Hi Diane I'm a fan of your instruments as well. Looking at your fiddles was  a big help in getting me started with mine.

So glad you saw the video where I am playing the wonderful banjo you made me. I play it almost every day since I got it back in Afghanistan. I will never be able to thank you enough for it. Really glad you liked the song. My wife really brings a lot of the mountains to my playing. Hope you are well.

Matt

HI, I found the link to your story, you were really great!

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/17/cigar-box-guitar-enthusiasts-aren-t-just-blowing-smoke

Hi Diane,

would like to know where to get instructions on various builds of travel Violins.

Thanks,

ESQ

Hi Diane, thanks for the good words. The Royal Jamaica was my first attempt, a pretty poor one at that. My band "The 97th Regimental String Band" will be in Springfield

July 9. 10, Several shows each day in the rotunda of the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois, free with admission to museum. Maybe you could drop by.

  We've played in Chicago several time; The Salt Creek Civil War round table, The Chicago maritime festival, and others.  Craig

Hey Diane, What the CBG sene like in Ill.? My wife and me are going to be moveing back that way.

hi steve (aka lobo) here ive managed to get everything together i need to build my 1st 3 string stick dulcimer the only thing i cant find is a chart for the fret spaceing can you please help me i saw that someone was building one or had already built one on your site but now i cant find the spot where i was that i saw it at im listed as steve wootten  and im anxious to get building this project i fell in love with the sound of this tiny lil insterment and i want one of my own pluss a know a few folks at the beach who want some new ones built and if i get this 1st one done right i may end up bein able to make a few bucks and as a disabled vet belive me a few extra bucks is always a blessing from God thanks for all you are doing for those of us who are new to the whole cbg thing  ths again ill be waiting for ur answer when ever you get a chance

Thank you for adding me to your friend list. I have been reading a lot of different posts on the forums and was thinking that you are one person I was hoping to know more about.

I noticed you are quite knowledgeable, (from the little I have seen) but already there are some posts from you that I know I must check out. I only read the headline.

If you ever wish to chat or email I would like that very much.  Lewin.

BTW I love your photos.

Diane, I like the D tuning it works really well for D and A and G is just a little stretch. On the 3 string I play only partial cords so I use that book the ultimate chord book here on the site. I find 2 notes on the strings I play and that makes ebough of a chord for me. I would not give up on the frailing thing, it is clunky for a little while but then it will be second nature

matt

Diane just wanted to take a second and say thanks again for the 3 stringed banjo. I have played it every single day since it arrived. I play for the children who end up on the ward here. I plan to record a cd of songs I have practicing here since I got it. I will send you a copy when I finnish it. I really love the sound of it and my playing is improving rapidly. Thank you again

HM2 Matt Borczon

Thanks, I'll contact Matte.

R

There will be 30 builders who are mostly professional engineers and scientist. They will be new to this, but pretty sophisticated. It's a group that will include woodworkers (a usual hobby for these types) who may blanch at the low tech part of this. But the goal is organizational learning, not woodshop.

The role of cbg, stomp boxes, variations of homemade, dyi instruments is to provide a valuable exercise which can generalize to the questions of how to bring work to fruition in a larger sense. I teach a fairly "emotional intelligence" class so we'll talk about the psychology of coming together to do valuable work.

We are thinking of getting local teachers involved to stimulate the professional staff. Giving back is pretty big with this community and they would respond to doing this project if it has a takeaway such as producing a lesson plan for middle school teachers on the history and building of cigar box guitars...please contact me at rrgillen@yahoo.com if you have interest. Thanks, Rich