and the "bridge" (from an eye bolt), solder the piezo transducer to the 1/4-inch jack, string the thing and pick up a cheap amp from Guitar Center. I'll have the cat in tears and the wife filling out divorce papers in no time ...

:lol: :lol:
With the neck under intense pressure from the strings, how do you keep it firmly attached to a flimsy cigar box? Does the neck go the entire length of the box, and get bolted/screwed/glued on?
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Bill in Oregon
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Blaine, the neck, a red oak 1X2, runs into the cigar box and out the other end, taking all the strain. The cigar box is merely appended as a sounding board and to contain the "pickup" -- a $3 piezo transducer wired to a 1/4-inch input jack and glued to the bottom of the neck. And with only three strings, there's not that much tension. Wow, I sound like I know what I am talking about. Don't you believe it!
:lol:
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Ray »

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Good gracious, Ray, you are trolling the depths of Leverguns this morning. I did complete that "CBG" -- just couldn't play it.
I made this brief Youtube six years, five houses and one divorce ago, as a much younger man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H-5VCw7N2I
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

thanks a lot Ray. I just ordered the kit . . . I'll show you mine when you show me yours! :D :lol:
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

there are tons of links to the tuning and playing and some virtuoso music makers online. I can't even remember the common tuning. but, I think it will go nicely on sail cruises where I can only annoy 40 ton marine mammals and threatened albatross species . . . :lol:

I have a 4 string bass but haven't unpacked it since moving. I suppose I'll find it if I move again...
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Ray »

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Nice voice, Ray. 8)
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Grizz
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

Bill in Oregon
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

That shovel piece is amazing. That guy is really good! 8)
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

thanks for listening. I sure would like to have that kind of eye-hand coordination! I'll have to stick to a slow-bell 12 bar 1-4-5. And maybe then I can add in something more complex. Later on in my spare time I am going to open tune my electric bass. . . scary that

Justin has monetized himself, good for him. A number of other musicians and instrument makers have too. it makes for varied and interesting music.

my kit gets here next week I think. supposed to be a one hour assembly project, will see about that.
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Pitchy »

Good stuff, i`ll have to do a musical vid. :wink:
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Ray
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

draperjojo wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:07 pm This is where I bought mine.
https://snowdenguitars.com/collections/cigar-box-guitar
some good looking instruments there!
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Pitchy »

Ray wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:19 pm
Pitchy wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 6:04 pm Good stuff, i`ll have to do a musical vid. :wink:
I remember the lakotas taking umbrage to your banjo picking and hurling arrows at you.....
Ok ok i get the message :lol:
Pic of the one i made few years back, wish i could play something.

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

a Great one Pitchy just needs big bass strings and you be in business! :D
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

That's a beauty, Lenn.
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

my Dad observed that I could not carry a tune in a bucket, which is true.

I learned something about music trying to learn electric bass, and got to the point where I could cover a bass line played on the radio, BUT, my hands are so work hammered, and my fingers don't do the things that a bass player's fingers need to do.

So, the coming 3-string with a slide is my latest effort to overcome the disappointment and just do some basic noise making. I envision this as being an activity on the sailboat as I cruise across the Pacific. To "make a joyful noise" unto the Lord. It will be a well kept secret and only disappoint the marine mammals in the general vicinity of my 50W loudhailer. RODLOL

[rolling on the deck... :) ..]
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

"Make a joyful noise" ... wonder what the Big Guy thinks when I "make a painful noise." He must have gritted his teeth when I took violin lessons in fifth grade. :lol:
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Rusty »

Years ago one of our local TV stations did a story about a guy in Sarasota that was building those. It's funny, when you put an electric pickup in one it sounds like a dobro. IIRC the guy in Sarasota was using mono fishing line for strings.
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Ray wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 6:39 pm
Bill in Oregon wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 3:08 pm "Make a joyful noise" ... wonder what the Big Guy thinks when I "make a painful noise." He must have gritted his teeth when I took violin lessons in fifth grade. :lol:
The only thing worse than a screeching fiddle is a novice with the scottish pipes.
at least if I were mangling the pipes, you couldn't hear me sing :!: :!: :!: !!!
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Ray wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 1:02 am I've just about given up on three strings for now.....

The chords just don't sound right compared to something with just one more string....

I simply cannot get on pitch to sing......

Tried to jam with a six string and three strings just does not seem to fit sonically.....

Sliding, I can sure make it twang but it is weak unplugged. Sliding a dgbd tuned tenor flattop (like banjo g standard) with a shot glass sounds many, many times better to my ears than this three string.
That's interesting. I am basically tone deaf, I have to rely on a tuner. The kit is here and I am finishing the wood. So I'll have it strung in a few days and see how it sounds to me....

The good musicians online make the 3 string sound like a concert guitar when they finger pick it. I got the fretless neck so I don't have to fret chords. My hands don't cooperate forming chords. This one isn't amplified, so no one besides me has to listen to it!
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by missionary5155 »

Good morning
When I got shipped to Germany in 1972 I was at the PX and there sat a beautiful (to me) banjo. I bought it and a book to help me get started.
About 3 months later I was sitting on CQ duty plunking away thinking I was actually getting somewhere. A fellow tanker from Tennessee (David B.) came by and quietly stood there a few minutes. Then he said" Fester sell me your banjo. I said David I like y banjo Shortly David said.. Sell me your banjo. I told him the PX had another for only $50. Shortly David said " Festy sell me your banjo... Your killing us with that thing !".
I said.. David is it that bad... He said give me that thing and promptly played some very nice music. Well I sold David my banjo and never again bought a musical instrument. Tried a couple...
My wife has kindly told me there is something disconnected between my ears and my fingers..
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Great story! 8)
Somewhere there is a Bugs Bunny cartoon with Bugs offering to sell a banjo with no strings to Yosemite Sam. "I'll take it," says Sam "I hate banjo music."

:lol:
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Ray
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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there is something disconnected between my ears and my fingers..
LOLOLOLO

either we are related or our wives are ! ! !
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Grizz
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

Hey Ray!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egSIamo86fc

check out Johnson with 3 strings live

this makes me smile
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

Good on Ya Ray! No quit in you is there.

I am still putting a clear coat on the wood because I plan to take this for a boat ride some fine month up ahead. I am thinking of tuning Down to E if possible, after I get going on the open G. Maybe even borrow a string off the bass? I dunno what I am doing, but like you, I'm only going to offend wild life, not that they deserve that. :lol:
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

Post by Grizz »

well, the guitarist's lament

I need a G-string.

The low G and D sound OK. Surprised that the acoustic output is workable, as long as I'm not in the corner of the Red Dog gasping for air and trying to hit the chords in the right order . . . :arrow: lumbering on with a busted G-string . . .
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Ray
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Re: 3 string cigar box guitars

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