Last Video for 2018

Last Video for the year  I will be looking forwards to next year

Happy Christmas and New Year.

Hi all I,m spending Christmas and the new year totally off grid and out of the way no party's no work no noise and no fuss.
Just walking with a hint of talking to other like minded people be it on a coastal path or down some out of the way bridle path.
OK for some people this would be a nightmare for others like myself it would be heaven, I'm in a small village somewhere down south along with fourteen other  motor homes and campervanners that like my self just want peace and quite.
I did cook myself a nice festive lunch along with a Christmas Duff ( pudding ) a few beers and a drop of whiskey.
No matter how you spend your christmas and new year I do wish you all the best for the future.

Coreys Christmas Party in the Oceans Community Church at the Venue Bude 16/12/2018

This Little Diamond of a boy  is facing a battle that no youngster should have to, yet even with all the problems Corey has to put up with he is such a happy little soul full of life just like any youngster.

The Christmas party was a fund rising event to help with the costs of looking after Corey the turn out was amazing and the people were very generous.

Please read the text below which I have copied from a face book page

and then watch the two Videos which cover the entertainment that was provided free by the artists.

Namely JAMES Dixon, MARK Wilson, both fantastic guitarists and singers along with two other artists singer Ezmay Grace Jopling, and opera singer Elizabeth Hobbs all the artists were out of this world Ezmay,s cover of amazing grace was the best I have heard, look out for James Dixon playing a six string cigar box guitar made by Jeff at Dirtbox guitars here in bude.

Dirtbox guitars and sea breeze blues guitars both donated a hand made cigar box guitar to help rise funds.

 I Must say a big thank you to Oceans Community Church for hosting the event and the use of the hall and the wonderful sound and lighting system.

 Brief Story,

Born two months early, Corey from day one has attended over 300 day appointments and spent 6 months as an inpatient between Bristol Children’s hospital and North Devon District Hospital, in his almost 4 years of life. He battles everyday with; intractable polymorphic epilepsy, hydrocephalus, myelinated fibres in his eyes leaving him with poor eyesight, very poor hearing, fragile veins in the brain so he’s prone to bleeds. And has two genetic disorders 16p13.3 duplication syndrome and Kabuki syndrome.

With all these problems he is an amazing little boy and some of the team of Corey’s Crusaders are taking on the Tsunami Trail marathon. Known as one of the toughest marathons in the UK the 36mile route follows the cliff path from Westward Ho, Devon too Bude’s Castle Grounds in Cornwall. There will also be some Crusaders running 26miles from Clovelly, Devon and 16miles from Hartland, Devon both finishing in the Castle Grounds, Bude.

The event will take place on Saturday 9th July 2018 and hopefully the runners will be crossing the finish line in the Castle Grounds, Bude between 4-7pm, hopefully in one piece and before 7pm. 

 Photo

Corey and his dad with James Dixon on stage in the foreground

Corey,s Christmas Party Part 1

Corey,s Christmas Party Part 2

Leveling the frets on a cigar box guitar build

This is my way of getting the frets set and level  on my guitar builds

Part one

Part two

Project Gurkha Cigarbox Guitar

Making use of a quite a small cigar box and a neck that was destined for the scrap pile
just shows you what you can do if you think about things its nothing special but both were going to be discarded as unusable not yet finished but will be soon.

Making good a bad headstock

having made a nice neck for one of my projects I thought it would look good with a proper headstock
after cutting and making a scarf joint and rubbing it down along with reshaping it.
everything looked good until I put the tuning pegs in the closest peg to the nut was higher than the nut itself.
So  I can discard it and chuck a few hours work away or see if I can change and re-shape it thankfully this was only one of my learning how to do projects  a few things I could easy do would be to make a one string diddly bow ( single string guitar) or a chugger ( two string guitar) Or try to reshape the headstock re reuse as a three string.
I really want to save the neck having fretted it and shaped it,it would be such a shame to now disregard it.
To see the out come please take some time and watch the videos below

Cohiba 3 String Fretted Cigar Box Guitar with flatpup

I have put this on my blog it just sounds so nice and easy

December 2018 plus tips and tricks

Another year nearly over the year has really been good for me, weather wise its mostly been good seaside weather nothing better than sunshine and warm winds. Another good thing was stumbling on the cigar box guitar this has  rekindled my wanting to play the guitar.  I,am now having a few jamming sessions which is a first for me. Along with being able to make them to quite a high standard so I have been told, having sold a few and being commissioned to make one must say something about the quality of my work.
So bearing this new hobby in mind I need to make one or two changes to my life style in the new year the first being the amount of time spent on the computer its more to do with the bandwidth available to me when trying to upload my videos.
One or two of the places I use now have changed the way they receive their broadband some are now using satellite and have changed their payment plans.
for the last month I have been uploading videos which before the change over, a twenty minute video would of taken around 15 plus minutes to upload now the same video is taking 2 1/2 hours unfortunately you-tube don,t allow you to stop your upload part way and restart the next day it would help a lot if they did.
the editing has to been done mostly on line as well doing all this is now taking nearly a full day great in wet or cold weather.
I do like working on the computer and making  my videos, my you-tube channel has over 340 subscribers which makes it worth while.
Unfortunately this blog only has 11 subscribers yet has thousands of views from all corners of the earth, somewhere something has to give I really do need to get my life and my van back in order this year.

A few Tips and tricks for marking out your fretboard.

                                                                  Continued 1 

                                       

  Continued 2

                                       

Continued 3

I had a invite last night to a Chinese meal at some new and very good Friends of mine Claire and Paul
The Meal was more of a banquet, I think my eyes must of been popping out of my head.
there was at least twelve different complete dishes to choose from one of my passions is eating and boy did i eat well all washed down with a nice red wine.
If you have ever watched some of the TV shows Like my dream home and homes of the rich and famous this beautiful old property is in the same league I was very fourtunate to be given a tour around and learn a little bit about the histroy of amazing home.
So if  Clarie and Paul are reading this Thank you so much for your warm hearted friendship and the amazing meal that you give me .

Pentatonic guitar

This is one of my next projects based on the Pentatonic Plus Scale after seeing Del Puckett's video of one he had made and played watching Dels videos gives you a lot of inspiration.
My project guitar is being made from salvaged parts the fret wire was taken from a old stratocaster neck the box however is new the piezo pot and input jack are taken from one of my other projects.
If anybody is interested in buying one of my guitars please email my @ bricktorubber  .
My plans for making guitars next year is to make one/two per month the biggest problem for me is the storage of the finished guitars. I have given thought to towing a trailer and using it has a small workshop I suppose it all depends on how far i want to take making the guitars doing it has a hobby is good enough for me at the moment, I have no intention of selling them on E-bay at the moment just at the car boots and in shop window displays for now .

Part one.

Part 2

Nov 2018

Well last month was busy for me and went very fast, I'm so enjoying making these Cigar Box Guitars but finding its taking all my time and along with the video editing   I have no time for learning how to play them so I'm only going to be making one a month from now on.
Doing three all at once is not that difficult keeping the videos in order is a nightmare as im prone to forgetting to video parts and keep the sequence flowing, also with all the dust floating around I'm living in a mess day after day and that's not my style also the storing of them until sold is a bit of an issue for me.

The Darker nights play a role in this as well even though the lighting in the van is good my eyes are not so the nights will be for playing and learning come to think of it I have not played the mouth-organ for about 2 months now.
The car-boots have also come to a end for this year I managed to get rid of a lot of items i had been carrying about with me and had not seen the light of day for a few years the space gained will come in handy for storing some wood for the next few guitars. 
Below is a video of  how I mark and fit the dot markers to my guitars this is how I do it and not how it should be done if your making a guitar you do it your way. Its all about whats works for you having  the correct tools helps but they are by no means necessary I have only the most basic of tools at the moment a few sharp chisels a coping saw and now a dremel type machine which is a god send and a good set of wire cutters they are all making things a little easier. I will be picking up the cigar box for guitar No 2 the Dutch Barge its still being worked on and Dave at CIRCLE OF FIVE In Bude is doing some unique work with the sound hole covers for me which you will see in my next video.  
Please if you do watch my Videos add a few comments and let me know if they are helpful. 

Video Marking and  Placing of the dot markers.

 Video Fretting the Fingerboard.
 
Please remember all the work in my videos are me doing it my way and by no means intended to tell you this is the correct way.
If you have limited tools and work space you do have to adapt to suit.

I now have the boxes back for guitars  2 and 3 and the hardware to finish them both the next stage will be to fit the pickups and the tail piece to both .
Below is a very short Video of me checking the the boxes fit the necks correctly before I do any more work on them .

Dutch Barge Video 1A

Dutch Video Part 2

These Guitars are now finished and are for sale to subscribers of this Blog and my you tube channel for the frist week The Price will be £300. each.
Email me @.   bricktorubber@gmail.com

Video of the Finished Guitars.

Easy to make Guitar

Oct 2018

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT OCTOBER.

Well September went really well for me I made my first full Cigar Box Guitar and it turned out superb.
Had A few days meeting up with some friends and had a mini holiday within a holiday.
This month I will be starting my next project another cigar box guitar  I have all the parts ready so no hanging around for the postman I also have a few new tools to make thing a little easier for me.
With three new chisels, a small wood saw rasp and a few fine files in my toolbox.

Another new toy

After watching Chris using one of these boss eband audio players with built in guitar effects along with pre loaded backing tracks I just had to get one this is the JS 8 the newer model is the JS 10 costs just under £300.00 I got this older model for a lot less than that.

Some Videos From My Visit To Silver Sands And Kennack sands along with Cris playing guitar.


Video 1 Kennack Sands

Video 2 Silver Sands Campsite.

Videos from my meeting with Chris and Trica.

Going to start on my next guitar shortly I have had some artwork done to the box this was worked on by Dave at  Circle of Five Gift Shop  Click on this link to Visit the shop. The Best Shop In BUDE .
Dave likes to get the job right and will help you if you not sure about something

Picture of the top of my next project for Sea Breeze Blues Guitars.

My Next Project 

Part 1.

  Part 2.

Part 3.

Part 4.

Just waiting on some comments on what I should do (ie) do I put sound holes on, and a floating bridge. now before I start on the box  

The Guitar is starting to take shape now I had one or two problems with getting the neck to sit right

 it was caused by the bridge support that I glued to the underside of the top.

 The support was 2mm deeper on one side than the other, and here am I taking bits off 

the neck trying to level it out I ended up taking the support that

 I built into the neck off completely. 

That added about two hours of unnecessary work but its a learning curve,I have decided to put a lipstick pickup inside the box

 instead of on top and have cut the grove out of the neck and hot glued it into place. To test the pickup I placed the guitar upside down on to another one and

 give the strings a strum with some success I got quite a good volume from

 it but I won't be one hundred per cent sure until the guitar is up and running. 

Thinking about it, its working the same way a pizeo works if I get any of the problems

 that are normally associated with the fitting of a pizeo pickup its back to the drawing board.

Part 5

While I was out in the sunshine sanding the neck of the Guitar on one of the picnic benches

I thought I would nip back to the van and make a brew.

I went to open the back door and found it locked for some reason it locked itself and both other doors 

were locked.

Without my phone or van keys I was Stuck borrowing keys from anybody that stopped in the lay bay

without any success, I went for a walk to a nearby house asking if I could borrow some tools and -

a set of ladders.

using the tools I had to hand did not help me so plan two was to get on the roof and see if I could feed

a pole with a hook on one end through the shower room skylight and open the window .

After about an hour I did manage to get the window open, setting up the ladders to make a ramp up to-

the window.I would get in head first,getting myself almost in I then realised that I would not 

be able to pick myself up off the floor.

So backing myself back out I went back to the house and explained the the lady, name of Claire 

That I could not get through the the window without injury to myself Claire said let me take a look

 with you she then said it beats doing the ironing.Watching this lady backing up a ladder

 sending one leg through the shower room window then folding herself in half and disappearing

 was some how Strange.

Anyway a big thank you to this lady for helping me and turning something stressful into fun.

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8 Finished

My next project is going to be a 2 string guitar which i am starting this weekend the box is a 1980 Gran Panatela box which is quite small but should look nice .

Had a really good weekend at a friends 70th birthday party at a local campsite his family were amazing and fun to be with the live band played nothing but 60/70s rock and roll all night .
this kept the swing of the party at full tilt right to the end. Free food was on offer this was not the normal type of buffet you would expect,it was top quality made by the head chef of the restaurant attached to the campsite.
Thanks to Ian and Sheila, Donna & Neil and the rest of the family for making me welcome I enjoyed
being in your company.

The Build on my 2 string cigar box guitar is starting to take shape now the neck is made from an old left over piece of floor boarding the type that's slots together, along with a small cigar box proper job from the 80s.
It has two new black tuning pegs with covered gearing and the strings are being fed into two rolled pins that are set at 45degs which pass though the tail piece lastly a piezo pickup with volume control.
If the Piezo sounds awful I will replace it with a single coil pickup
 As you should be able to see in the video I did change the Piezo for a single coil pick up and it does sound much better.

2 string and 1 string Diddley bow.

I am now in the process of making three fretted cigar box guitars which will be for sale on this blog  and my youtube channel Brick To Rubber for a fortnight and only offered to my subscribers each will come with a video of the guitar being made and will be personalised for the buyer.

Part one Video

Start of the first of my builds this one has a Romany Caravan theme on the front of the box
 

 Building these cigar box guitars is fun but I must say its starting to run costly wanting to put the best parts into the build for me is important. 
As i do want to pass on to the customer the best possible components, also for me knowing that I have done my best at this early stage in my guitar making venture.
Things will get better the more I make and the better the tools that I will be buying to make the end results much more polished and professional looking but importantly keeping that home made look and feeling to the guitar.

Part 2

 Part 3

Click the link below
Me talking about the first cigar box guitar I built.

Sept 2018

My New Project .

This is my new project for the the winter months its a guitar kit from Chickenbone john follow link below.
It a make your own Cigar Box Guitar Kit.



Chicken Bone John The Godfather of the cigar box guitar

 Taken From Chicken Bone John,s Web Page

Product Description

My best selling kit...now offered with a beautiful traditional genuine Nicaraguan cigar box. Everything you need to make your own 3 string cigar box guitar. All you need to add is some wood glue and materials for putting a finish on the neck. Everything else is included, and you only need a few basic tools to make your very own instrument. Comes with clear and simple step by step illustrated instructions.
This is the deluxe model - it comes with a slotted fretboard, frets and a single coil electric pickup.
Included in the kit are: Mahogany or cherrywood (subject to availability) neck blank and heel lamination blank - the headstock is already shaped to take the tuners. Open back machineheads, bushings and screws.
Blackwood Tek fingerboard, already pre-slotted. Fretwire (high quality Van Gent, made in the EU)
Internal fixing blocks. Walnut floating bridge with fretwire saddle and string spacing slots. Machine screw nut. Aluminium rivet string ferrules. Retaining screw and bushing. Screws for neck fixing and string guide.
Single coil electric pickup, "Alpha" volume and tone controls, tone capacitor, cream or black (subject to availability) Chickenhead control knobs. 1/4" Neutrik jack socket. Set of Zilpha Newtone hexcore custom gauge nickle strings and illustrated instructions.
The parts are the same top-notch quality as I use on my regular cigar box guitars.  The fretboard is pre-slotted, so your first venture into making a fretted guitar is made easy - all the hard work of measuring and slotting the fretboard is done for you (I slot my fretboards on a custom table saw rig using a CNC cut fret template for superb accuracy).
(Please note despite the name "Aroma de Cuba", the boxes are NOT Cuban, but are made in Nicaragua)


I will be looking forward to starting this and I will keep you posted with some Videos of my work in- progress.
This will be an interesting project for me especially with the lack of workspace and the lack of tools 
available I will not be able to sit outside as much in the winter months. The dust from sanding down the neck indoors would get everywhere that's enough to drive anyone mad.

Video Part 01 Opening the box.

 

Making my  Cigar Box Guitar Part 2

                                  

I meet up with a friend of mine Chris and his wife Trica, Chris has been following me on my blog for a few years now and they spend their holidays in Devon/Cornwall
I meet up with them last year at Davidstow Air Field, This year I drove down onto the Lizard to the Holiday park where they are spending three weeks on.
The Holaday Park Is Silver Sands and is found at Gwendreath.Ruan Minor. Helston Cornwall TR12 7LZ  ( www.silversandsholidaypark.co.uk).
As you know if you follow me on the blog am not really into campsites but I was really surprised with this one and really enjoyed my short stay.
Taking a short walk along a nice tree-lined path through a wooded area which ended at Kennack Sands  which was one of the cleanest beaches I've have seen, The aroma of bacon cooking tempted me over to a small tea bar on the beachfront where a bacon, egg and sausage butty along with a cup of tea was my second breakfast of the morning.
walking back the same route to the holiday park  I meet up with Chris and Trica and spent the next few hours chatting and putting the world to rights.
Chris spends his days when not holidaying in his workshop where he makes valve amps and cabinets and turns his hand to anything.
I noticed a  Boss sj music processor on the table and asked what you doing with this thinking it was a repair job he brought along with him.
It turns out he plays the guitar (in his words badly) bringing out a Squire Stratocaster and plugging into the Boss which is a bit like a teacher/trainer that has a load of preset effects and each style is attached to more than enough pre-loaded backing tracks he just blew me away with his playing.
Considering he like a lot of others cannot read music and knows nothing about what key he is playing in god it was good just watch the video to be added into Oct 2018 page and you will see.
Also turns out to be a good cook as well I was treated to a very good freshly made stirfry and a few nice bottles of beer along with a good few tunes this made my visit a wonderful few days.
I could Big this most unassuming man up all day about his abilities and talents one last thing Chris thank you for that Lipstick Guitar Pickup you gave me that will take pride and place on  one of my next Cigar Box Guitar project.
 Look out for the video in next months blog where you will see chris playing some mind blowing stuff.

August

The weather broke this week and the heavens opened up good style for the best part of four days. this wiped out the chance of doing another Car boot thus still carrying around some unwanted goods should really bin some of the stuff but all things will sell eventually.
 At the moment I'm suffering quite badly from some sort of ear infection this is really uncomfy to much noise is giving me a headache and making me feel sick if there is no noise i feel like I'm underwater. Got some ear spray (£8.00) from boots as could not find the old-fashioned ear drops. I am also using warm olive oil this is an old wife's trick that was used on us as kids i think it worked then not sure about now but will soon find out.
Because of this i have left the harmonica alone and only messing around with the guitar unplugged it might sound like am having a whinge but my head is really sensitive at the moment.
Had my wonderful friend and bro phone me this week which is something the lad does not do very often I was really pleased to hear from him, am only too glad to help you bro I think my mum would have turned in her grave if I had, not of.

Update on my health my ear infection has almost gone now it has taken the best part of four weeks to clear up but all is well I can get back to amping up my toys now.
I need to get back to making a few more videos and taking more photos, might be best to move onto new pastures in order to ignite my enthusiasm once more that is if I want to keep sharing my life with you all.
The biggest bugbear of doing the filming is the editing and uploading onto youtube finding a place where I can sit for the best part of a day like a pub or public library and getting good free WiFi. I did try with WIFI in the van but the cost involved out wayed the need by miles.
I have spent something like 1600 nights sleeping in a van now and still loving it, not had any real bad nights i did have one or two at first when sleeping on the setup that most vans have the sofa beds are far too uncomfy for anything more than two nights. having a fixed bed and a proper mattress is a must if travelling full time. Good shoes and a good bed should be high on any body's must-have list.

Keeping the bed and bedding away from any outside wall is a must but sometimes very hard to do with the limitations inside the van because of design or size the newer vans with drop-down beds are are a great idea. My bed is one of the couches which runs lengthways with a proper mattress and topper on. This is a permanently up at first i had the standard 36-inch wide mattress on but this gave me problems with body heat and the cold walls of the van which was causing the bedding to become wet not damp but really wet.
I solved the problem by getting a 30-inch wide mattress and placing empty plastic bottles in the six-inch gap giving me air space between the bedding and outside wall I have no issues with this set up at all.

While in bed my head is just level with the window and having the window set on the night-time opening is helpful in winter if you're having the heating on.
Another thing you will want to do to make sleeping or living a little comfier when parked up is to make sure your van is reasonably level if this is not practical for you to do use foam strips or cushions to level the bed by placing them under the mattress.

I do find staying cooler in the summer a damn sight harder than staying warm in the winter especially this year at any rate.

Sat in a Subway Having a surprisingly good breakfast roll and a good cup of coffee never been a fan of this type of eatery but must admit its a lot better than I thought it would be.cont aug I got this off e-bay it looks nice and the bidding was low when the guitar arrived it looked ok at first, after messing with it for about an hour the cigar box which was only hot glued on became loose from the neck. It was glued to the inside top of the box this stops the body of the guitar, in this case, the cigar box from vibrating and giving some reverb to the sound which made it practically useless as an acoustic. Also, the neck is 3 mm wider over the 8.9.and 10th fret along with the grove that holds the nut being at a slight angle admittedly it plays well when plugged in. The tone and volume control on the guitar which controls the twin piezos where either on or off. The three small sound holds on the front are nice and look good but ineffective due to the lack of acoustic sound coming from the guitar itself But I do like the look of the guitar so I'm going to make some changes to make it more playable that's the plan anyway. First thing will be to make the cigar box a little wider put some sound holes on the back of the box and turn the front ones into one long oblong sound hole. I intend to change the Piezos for a humbucker style pickup and change the bridge.

A nice new clean Subway in Bude

The start of September will be the start of my fourth year out in this van and I am so looking forward to the next 12 months not too sure if I will be moving about all over the place or just going to another area and staying there as long as possible you just have to make sure you move around in your chosen area enough not to annoy the natives too much. Once they know your not a threat to them and not throwing your rubbish all over the place they do seem to take an interest in you and the way you live.

Almost all the people I have got to know while out on the road like the idea of living on the road themselves but all seem to find a reason why  they cannot its normally to do with other family members also you get a lot of questions like how do you keep clean and what about washing your clothes plus it must be cold in the winter or what do you do when it dark outside.
Well if I need to answer that for you reading this I will
Your Family will only ever be a phone call away, We do have showers some even have built-in washing machines, and most have blown air central Heating, And when its dark outside I do the same things you do go the pub or stay in and watch the telly.

If you really are interested in this lifestyle get out and talk to people go for a walk on the local waterways your find loads of helpful full-time boaters that will spend some time to tell you the ups and downs of there way of life.
Same applies when you see motorhomer,s but make sure they are true full-timers and not the Oh yea were full-timers but go back home every month to do the washing etc.
You can live totally off-grid other than having a contact address of some sort for your driving licence, tax and other legal requirements.

Getting goods and parcels delivered is getting easier now with all the drop off points and Amazon type lockers popping up all over the place.
Giving the lifestyle a practise run is a good idea this would help you iron out anything that might become a problem in the future I myself stayed in my van full time for over 12 months and only going back to the house to work on the computer.
I even went on holiday for the weekends and was never more than 5 miles away from the house sometimes I was only 1/2 a mile away at Anderton boat lift.
I would even use the laundrette which was no more than 50 mtrs from my house might sound daft, but this is something i would be doing for the rest of my days

Anderton Boat Lift In Cheshire I even slept in my tent just pasted the boat for a weekend.

The weather broke this week and the heavens opened up good style for the best part of two days. this wiped out the chance of doing another Car boot thus still carrying around some unwanted goods should really bin some of the stuff but all things will sell eventually. At the moment I'm suffering quite badly from some sort of ear infection this is really uncomfy to much noise is giving me a headache and making me feel sick if there is no noise i feel like I'm underwater. Got some ear spray (£8.00) from boots as could not find the old-fashioned ear drops. I am also using warm olive oil this is an old wife's trick that was used on us as kids i think it worked then not sure about now but will soon find out. Because of this i have left the harmonica alone and only messing around with the guitar unplugged it might sound like am winging but my head is really sensitive at the moment Had my wonderful friend and bro phone me this week which is something the lad does not do very often I was really pleased to hear from him, am only too glad to help you bro I think my mum would have turned in her grave if I had, not of. Update on my health my ear infection has almost gone now it has taken the best part of four weeks to clear up but alls well I can get back to amping up my toys now. I need to get back to making a few more videos and taking more photos, might be best to move onto new pastures in order to ignite my enthusiasm once more that is if I want to keep sharing my life with you all. The biggest bugbear of doing the filming is the editing and uploading onto youtube finding a place where I can sit for the best part of a day like a pub or public library and getting good free WiFi. I did try with WIFI in the van but the cost involved out wayed the need by miles. I have spent something like 1600 nights sleeping in a van now and still loving it, not had any real bad nights i did have one or two at first when sleeping on the setup that most vans have the sofa beds are far too uncomfy for anything more than two nights. having a fixed bed and a proper mattress is a must if travelling full time. Good shoes and a good bed should be high on anybody's must-have list. Keeping the bed and bedding away from any outside wall is a must but sometimes very hard to do with the limitations inside the van because of design or size the newer vans with drop-down beds are are a great idea. My bed is one of the couches which runs lengthways with a proper mattress and topper on. This is a permanently up at first i had the standard 36-inch wide mattress on but this gave me problems with body heat and the cold walls of the van which was causing the bedding to become wet not damp but really wet. I solved the problem by getting a 30-inch wide mattress and placing empty plastic bottles in the six-inch gap giving me air space between the bedding and outside wall I have no issues with this set up at all. While in bed my head is just level with the window and having the window set on the night-time opening is helpful in winter if you're having the heating on. I do find staying cooler in the summer a damn sight harder than staying warm in the winter especially this year at any rate. The weather broke this week and the heavens opened up good style for the best part of two days. this wiped out the chance of doing another Car boot thus still carrying around some unwanted goods should really bin some of the stuff but all things will sell eventually. At the moment I'm suffering quite badly from some sort of ear infection this is really uncomfy to much noise is giving me a headache and making me feel sick if there is no noise i feel like I'm underwater. Got some ear spray (£8.00) from boots as could not find the old-fashioned ear drops. I am also using warm olive oil this is an old wife's trick that was used on us as kids i think it worked then not sure about now but will soon find out. Because of this i have left the harmonica alone and only messing around with the guitar unplugged it might sound like am winging but my head is really sensitive at the moment Had my wonderful friend and bro phone me this week which is something the lad does not do very often I was really pleased to hear from him, am only too glad to help you bro I think my mum would have turned in her grave if I had, not of. Update on my health my ear infection has almost gone now it has taken the best part of four weeks to clear up but alls well I can get back to amping up my toys now. I need to get back to making a few more videos and taking more photos, might be best to move onto new pastures in order to ignite my enthusiasm once more that is if I want to keep sharing my life with you all. The biggest bugbear of doing the filming is the editing and uploading onto youtube finding a place where I can sit for the best part of a day like a pub or public library and getting good free WiFi. I did try with WIFI in the van but the cost involved out wayed the need by miles. I have spent something like 1600 nights sleeping in a van now and still loving it, not had any real bad nights i did have one or two at first when sleeping on the setup that most vans have the sofa beds are far too uncomfy for anything more than two nights. having a fixed bed and a proper mattress is a must if travelling full time. Good shoes and a good bed should be high on anybody's must-have list. Keeping the bed and bedding away from any outside wall is a must but sometimes very hard to do with the limitations inside the van because of design or size the newer vans with drop-down beds are are a great idea. My bed is one of the couches which runs lengthways with a proper mattress and topper on. This is a permanently up at first i had the standard 36-inch wide mattress on but this gave me problems with body heat and the cold walls of the van which was causing the bedding to become wet not damp but really wet. I solved the problem by getting a 30-inch wide mattress and placing empty plastic bottles in the six-inch gap giving me air space between the bedding and outside wall I have no issues with this set up at all. While in bed my head is just level with the window and having the window set on the night-time opening is helpful in winter if you're having the heating on. I do find staying cooler in the summer a damn sight harder than staying warm in the winter especially this year at any rate.

A few cans of beer and a fishing rod perfect 

My Van Parked up about 500 mtrs from my tent

This is my new toy

Nice but soon to be cannibalised

 The weather broke this week and the heavens opened up good style for the best part of two days. this wiped out the chance of doing another Car boot thus still carrying around some unwanted goods should really bin some of the stuff but all things will sell eventually. At the moment I'm suffering quite badly from some sort of ear infection this is really uncomfy to much noise is giving me a headache and making me feel sick if there is no noise i feel like I'm underwater. Got some ear spray (£8.00) from boots as could not find the old-fashioned ear drops. I am also using warm olive oil this is an old wife's trick that was used on us as kids i think it worked then not sure about now but will soon find out. Because of this i have left the harmonica alone and only messing around with the guitar unplugged it might sound like am winging but my head is really sensitive at the moment Had my wonderful friend and bro phone me this week which is something the lad does not do very often I was really pleased to hear from him, am only too glad to help you bro I think my mum would have turned in her grave if I had, not of. Update on my health my ear infection has almost gone now it has taken the best part of four weeks to clear up but alls well I can get back to amping up my toys now. I need to get back to making a few more videos and taking more photos, might be best to move onto new pastures in order to ignite my enthusiasm once more that is if I want to keep sharing my life with you all. The biggest bugbear of doing the filming is the editing and uploading onto youtube finding a place where I can sit for the best part of a day like a pub or public library and getting good free WiFi. I did try with WIFI in the van but the cost involved out wayed the need by miles. I have spent something like 1600 nights sleeping in a van now and still loving it, not had any real bad nights i did have one or two at first when sleeping on the setup that most vans have the sofa beds are far too uncomfy for anything more than two nights. having a fixed bed and a proper mattress is a must if travelling full time. Good shoes and a good bed should be high on anybody's must-have list. Keeping the bed and bedding away from any outside wall is a must but sometimes very hard to do with the limitations inside the van because of design or size the newer vans with drop-down beds are are a great idea. My bed is one of the couches which runs lengthways with a proper mattress and topper on. This is a permanently up at first i had the standard 36-inch wide mattress on but this gave me problems with body heat and the cold walls of the van which was causing the bedding to become wet not damp but really wet. I solved the problem by getting a 30-inch wide mattress and placing empty plastic bottles in the six-inch gap giving me air space between the bedding and outside wall I have no issues with this set up at all. While in bed my head is just level with the window and having the window set on the night-time opening is helpful in winter if you're having the heating on. I do find staying cooler in the summer a damn sight harder than staying warm in the winter especially this year at any rate.
 I got this off e-bay it looks nice and the bidding was low when the guitar arrived it looked ok at first, after messing with it for about an hour the cigar box which was only hot glued on became loose from the neck.
It was glued to the inside top of the box this stops the body of the guitar, in this case, the cigar box from vibrating and giving some reverb to the sound which made it practically useless as an acoustic.  Also, the neck is 3 mm wider over the 8.9.and 10th fret along with the grove that holds the nut being at a slight angle admittedly it plays well when plugged in. The tone and volume control on the guitar which controls the twin piezos was either on or off. The three small sound holds on the front are nice and look good but ineffective due to the lack of acoustic sound coming from the guitar itself but I do like the look of the guitar so I'm going to make some changes to make it more playable that's the plan anyway.
First thing will be to make the cigar box a little wider put some sound holes on the back of the box and turn the front ones into one long oblong sound hole. I intend to change the Piezos for a humbucker style pickup and change the bridge.

Humbucker Pickup

Now With The Humbucker In Place

Fitting the Humbucker meant cutting the neck inside of the box I will now have to strengthen the neck somehow. The next thing is to place the Bridge you can see four small pin  holes around the bolt this is where the bridge will have to sit so it will mean shorting the sound hole and cutting into the neck again to place a brace to take the bridge. The other two holes are where the volume and tone control knobs went so I need to do something to these as well.

Nice New Bridge and tailpiece.

Slowly but surely 

I have finished the guitar now watch the video below i did most of this with just a juinor hack saw and a small welding vice plus a craft knife screwdriver and a hot glue gun.
I think it looks better and sounds better but then I would would,nt I the weight in the box now having a few braces in gives it an even balance with the neck.

off e-bay it looks nice and the bidding was low when the guitar arrived it looked ok at first, after messing with it for about an hour the cigar box which was only hot glued on became loose from the neck. It was glued to the inside top of the box this stops the body of the guitar, in this case, the cigar box from vibrating and giving some reverb to the sound which made it practically useless as an acoustic. Also, the neck is 3 mm wider over the 8.9.and 10th fret along with the grove that holds the nut being at a slight angle admittedly it plays well when plugged in. The tone and volume control on the guitar which controls the twin piezos where either on or off. The three small sound holds on the front are nice and look good but ineffective due to the lack of acoustic sound coming from the guitar itself But I do like the look of the guitar so I'm going to make some changes to make it more playable that's the plan anyway. First thing will be to make the cigar box a little wider put some sound holes on the back of the box and turn the front ones into one long oblong sound hole. I intend to change the Piezos for a humbucker style pickup and change the bridge.