Musical Stuff I've Built

Please, click on the links below each pic for more info.

Original Kodakaster

My First Acoustic 3-string Canjo Build 

250 Watt GE TV Set Cabinet Combo Amp  

Left Handed Kodakaster 2 Acoustic Canjo

The Dymaxion Film Can Combo Amp/Speaker

shown with Kodakaster 1 piezo pup upgrade and Berringer preamp

 

Kodakaster 3 with Flatpup Humbucker UpGrade

 Kodakaster 4 Sapele Gold 3-String Canjo

 Utah Plates 4-String Tenor Electric Guitar

 Kodakaster Duo 4-string Electric Canjo

Kodak Film Can Snare Drum

Padron Cigar Box Kalimba with Platpup Humbuckers Upgrade

The String Section

From right to left:
- Kala Solid Swamp Ash California Ubass
- Fender Acoustic Electric Dreadnaught Guitar
- Cigar Box Electric Guitar built by Milton Cable
- 4-string Kodacaster Duo Humbucker Canjo*
- Gibson SG Special Bass
- Fender Telecaster Custom Guitar
- 4 string Utah License Plate Electric Guitar*
- '64 Fender DuoSonic Guitar
- 3-string Kodacaster 4 Electric Canjo *

In Front:
- Kala Concert Ukulele

*instrument built by me

Canjo Upgrade

I decided to replace the disc piezo pickup on the inside of my Kodakaster 3 Canjo with a Flatpup4 U hand-made by Elmar Zeilhofer in Vienna, Austria, and specifically designed for the bridge position. This is my third flatpup from Elmar and each one is a vast improvement over a piezo electric pickup with warmer tones, more punch, and, since piezo pickups work by picking up vibrations (sound waves), no annoying handling sounds from touching the metal surface of the old film cans I use to make canjos as they are played.

The Flatpup 4 (meaning flat pick up) is that copper-colored rectangle glued to the top of my canjo. Most conventional humbuckers are much thicker and require a hole cut into the instrument's surface to mount under the strings, while Elmar's flatpups are only 4mm thick and are easy to attach using glue, or a few small screws if you purchase one in a frame. Humbuckers are a type of electric guitar pickup that use two copper coils to cancel out the electrical interference commonly picked up by single coil pickups, Being magnetic, they capture mechanical vibrations of steel strings through the magnetic field produced by the humbucker, and convert them to electrical signals that are then amplified or recorded.

The Flatpup4 U design is a new configuration of Elmar's flatpups that, while more difficult for him to make, take advantage of its position near the bridge on the face of the canjo. If you want an explanation of the physics behind why this happens, please contact Elmar. He builds them and I merely use them because they sound so great on my canjos.

For more about Elmar and his flatpups, go to his page on Cigar Box Nation at:

www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/ElmarZeilhofer

Thanks

In the three years I’ve been lucky enough to be back into playing stringed instruments, I have been fortunate to amass quite an eclectic collection.

Starting from the left:

1. Kala California Ubass (more bass, less space) 
2. Utah Plates Electric 4-String Guitar
3. Fender Telecaster Custom Guitar
4. Fender CD60CE Acoustic/Electric Dreadnought
5. Fender 1964 DuoSonic Guitar
6. Cigar Box Guitar by Milton Cable
7. Kala KA-CG Acoustic Concert Ukulele
8. Kodakaster4 3-String Electric Canjo

Note: Click on the links above to read more about each instrument.

I am finding that each one brings me happiness through playing them in their own individual way. I try to practice at least once a day with one or more of these instruments. Along with all my great family members, friends, experiences, and occurrences in my life, I find it particularly meaningful and humbling to recognize, especially during the holiday season, the many advantages, both spiritually and physically, that I have had.

In short, I've got it made and I know it.

I hope you all have a wonderful time this holiday, and see that most of us have much to be thankful for.

Flatpup4 - U

I'm happy to report that I received another Flatpup4 Humbucker in the mail today from Elmar Zeilhofer in Vienna, Austria, but this one is a new model Elmar has designed for use specifically in the bridge position of guitars. I am very excited to try this out and see how it works, or rather listen to how it sounds on my Kodakaster4 3-string canjo and the Utah Plates 4-string guitar. If the previous Flatpups I have purchased from Elmar are exemplary of his expertise, this new model should be very hot, warm sounding, and full-toned when amplified and with no hum, of course.

His flatpups are perfect for application to the outside of any electric guitar (or one that you want to make electric) since they are only 4mm thick and require no modification of the surface to which they are attached besides a very small whole to put the two power wires through.

I am honored that Elmar wants me to report to him how this new U-model sounds since it is a new addition to his line of very cool inventions, Flatpup Humbuckers. Of course, I will also report my findings here on my blog.

Stay tuned, Boys and Girls. The fun continues!