New Boxes every day

A really nice vintage box that I just bought. This Dutch Masters is one of the brands my Grandfather use to smoke. I grew up with these around the house. Who knew that one day I would make a CBG from one of these boxes.







I just bought five of these Rocky Patel boxes that
I am very excited to build into CBGs. No doubt these are going to be very cool little guitars. I have been doing a bunch of shopping for boxes and have more on the way please stop back and see I one of them fits the bill for your next CBG. Angel and I will be back at the market the first of February. We look forward to seeing you then. In the meantime call if there is something special that I can build for you.

Playing around with I-movie, micro cube and a drum machine

This little video illustrates that anyone can play a 3 string CBG and have a lot of fun... Not to mention take what you learn on the 3 string and move up to 6. whenever you are ready. I am playing around on the 3 string, my new Micro Cube Amp from Roland (awesome) and a Zoom MRT-3b Micro rhythm trak. Hey, did I mention these things also run on batteries? Is this a great country or what??? A little more time by myself and if I stay out of the shop I might actually get to know what I am doing..... I can only hope....Merry Christmas.... Jim

Where is Keni Lee when I need him ?

Okay so for those of you that I have not met here I am playing a build that I just completed.... Two disclaimers - don't blame Keni Lee for my playing, his lessons are fantastic and this was recorded on my mac so in real life this CBG is much warmer... Enough excuses ... Jim

Santa Jim's old elf workshop..

Christmas time....How wonderful...... Well I still think so however I am running around like a crazy old elf trying to make certain that last minute Christmas wishes get filled.... Fun of course I am not the one the delivers them there is a little matter of shipping times.... Here is a picture of my latest build going out west in the next couple of days....

Christmas time

Another day at the market, and was it ever a day to remember... yes there was rain, and well, that was one thing but the wind was the knock out punch..... The poor guy next to us did not have any weights on his tent and darn near lost everything.... Gail and the team did everything they could but the elements were in complete control today and for us the market was just one real adventure.... Yes no sales and we bagged it just before 11am, better luck next time. The real question is what to do about all the canjo's that I have made... We are going to try to sneak in one more market before Christmas but if that doesn't happen we will certainly be overstocked for a while.... Such is the life of a modern-day CBG builder....

Four string resonator madness

So the quest continues.... The new four string resonator sporting binding and a tobacco road sunburst relic finish. The CBG represents the most detailed adventure into building a CBG yet, the neck is laminated oak and walnut. I used a scarf joint for the headstock and applied the classic Gibson black overlay.
I used grover tuning machines
and the neck is reinforced. I also used a barrel bolt system to attach the neck. The hand carved neck extends well into the heal. I am very happy with the results.
This little instrument has a very powerful voice and is very nice to play.


I am going to be sending this one to KLB so I am always nervous.... The deal we have is he is to pull no punches (and he doesn't) If he doesn't like it he lets me know. Well that's how I get better at making these things. You need to have someone that you trust to help evaluate the sound
and quality.. I trust KLB

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Back from the market....

Well to all my new friends from the market thank you for stopping by and saying hello. As you can see the shop is a mess. Next project is going to be cleaning up from getting ready for yesterdays market. I have some new pictures that I will be posting soon so please come back and take a look. There are a couple of builds on the bench that are pretty over the top, the one in the picture is a six string suitcase resonator... more to follow. Also I am waiting on Keni Lee's newest instructional DVD Keni tells me I should have it any day. Thanks again for stopping by please leave a comment or shoot me an email to say hello. If I don't talk to you before then maybe I'll see you at the market on the 14th. Take care - Jim

If this is your first time on the blog don't forget to check out some of the video on the older posts. Jim