Kodakaster 4 - Sapele Gold

I saw this 35mm bulk film can for sale on eBay a few weeks ago and had the thought that the gold color might be a nice color contrast with Flatpup humbucker that I wanted to try with my next canjo build. So, I went online and bought the gold can (the buy now option), and the hand-wound copper wire humbucker made and sold online by Elmar Zeilhofer in Vienna, Austria.

The film can arrived here first and, since I already had stained and polished the dark red, mohogony-like sapele wood neck from C. B. Gitty, I began assembling my next Kodakaster 3-string electric slide canjo, my fourth attempt since I began building them 6 months ago.

The humbucker arrived here in Asheville from Austria a few days ago and the first thing I did was glue it into place on the top of the film can under where the strings would be strung above it. The glue took about 72 hours to cure and since we have been having thunder showers almost without stop for about three weeks, I figured I'd better give the glue a few extra days to harden because of the unusually high humidity we are experiencing in the Blue Ridge Mountains this summer.

This morning, I wired the pup to the electronics, installed the strings, plugged it in and fired up my newest Kodakaster through my little Fender Rumble 15 bass practice amp. It really sounds great with a more full-frequency spectrum from the humbucker than from the other piezo pickups that I used for two of my first three Kodakasters. It amplifies the slide chords without any hum or feedback and has a very clean, bluesy tone.

And, I think my Kodakaster 4 looks pretty cool, too.

Live and learn, eh? Onward!

The Dymaxion Film Can Combo Amp/Speaker

“Do More with Less” was an admonition from the late, great educator, philosopher, architect, and design scientist/futurist R. Buckminster Fuller who, among his various inventions in the last century, included practical applications of the geodesic dome.

The word Dymaxion, a brand name that Fuller used for several of his inventions, is a portmanteau (a combination of two or more words and their definitions, into one new word) from the words dynamic, maximum, and tension.

This brand name was needed for Fuller's first architectural model of a synergistically designed single family dwelling, later known as the Dymaxion house. He also used the word for many of his other futuristic inventions including the Dymaxion house, the Dymaxion car, and the Dymaxion World Map.

As a very-much lesser inventor myself, and having a need for a inexpensive, simple,  portable, battery-powered combo speaker/amplifier to use with my other “invention”, the 3-string film electric canjo I call the Kodakaster, I decided to try to use another larger film can similar to one I used for the canjo (this one 14 inched in diameter) in the spirit of  the modern mantra, “recycle - reuse”.

My thinking was that I might find some way to turn the empty metal film can to my purposes by applying a so-called tactile transducer inside the can. I had to look no further for such a devise than the wonderful online store, Parts Express. The Dayton Audio QEX19 Quadpod Self-Amplified Sound Exciter fit my purposes perfectly since it is small and relatively inexpensive at $18.90. As the Parts Express site proudly declares, “the QEX19 Self-Amplified Sound Exciter turns virtually any solid object into a speaker by vibrating it at speeds of up to 20,000 cycles per second. Built-in amplifier allows you to put sound virtually anywhere!”

After consulting with a knowledgeable tech expert at Parts Express via email, I also purchased a Behringer PB100 Preamp / Volume Booster Stomp Box ($24.99) to boost the piezo pickup output from my Kodacaster canjo to match regular amplifier input of the Dayton Audio exciter.

My order from Parts Express arrived a few days later in the mail and I assembled my new canjo amp, which only took about 20 minutes since each electronic component was a self-contained module and the film can only needed a small hole to run the exciter’s wire through from the inside.

I inserted batteries into the two components, fired up my newest musical tool and, golly-bob-howdy, the sucker worked. 

Next, I built a short triangular stand from some spare wood sticks and hardware on-hand, plugged the canjo, going through the pre-amp, into the film can combo speaker and began evaluating the intensely funky sound of sliding open chords up and down the strings of my canjo’s neck.

But, I also noticed that the can produced a more pleasing tone if the bottom of it, where I had attached the exciter in the center of the inside, was facing forward toward where an audience would be. The only problem was that the bottom was completely clean without the old film laboratory label that was affixed to the top.

Then, it hit me. 

I had a decal/sticker that I'd gotten at a R. Buckminster Fuller exhibition at the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center in Asheville last year. It fit the bottom of the can, now facing forward, as if made for that purpose, and that’s when I thought of calling it the Dymaxion Film Can Combo Amp/Speaker.

Since I’m not planning to reproduce and market my canjo speaker, I don’t think The Fuller Foundation will bother to come after me for using the brand name, Dymaxion.

And, somehow I don’t think Bucky would mind either.

The Best Thing About Cigars

I can now say with confidence that If it’s good enough for Sir Paul, it’s good enough for me. But, "good" does take a bit of work to find.

I recently saw a YouTube clip from the recent Sandy Relief Concert on 12-12-12 with Paul McCartney and Nirvana performing Cut Me Some Slack. Sir Paul was jamming with a small, left-handed cigar box guitar sliding  chunky chords up and down the neck and rockin’ the house.

Thought I’d check out these relatively cheap but cool retro guitars, so I hit the internet trail in search of 3-string, hand-made cigar box guitars (or CBGs as I quickly found they are affectionately called).

I found there are many available online in various configurations and styles so it took me a few days of part-time perusing a variety of sites (including eBay and Etsy) offering a pretty fair selection. Some were acoustic and cheaply made - basically cigar boxes with little more than pine broom handle necks - while others offered multiple guitar-style pickups (pups) integrated into more rare and expensive cigar boxes with mahogany, walnut, or red oak hardwood necks. The prices I found online ranged from $89 to $500 on up.

So, never having even played a cigar box guitar, I thought to myself, “Self? Maybe you can find someone right here in North Carolina, even in or near Asheville, that makes CBGs by hand. You know, a crafty, wood-worker artisan. You should check one out yourself, Self.”  

Again, I turned to the miracle of the "internets" and searched online for such a person quickly finding one that fit the bill perfectly.

His name is Milton Cable and he lives a bit less than 20 miles from my house. His well-appointed web site convinced me that I should check him out as a source of hand-made CBGs. Anita and I visited him this morning and I happily bought one of his beautiful CBG creations (seen above).

Milton warmly welcomed us into his workshop and spent a bit over an hour with us answering all of our questions, trading stories about our families, and laughing heartily together quite a few times as I looked at and handled over a dozen of his wonderful handmade CBGs. Milton is one great guy and we are glad we met him. He also makes small guitar/CBG combo amps, rustic banjos, bows and arrows, lamps, rocking horses, tables, and chairs. He's even made a unique tenor ukelele from a tennis racket. If you want something made well from wood, Milton Cable is your man.

It was very hard to decide which one to take home since they all were beautifully hand-crafted by Milton, and each one sported individual features like volume and/or tone controls, various cigar boxes, fretted or non-fretted, some with resonators (integral vibrating metal features that transmit sounds unique to each design), some with piezo electric pickups and one with a Milton-made hand-wound guitar pickup.

The CBG Anita and I took home with us today is a piece of musical art that rings like a bell. It IS the one that incorporates the Milton-made hand-wrapped coil guitar "pup", a laminated, fretted walnut neck, laminated oak barn-wood head stock, tone and volume controls, a fine Ashton ESG 21 Year Salute Cigar Box from the Dominican Republic, metal hinge tail-piece, rustic bolts top nut and bridge, closed tuning machines, original paper labels, and a small, distinctive hardware plumbing drain cover on the face.

All in all, our trip out to see Milton and his wonderful Cigar Box Guitar creations was a great experience, AND I came away with a one-of-a-kind instrument that I'll have great fun learning how to play.

If you are in the market for a cigar box guitar, cigar box uke, or banjo, check out Milton Cable. If you don't live in western North Carolina, you can buy with confidence through his web site. His prices are very reasonable and you'll end up with a quality, original musical instrument made by a good, talented man.