More Music in the 'Stan

Today, I shipped a three-string guitar to HM2 Eddy Phouthaboun, a US Navy Corpsman stationed at Bastion Hospital in Afghanistan.

The basis for the guitar is a collectors limited edition Arturo Fuente Opus X Piramide cigar box commemorating 'The Lost City' production directed by Andy Garcia.  There were only 600 of this particular box made and issued throughout the world, so he'll have a special creation soon.

Eddy wanted a design that is, as he said, "nothing fancy", but with a theme that would reflect his home and remind him of San Francisco.  So, on the back of the body is a collage of photos that should do the job.

I love being able to share my creations with new friends serving us in the military, in a place I would not visit under the best of conditions.  I have the greatest respect for them . . . not one time has any one of them complained about the job they are doing . . . something many of our citizens stateside could learn from.  Talk about working in a hostile environment for minimum wage!

Eddy and his friends are my heroes!

Music in Afghanistan

The Afghan girls, 'Crystal' and 'Blondie', arrived at Camp Bastion a couple days ago (just over a week in route), to keep US Navy Corpsman Charles Setzer company.  Geez, it took less time for this package to arrive half way around the world, than it does to ship to Montana.  Go figure!

Chuck got his guitar, and this is what he had to say:

June 8, 2011

Hey Jess,

I just got it yesterday. It came into the mail center and I picked it up as I went to work.  I love it! Several others at work were very impressed too.  After I finished with the only patient I had last night I just sat up and played all night long.  It's very cool.  I love the artwork and the finish.  It looks amazing!  My friend Eddy and I took turns with it.  I took several pictures as well.  Thank you so much for taking the time to make this for me.  I am very grateful and it's already helping to take my mind off of some of the crappy things here in Afg.

I threw in a desert sunrise picture just for the hell of it, and I threw in a picture of a box of rocks.  Sometimes the box is smarter.  I just thought that was kinda funny.  It's a door stop in the hospital, but growing up my mom always used to say, "he/she is about as smart as a box of rocks".  So, that made me laugh when I saw it.

Well, I'm off to the gym, before I go to chow, then to work.  I'll be taking Crystal with me to work every night.  It's nice to have a faithful woman at my side, who can make me feel happy.
:) he he.

Thanks so much!
HM@ 'Chuck' Setzer

I will continue to build cigar box guitars, if for no other reason than to share them with the people who give so much, so I can enjoy security and freedom here at home, what better way to say 'Thank You' to them.  They are my heroes!

Photos of Chuck . . .

Yes, it's packed well.  

That's not a bottle of hooch by the chair, it's the amp.

OOH, I think Chuck likes his lady!

Afghan culture looks like a concrete wall.

 How dumb is that?

The start of a breathtaking 120+ degree day at Camp Bastion.

Nothing like an early morning sunrise to make things look good.

'Sully' Is In Good Hands

US Navy Nurse LT Virginia Sullivan, stationed at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, shows us the three-string guitar I created for her.  The LT, her friend Carrie (my friend Witchita Sam built hers), and Corpsman Chuck Setzer find a little enjoyment in their free time playing their guitars.

Afghan Girls!

Let me introduce you to Navy Corpsman Charles Setzer's Afghan girls, 'Crystal' and 'Blondie'.

Crystal's long, sleek, dark, neck accentuates her slender, honey-colored and art-adorned body, and when you carefully move your hands over her smooth form, she purrs like a kitten.  The more you stroke her the better she performs.

Blondie's more compact body radiates a certain warmth, and when you turn her on, the sound can be deafening.

Whoa!  Now that I have your attention, I confess that I'm describing the cigar box guitar and mini amp that I built and shipped today to Chuck, who is stationed at Bastion Hospital in Afghanistan.

'Crystal' is a 25.25" scale, four-string, electro/acoustic guitar, based on an Ashton Crystal No. 1 cigar box, with an oak neck and maple fretboard.  The art on the front of the guitar is a selection Chuck enjoys; the eagle and Blondie are my idea; and the Caduceus is the insignia.  Chuck is a Sailor, but he considers himself more a Marine, thus the 'Devil Doc' art on the inside of the box.

 

 

 

'Blondie' is a mini amp constructed from an Acid Cigars Blondie Belicoso cigar box.  The GuitarFuel harness and speaker is powered by a 9-volt battery (AC, when using an adapter) and controls include volume, tone, and tone expander.

Stay safe and well Chuck, and come home soon.

Remember Our Servicemen/women

Remember Them!

The men and women who serve our country,

so we can be free.

May God Bless Them

Anthony Got 'The Bee'

EO2 Anthony Dennis, a US Navy Seabee, stationed somewhere in Africa received his cigar box guitar today, and the following is what he had to say:

"Jess,
I received the coolest thing anyone has ever made for me.  This cigar box guitar is amazing and more than I expected to receive when I made the post (CigarBoxNation).  I will have this one for the rest of my life and I'm sure it will be passed down to my son one day.  This guitar will always remind me of the appreciation people have for what we do and mark another deployment down.  This is truly the highlight of this deployment, thank you very much.
Anthony Dennis"



Stay well, and safe, my friend!

A Bee In Africa

Anthony Dennis is a Seabee stationed somewhere in Africa, who is receiving this guitar as a gift to show appreciation for what he and many other servicemen and women are doing to preserve our freedom.

Like other GIs, Anthony placed a message on the CigarBoxNation site asking if any of us creators could make a guitar for him to help pass the time in a place most of us would never think of visiting, especially under his conditions.  So, I took the opportunity to give back a little for all the good things that I've experienced.

This three-string electro/acoustic uses an Oliveros cigar box as a basis for the build.  A neck made of oak and a poplar fretboard is the setup.  Strings pass from an exposed tailpiece to one-piece tuners for a sleek transition, and the action is low for finger style playing (amplified sound may be a little scarce in Africa).  But, if Anthony gets the urge to crank out a little Delta Blues, he can easily adjust the saddle to add a bit more string action.  The electro part is a Piezo pickup located under the top near the bridge, which transfers sound nicely to an amp.

Give it hell Anthony!

Oh, Momma!

I took a brake from building CBGs and amps this week to volunteer at the rummage sale for our church.  Anyone who has ever done this knows that it's a boatload of work, no money, a handful of strong backs doing the heavy lifting, a weak mind or two telling everyone else what to do, but the rewards far outnumber the weaknesses.

I didn't pay a lot of attention to where the music was coming from, but when I did get curious, I spotted this old cathedral style mantle radio surrounded by TVs, computers, other radios, and miscellaneous junk, pumping out great sound.  I looked around to make sure no one was watching me sneak up on this jewel, 'cause I wanted it, no matter the cost.

Oh, momma, this is awesome!  What an amplifier this will make.  So, I beat feet over to the lady running the show and asked her if I could buy it now?  She thought about it and said, "I guess so, but can you leave it plugged in for the sound around here?"  How much?  "Is twenty bucks OK?"  I nearly kissed her.  Sold!

After I got it home, I decided I just couldn't rip it apart, it really is an awesome radio, so I'm going to install my super-duper-monster GuitarFuel amp harness inside the radio cavity with all the other wires and crap, for a real sanitary creation, which I can use in many ways for entertainment. 

It now commands a very special spot at the end of the bar in our basement, which is finished in a music theme honoring our dog Wyatt, who passed several years ago . . . the 'Black Dog Blues Bar'. 

And, after drooling over it for awhile, I got the screwy idea to build a guitar shaped like the radio, complete with cutouts and recesses, which would match the radio. 

Geez, I can't wait to get started, but I gotta finish a couple guitars and an amp for servicemen in Afghanistan and Africa, first.

See ya later, gotta go!

'La Gloria'

'La Gloria' is a three-string electro-acoustic guitar using a very unusual La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Obelisco cigar box as the basis for the construction.

This is a beautiful cigar box with unbelievable finish throughout, and the shape screams to be made into a guitar.

I chose to retain the beauty of the top by not creating any sound hole openings, and to only add string ferrules and a thin Corian bridge to the surface.  To compliment the bridge, I crafted a nut from Corian to hold the strings in place at the head of the maple fretboard.  This is my first attempt at using Corian, but it surely will not be the last.  The Corian material is easy to work with and it maintains the same sturdiness of bone, and it polishes out very well.

So, where would the acoustic opening be placed? . . on the back side of the box.  The opening is designed to fit the lower contour of the box, and it is more than adequate to let sound resonate well.  The recessed output jack plate works nicely from its position near the top of the box allowing the amp cord to be used without getting in the way.

To finish the backside, I chose to add a hand painted graphic flower arrangement, which lends itself nicely to the clean front. 

I played this guitar for the first time yesterday, and I fell in love with the resonance of sound, the shape, and the sustain is awesome, so I guess this will stay in my stable along with a few other special creations I cannot part with.

Please let me know what you think of 'Gloria'.

Alarming Discovery!

Last month, Montreal University scientists released the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer.

That's right, beer contains female hormones!

Men should take a concerned look at their beer consumption. 

The theory is that beer contains female hormones (hops contain Phytoestrogens), and that by drinking enough beer, men turn into women. 

To test the theory, 100 men each drank eight schooners of beer within a one-hour period.  At the end of the hour, it was observed that 100% of the test subjects demonstrated the following symptoms:

1 -- They argued over nothing.
2 -- They refused to apologize when obviously wrong.
3 -- They all gained weight.
4 -- They talked excessively without making sense.
5 -- They became overly emotional
6 -- They couldn't drive.
7 -- They failed to think rationally.
8 -- They had to sit down while urinating.

It was deemed by the researchers that no further testing was necessary.

I Want Your Comments!

OK, all you folks from the US, and from around the world!

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT OR TWO on the blog posts that you review.

Or, email me with comments at the address listed here...
jallred489@gmail.com
I want to hear from you.  And, I want to know what you think, and what ideas you may have to share with me.

You're visiting my blog, so, DON'T BE TIMID!   Leave a message for me.

I don't bite!

The 'Sully' is on it's way to Afghanistan

I mentioned in a post yesterday that I created a CBG for US Navy Nurse LT Virginia Sullivan.  Well, It's on it's way to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.

This is not only one of the most personally rewarding guitars I've built, but I think it is the best sounding of all.  It has a nice mellow tone, which is attributable to the hardwood nut and saddle, I suspect.

The basis for the guitar is a Cohiba cigar box, oak neck and poplar fretboard.  It's a very straight-forward three-string guitar, which I chose to make acoustic only, because it will be easier for Virginia to enjoy in the Afghan sandbox, without messing around with an amp.

A TotalRojo CBG Goes to Afghanistan

I recently joined in with some other guitar makers from around the country to provide cigar box guitars to service men and women who are stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The group was started by a friend (Diane) from Chicago, and it has really taken off.

We provide instruments at no cost to help them find a little enjoyment in what must be a most difficult time in their lives.  They never complain, but one only has to imagine, right!

A Navy nurse (LT Virginia Sullivan) serving at a field hospital at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan contacted the group about providing a guitar for her friend and fellow caregiver Carrie.  LT Sullivan wasn't asking for herself, because she claims she is not musically inclined, but I convinced her that she should give it a try.

Virginia's guitar will ship tomorrow, and I think Sam is sending his to Carrie tomorrow as well.

They promised to send us photos to post on our web sites and on CigarBox Nation.  Stay tuned for that, but in the meantime, I will post photos of the guitar I built for Virginia.

I'll provide guitars all day long for those folks!  It's the least I can do to show appreciation for what they are doing for our country.

Neck Stock

I mentioned recently that I had made contact with a cabinet shop that was providing me with custom stock from which to create necks for my guitars.

Well, it happened.  My new friend Matt (co-owner) at the shop cut me a boat load of neck stock using ash, maple, and walnut, and he also tossed in an equal number of fretboard pieces to round out the order.

While we were cruising around the shop, Matt showed me the area in which they produce the solid surface (Corian) counter tops.  I noticed that the scrap pieces of Corian being discarded were just the right thing for nuts and saddles on my guitars.  So, I now have another boatload of Corian material from which to do more creation.

The real shocker came when I asked Matt what I owed him for the stuff, and he said, "Nothing!, I like what your doing."

So, yesterday, I surprised Matt with a three-string guitar as a gift for being so damn kind to me.  He didn't say much, he's a real quiet guy, but I could tell from his expression that he was real pleased . . . but, not nearly as much me.

Thanks Matt!

'Camacho'

I love building the little 'monster' amps in cigar boxes, and the 'Camacho' is the latest to get the GuitarFuel harness treatment. 

I wanted to do something a little different with this amp, because the box is so unusual.  So, instead of exposed controls and speaker, everything is inside the box.  The usual setup with volume, tone, and boost, plus the AC adapter connection, headphone and input jacks.

The speaker and harness are attached to a velvet covered wood sheet that is suspended just enough for the speaker to clear the floor of the box, but deep enough for the lid to close over the control knobs.

A small chain keeps the lid from opening too far to damage the hinges, and rubber feet on the bottom of the box keep it from creeping around, when it's fired up.  And, a simple drawer pull is used as a handle to tote the amp from my workshop to the next street corner . . . playing for pennies during the current recession/depression/obsession/and political regression.

Just another brick on my wall.

A Helpless Crew!

My friend Jim, a good ol' Montana boy, went down this morning to sign his dogs up for welfare.

At first the lady he spoke with, said, "Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare."

So, he explained to her, "My dogs are a special case.  They are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English, and have no frigging clue who their dads are.  They expect me to feed them, provide for them with housing and medical care.  So why not?"

The lady looked in her dusty ol' welfare policy manual to determine what it takes to qualify.

The dogs' first checks arrive Friday!