Hi all
I am an artist working in Bournemouth in the uk, and studying at the art college here. I have been building CBGs in my spare time for years, but never thought to make them a part of my practice as an artist. So NOW, i am remedying that, planning a project about home made instruments and back porch music.
I need something though from anyone who would like to share. STORIES!!
tell me your tales of joy, woe, struggle and success in guitar building. the wackier the better. However, its not just guitar work i am interested in. Any ideas about music in general would be MUCH appreciated. i am after inspiration of all kinds.
my email address is st.ginger@hotmail.com if you want to contact me directly there, or just reply or PM me here. i'd really appreciate it.
ok, intro done. you can read that and choose whether i'm interesting enough to read on, or just leave me a reply. or just leave without a second thought. i won't hold it against you :P
Despite all my love of music, CBGs and home made music. i have a problem. I'm not very good...
i love building guitars, but i'm not so great at playing them. And surely thats what instruments are all about, isn't it?
my tutors love stressing us out with the question: 'where is the art?'. when i build an instrument, i do it for the love of the material, the process and the function that all of these parts have when they come together. i don't worry too much about what it will be like when 'I' play it, just when it will be played.
what are your ideas about who plays an instrument? does the playing of an instrument supersede the look of the thing? can a skilled builder be as important as the player?
I appreciate that this is a bunch of baloney, but its the kind of thing we have to think about for our course, so if you could find it in your heart to humour me, i'd love to hear from you.
Tags:
to each our own, eh RTZ. some men like the fishin', some men like the fowlin' :P
thanks for the responses. keep 'em coming!
what can i say oily, thats one heck of a tale. you certainly have an interesting musical history. thanks so much for sharing :)
its always been important to me to do something that i enjoy. but at the same time, i have always liked to succeed. I'm only just getting to a point where i feel less 'black and white' about whether what i'm doing is right. In the past, its been too scary to engage in an instrument project because i haven't felt it is 'arty' enough for the course, and i'm not good enough to succeed. but recently i have felt able to be a bit more fluid with my work and actually enjoy it for the sake of it instead of being worried about the outcome all the time.
so Yes, i am going to just go for it and fined my way in the course side of things as i go. i know from experience that inspiration emerges DURING the work, far more often than coming before. i just have to remind myself of that sometimes. i may come back with questions at a latter date :D
Dan, i might just do that. I watched it years ago, just after getting into CBGs and found it very inspiring, if a tad random in places. jack white's 'harmonica mic in the guitar' design was the thing that first introduced me to the idea of fusion instruments and combining concepts like that. i think it is high time that film gets a re-watch.
thank you guys, i really appreciate it.
St Ginger, I can't write half as good as Oily, so I won't try, I'll just give you a small outline on how I got involved with CBGs, where I am now and how I feel about your questions.
I'm 66 years old, retired and after loving to listen to live music all my life, I decided last year that I wanted to make some of my own. The only instruments I had played up to that point were Marimba and Vibraphone. I decided that I wanted to play something more portable so looked into the idea of building my own instrument to keep cost down and my first thought was a kit for a banjo. After seeing the high prices of kits, I did a web search for home made instruments and found the Cigar Box Nation and early March of this year built my first, a Cookie Tin Guitar, (Biscuit Tin for you Brits) and got hooked on the sound, having always loved slide blues.
Since that Cookie Tin I have built four Canjos and five Cigar Box Guitars and I'm currently working on build #11, a short scale (18") CBG, with many more boxes and cans in reserve for builds in 2013. I have been slowly teaching myself to play although I will admit I have a long way to go to be even mildly competent to play before even close friends, but have been fortunate to have several of my skilled musician friends play my instruments for me and know that they can sound really great. With that incentive I'm looking forward to being able to play well enough to share my skills(?) with others in the new year and have pleasant times sitting in with friends and adding to the music.
The builder is the one who makes the box able to produce the music. The musician creates the music. The looks of the thing are purely in the eyes of the beholder. What some see as an ugly box with strings attached can be a thing of true beauty in the hands of an artist. I try and make my builds pretty, but the voice within is what really makes me smile. At the same time, a beautiful well made instrument in the hands of an unskilled hack can make the most horrible sounds imaginable.
It's not one thing or the other, but a combination of all the parts that makes it work.
yeah, cookies come in paper bags here, not tins. they need to be fresh, moist, chewy and delicious. biscuits can be crunchy, so are ok in tins XD
thats a really good way of thinking about things, that its all part of the whole. its something i'm learning to remember in all my work.
what is it like to see your creations in the hands of someone else? how does the fact that they play it differently make you feel?
i love the idea of 'the voice within' the instruments. i'm going to work with that, i think :)
thanks a lot
Seeing as how I can't really play them much yet, it's nice to see them played by someone skilled and see their reactions to the sound they get out of them. It really makes me happy to hear what they can sound like when played well and gives me a push to get to work and learn to play.
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