Cigar Boxes and Sold Souls...

Here is the latest work to come out of the mudbelly primitive guitar factory. I have one for sale and the other I traded for all the souls in the Tobacco Barn in Huntington, Texas. 

Here's a box I picked up at the little flea market south of town some time back. I was well stocked at the time on boxes and this was one I almost passed on because the label was a bit peeled up but we were returning from a trip somewhere and beginning that post depression phase that  can only be cured by buying a thing you don't need. I guess it was not too bad a depression if I cured it with a flea market cigar box purchase. You may have had them blues but I bet it was not them mudbelly blues. 

I am glad I did not pass on the box because it made a real fine sounding guitar. The acoustic sound is good and through the 2 watt Dia de Muertos amp with the gain turned up a bit it has a big reverby sound. Have not tried it through a big amp. Maybe a video demo later this weekend

One thing I have learned is that you can never tell what a box will sound like. I would not have picked this as a good sounding box. A little light weight and while most wooden cigar boxes are cedar, a good tone wood, this wood was not really readily identifiable. 

You know how they started making the Ritz Cracker packages a little shorter? I cut down on headstock length. You know the drill, three strings, tuned to a happy E chord and played with a slide.  

Here you see the folded up corner that almost made me pass on this box. I checked around on the internet and saw some boxes like mine selling for $75 and more plus shipping. I'll sell this with it's small imperfection for $70 and throw in one free slide lesson. 

It's electric. Two piezo pick ups, the big ones shielded in bottle caps to make it a bit less feed back prone. 

On now on to the souls I own. Tiege, who runs the nearby Tobacco Barn donated a box to me. I turned right around and made a two stringer out of it for her. Kind of a deal with the devil thing. 

Might make some more two stringers when I have small boxes. It does not have a huge bass sound but I think I might just need to experiment around with string gauges. It's definitely gigable and I made a pick up sandwiched in a sliced up wine cork. Seems like might not have a great response at low volumes but this might be a usable tactic to get a rock volume out of the piezo pickups.   

Now the Barn has to keep me supplied with cigar boxes. When I left after delivering the guitar this morning there was a gargoyle head over the door I had not noticed before and 9 black crows lined up along the roof line. I guess I did not really need to say black and crow in the same sentence did I? I think Tiege is going to be ok with her soul owned. I don't know about the other girl that was in there.