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 .