New Tail Vise

As I started my first cuts on the new Cigar Box Lap Steel Guitar build I quickly realized I was working with the wrong vise.

As I was using the Japanese Ryoba handsaw I noticed it was dancing off my marked lines a bit due to vibration. Not wanting to spoil my work I stopped right there and started shopping online for the correct vise to be using.

I finally took the advice of a tool shop I use in Hartville, Ohio named Hartville Tools. They pointed me to Lee Valley Tools in Canada for good quality inexpensive wood vices.

I ended up ordering and receiving, complete with assembly plans, their tail vise screw set with plates and turn handle. I will end up drilling a couple of large holes and adding some wood for the jaws.

All in all this should give me the space and clamping power I need to cut out any vibration so there will be no more dancing off my cutting guidelines.

Cigar Box Lap Steel Guitar - Beginning

I must apologize for not posting to Wood Finery for the past 6 weeks. I had my left knee replaced and it took a real toll on me physically and mentally! I am doing much better now and attending physical therapy twice weekly. Still some swelling but certainly moving forward!

I have decided it is high time to build my first ever Cigar Box Lap Steel Guitar! The picture in the upper right corner shows my humble beginnings. You have to start somewhere, right?

I'm using a red oak blank cut to 32 inches long x 4 inches wide x 1-9/16 inches thick, a piece of leopardwood for the fret board and beautifully lacquered cigar box that I ended up paying a pretty penny for (but I think it will really be worth it).

At this point I have the lines laid out to make the peg head cuts and will start cutting this weekend. I'm taking this project it bit slowly as my knee allows.

Stay tuned as I post more pictures of my progress. I think this one will be a real sweet sounding beauty!

FREE Christmas Music - Cigar Box Guitar Music

Free Cigar Box Guitar Christmas Music CD download. Yes I said FREE! Share this one with your family and friends! http://www.cigarboxnation.com/

Pennies for Peace

Since it is the season of giving I thought I would share the wonderful information with you.

This is an outstanding organization that has built to date 131 schools in some of most remote unreachable areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan you and I could ever imagine! Up to this point they have educated over 58,000 students of which 44,000 have been girls. As you can see the porters bringing timbers in on their backs 18 miles on foot!

A nurse named Greg Mortenson stumbled out of the mountains on a failed climbing attempt years ago and he himself was nursed back to health by kind villagers. He vowed to return and do something good in return for their kindness. So was born the CAI or the Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace.

Greg learned an African proverb as a child in Tanzania, “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. But if you educate a girl, you educate a community.”Well it seems Greg has been applying that learned proverb in the remotest villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan ever since he made that promise.

All of these schools have been built and all those children educated with no government funding and no political agenda. Now that’s what I call refreshing! As a matter of fact it seems world leaders are now coming to this humble man and asking his advice on how to best build peaceful relationships with these folks.

While wars are being fought all around them, and billions upon billions are being wasted on military machines this gentle man is spreading peace through education one child at a time. Simply by fulfilling a promise he made for a kindness that was bestowed on him by a village.

If you would like to be a part of this process please feel free to check out http://www.ikat.org/
To get a local grassroots movement going in your area consider assisting your children in bringing this amazing program to their school, scout troop or sports team http://www.penniesforpeace.org/ It’s easier than you can imagine.

If you would like to think it over for awhile or learn more about this amazing grassroots movement subscribe to their free enewsletter www.ikat.org/alima

Here are links to a couple of Greg Mortenson’s best sellers Three Cups of Tea http://www.treecupsoftea.com/ and Stones into Schools http://www.stonesintoschools.com/

Thanks for reading

The Ybor City Stogie: Ybor City - Cigar Capital of the World!

The Ybor City Stogie: Ybor City - Cigar Capital of the World!

Ybor City - Cigar Capital of the World!

Three weeks ago my wife and I were in Tampa, Florida and hopped on the trolley to Ybor City, Florida. I had heard much about the cigar capital of the world and really wanted to visit this historic spot!

Ybor City was founded in the 1880's and was home to a diverse population of immigrants from all over the world who co-existed by making cigars. They were the forerunners of the HMO.

Each worker paid about 25 cents a month for health care. They had rich cultural and social opportunities from their diverse population and standard of living. For more information on this amazing cultural visit http://www.ybormuseum.org/

My main interest, being a Cigar Box Guitar builder, was cigar boxes. I had always wondered how that beautiful artwork made its way on to the cigar boxes. Well here is the answer! It is very much a process of layering. I had no idea there was so much work involved! I am even more impressed than before.

The cigar rollers spent many hours in the factories producing the fine cigars. They needed to be comfortable and used these chairs at the rolling tables. These are actually handmade reproductions and in the Ybor City museum on display.
Many of the processes of cigar rolling have gone to the machine these days. We did, however, come across Wallace Reyes. A member of the Gonzalez Habano Cigar Co. He is going for the Guinness World Book Record for the longest hand rolled cigar. It will be 185 feet. Guinness will witness the event at the annual Ybor City festival on Nov. 21, 2009.

Hand Crafted Bone Guitar Slides by MojoBone

Custom engraved bone guitar slide made by MojoBone Works.

I have been checking out Randy's slides for awhile now and have heard great things about them from players and builders alike that have been fortunate enough to order one.

Randy is a true artist; utilizing his impressive carving skills to create some of the most attractive, comfortable, and functional bone slides I’ve ever seen in my life.

One player/builder of Cigar Box Guitars said, "After hearing so many players say such great things about these slides, I decided that I wanted to try one for myself. I’ve been experimenting with a lot of different sounds lately and actively working to improve my guitar playing and as part of this, I wanted to check out the sounds that I could get from different slides (all I ever used was brass). I’ve been interested in bone for a while now as it had been explained to me that there is really no substitute if you’re trying to achieve a roots-era 20’s to 30’s sound."


You will never see another slide shaped like this one unless you order one from Randy yourself. Top to bottom, it is absolutely incredible. The slide itself is good and meaty with plenty of weight behind it but the part that wraps your knuckle is carved quite thin and you barely notice that it’s there when you’re playing. The whole thing is polished as smooth as glass. Those notches along the side make a perfect resting place for your other fingers, and he even goes so far as to texture the inside of the slide with grooves in order to give your slide finger extra tactile grip.

On top of all this, every slide that he sends out comes with some adhesive moleskin that you can wrap around the inside to ensure the right fit.

Randy also includes a custom made bone pick – something he could probably get as much as $10 for. He just likes to throw them in.

This will give you an idea of MojoBone Works artful slides. For more information on MojoBone Works slides you can email Randy at farmish@comcast.net