Good day today......

Hey I hooked up with my friend Chris Paulick today. In case you don't know Chris, he is the
Mc giver of luthiery. He has all kinds of information and inventions on You Tube you should check out his stuff. Anyway, it was great to see him and catch up I had a chance to play his first guitar and man it was awesome. Really great job Chris .

After that I had to get back in the shop and get back at it..... Saturday is going to be here before I know it and Angel tells me that a lot of our friends are coming to the market to see what we have been up to. Of course the answer is pretty simple, building and more building. I have to say these CBG's are really a notch up from what I started out making. I hope they are well received and am looking forward to hearing some responses from people that I don't know. Mean while the internet interest continues to come in largely from the efforts of my friend Keni Lee's following and his outstanding videos with my CBG. Thank you Keni.... I know it's redundant
but I hope to see you at the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St. Pete. We will be there from 9 till 2.....

Saturday Morning Market / Keni Lee Burgess update

Well this coming weekend we will be at the Saturday Morning Market with the recent builds. Angel and I love this market and thought it would be fun to join in and show off some of the CBG's (who knows maybe even find a new home for one or two of them)

The band is going to be our new local favorite's the Urban Gypsies and I know we are in for a fun time. Hey come see us bring you green bags for the produce save a couple of bucks for lunch and don't forget your dancing shoes....

My friend Keni Lee Burgess has been pretty busy he has a couple of new videos out in as many weeks, this one was a nice holiday surprise (hey I wonder who made that CBG?)



I sure hope Keni finds some time to get back in the studio, you wont hear these old songs on the radio and it's pretty hard to get you tube in the car. If you haven't heard his first CD you can find it on E-bay under Keni Lee Burgess or let me know and I'll help you get a copy. Yes this is a plug for a friend of mind that is trying to keep a part of our cultural history alive.

Hey if you make it to the market come by and say hi....

Check out Keni Lee Burgess playing new CBG

Hey - check out Keni lee Burgess playing his CIGAR City CBG on youtube.... Keni does a great job proving these are in fact instruments..... Enjoy....

You'll see the guitar from the front on the video, I thought you might be interested in seeing the back.

Come see my work

Hey now have you been to the Saturday Morning Market in downtown St. Petersburg? What a cool event that Gail and the team put on. It's really a great way to spend a couple of fun hours. To call it a market runs the risk of not explaining that it is an event to be enjoyed. Produce, Food, Jewelry, Craftsman and Eco-friendly products all in an open air art show kind of environment. Don't let me forget to mention they always have some hip and very cool live music as well. Angel and I went last week and stayed for a couple of hours enjoying it all.

Mark your callendars for May 16th. Come to the market to get up close and personal with some of the Cigar Box Guitars that I have been building. I will also have wine bottle slides, Cigar Box Amps and Bottle neck guitar instructional cds from Keni Lee Burgess.... Should be a lot of fun come by and say hello....

New 3 String Resonator

I just finished a 3 string resonator guitar with an actual spun cone (designed for use in a ukulele). Looks great with Bocote fingerboard and 3 piece maple neck. I really took a lot of time when I carved this one, it kind of has a banjo feel very slim. Thanks to Pat Cook for mentoring me on this build. More information will be posted on the web site www.cigarcitycbgs.com

Well Cigar City CBGs is out of the box and up and running. Turns out that I have had hits from Germany and Brazil... Who knew! Must be because of Cigar Box Nation. Stop by and check out the information at www.cigarcitycbgs.com or the blog for cigar box guitars at www.cigarcitycbgs.blogspot.com.

Todd just found some great boxes that I picked up from him yesterday. I can't wait to hear how they turn out I really need to get on Martin's CBG. Should be fun to hear the mountain music he comes up with.... Take care

Cigar City CBG's

Well thanks to Keni Lee pushing me, I now have a new Web page dedicated to the sale of my Cigar Box Guitars. I like them, I enjoy playing them and the feedback has been very positive....
If you would like more information, check out Cigar City CBS's at www.cigarcitycbgs.com. You can also email me at J.Mitchell@cigarcitycbgs.com.

More to follow....

Okay the fun continues..... Kathy Jackson and I headed down to Ybor City to get some photos for the upcoming web site Cigar City CBG's and check out the Farmers market... Had a great time making new friends and doing our little part for the economy.. If you are in the market for some realy great fashion or decorating accessories you need to check out our new friend Barbara's great stuff..... bien50.com


It's a mail box, no wait it's a bread box.... no it's a trash can....

Hey man I don't know I just think it's very cool.... Did I mention that this graphic artist also paint cars...



next I had a chance to meet and speak with a Grand Master Cigar Maker. Wallace Reyes


So what does all of this have to do with building guitars? I have developed a strong interest in Cigar Box Guitars. These little works of art have significant historical importance, they are fun to build, more fun to play and within the reach of anyone that wants to play a guitar...It is much easier to keep track of there strings than six. They are like a Dulcimer except these have a cool factor... I mean come on Jimi Hendrix started playing on one of these and Buddy Guy stole some of his mom's screen wire to make a stick and can into his first guitar. So I am in the mind to start making some of these and selling them... Last point on the subject building CBG's is also allowing me to get my fretting and set up techniques down.... I'll keep you posted on the new web site and upcoming events to promote the sales of my CBG's. Here is a shot of No 6 it's just about ready to harvest.... As one of my gutiar nation friends says "it's almost right for the picking"....
Sorry I had to share that one...

A little distracted

Okay so this is what we're working with here.... Not long ago I had a cold and I was unable to sleep due to a cough.... So I was on the web looking for tuners for the OM and stumbled across a video on cigar box guitars... Tune them to an open cord and you're a slide playing blues man.... How cool is that? I think most of you know that I built one that day and now I'm going to be starting No. 8.... Back in that mix I was on the phone telling a couple of friends (Derek &Howard) about them and each of them wanted one so they became my first customers. Next my sister Kathy is telling me about this farmers market in St.Pete that is a very cool mix of farmers market - art show - party. We went and go checked it out over the weekend and now I am trying to get accepted as a vendor (for at least a couple of months). So the OM guitar building is on hold, but with good reason I am really working on my neck building, fretting skills and set up skills. Not to mention that I have to put together a brochure and website....

I have made friends with a guitar player teacher on youtube named Keni Lee Burgess. He is a fantastic player of old time music and delta blues. You need to check him out his CD is very nicely done and one of my new favorites. He sells his Cd's on Ebay just search Keni Lee. You can also check out some of his videos on You Tube. I should also tell you on his second video in his seres 4 CBG lessons he has a plug for my guitars. I am including one of his instructional videos with each on my guitars. Well that's my story for now and I am sticking to it.

These are great little instruments they are fun to make, sound cool and are really fun to play. If I can make a few of these to sell along the way that's even better.


Here is a shot of No. 7 it has 18 frets 22" scale oak neck with paduak fingerboard. It is a cake pan resonator model this picture was taken when I was setting it up the plastic is still on the drain cover. This is really a nice little instrument ( Hey I feel that way about all of them)...

CBG?????

Okay I am not gonna lie to you it's going to get a little strange (two dragons)..... Well it started out as a darn cold and a couple of Saturdays ago I woke up with the worst cough... I couldn't go back to bed so there I am 6 am and I am on Ebay looking for guitar tuners and I come across this video on CBG's (cigar box guitars) and hour or so later I know I want one.... This is a picture of the 2nd build... A lot of fun to make and play....

I love building guitars- It's so relaxing

Now that's a good looking fingerboard.... Oh, the binding looks good and the neck dots look nice, yep, let's see now 3,5,7,9,11 @#*&@^#!^ 11??????? What happened to 12? Bummer!

Neck and Fingerboard work

Well after repairing the cracked brace back to work on the neck. The following pictures clearly detail the significant influence John Mayes video on neck making and JJ Donohue's tutorial
http://luthiercom.org/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=459&sid=cf563bf1dfd228f95401f06b6f51bb18#p7458 on volute neck making have had on my process.



Maple binding .25" x .06" glued and taped to the fingerboard working towards the outer edge.


Detail showing what John calls his crossbow. (the binding was actually longer to ensure go contact at edge).


Pretty straight forward shot detailing taped binding.


Close up of binding on fingerboard.


Fiber headstock next step is to route channel for nut.