So I swung into the local tobacco shop today and I finally got lucky. I found a cool cigar box that is large enough to create a decent build with. Most are way too small for my taste. It's a pretty cool box with just one flaw. It has a pretty good scratch right on the front. This is "Scratch Guitars" we are talking about though. I am trying to decide weather or not to go relic or modern on this one.
I'm undecided as there's been a little mud slinging in the CBG community forums as to what constitutes a "CBG" guitar. In it's truest form... I do not make Cigar Box Guitars. My boxes or guitar bodies have either been store bought or I have salvaged boards from pallets or purchased wood and created the box myself to suit the needs of the guitar. To the purists, this seems to be blasphemy. You see, the origin of the CBG stems from people who were too poor or didn't have the resources to purchase an instrument. They would create their own guitar or banjo or fiddle by using what ever materials that they did have. This was commonly a cigar box, maybe a broom stick or a board for a guitar neck. They might use some fencing wire as strings. You get the idea.
So there are different opinions on this as some people claim that it has to be created from "found" parts. Others believe that every aspect should be "Handmade". Some think that every part should be either handmade or a "repurposed" item, like using a door hinge for a tailpiece or a bathroom sink drain for a sound hole cover. In truth, the term CBG has become a generic term used to describe basically a homemade instrument that has anywhere from 1-6 strings. People will squabble about what is handmade vs. hand built vs. assembled etc. I have even been informed that they way I build guitars is "still art, but a lesser form", because I use some store bought parts that are designed for the job. It's hard not to be offended when someone is politely trying to tell you that your work is cool but it's not still not on par with what they do because they used a drawer handle for a bridge instead of buying an actual guitar bridge. I mean, if you want to chain a beaver to a tree and call it a chainsaw that's up to you. I'll just grab an actual chainsaw and be sip'n lemonaide while you are poking that beaver with a stick. I think the beaver idea is pretty stinking awesome as long as you like the results. But it's not typically what I'm after. Sometimes it is. I refuse to pigeonhole myself. It stifles my creativity.
Though there is a great amount of creativity in my guitars they are firstly guitars, not artwork. Art hangs on walls, my guitars get played. I'm not trying to create the Mona Lisa of CBG's. I'll leave it to Paul Reed Smith or Gibson to create $4,000 guitars that never make it out of their display cases. I don't have any interest in making relic guitars that look like they were pulled out of an abandoned 1920 barn, suitable to be put in a historical museum. In all fairness though, I have decided that I will no longer refer to my guitars as "CBG's". They are not made from cigar boxes. I produce creative one of a kind 4-string guitars.
So back to the question at hand...relic or modern with this new cigar box find? I want to go relic to prove that I can be just as creative as the next guy when building a relic guitar. However, with the candy red color all I can see is shiny gold hardware and scream'n electronics with LED lights on the inside. I think I'll save the faux museum-grade guitar for some other cigar box in the future. I have nothing to prove right now.
Get Scratched!
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