Cigar Box Guitar

This White Owl cigar box was hiding on a high shelf at one of our favorite shops. Mr. Relic has an increasingly sever addiction to stringed instruments and had decided to try to convert a beloved cigar box of his Gramp's in to a cigar box guitar. Mrs. Relic spotted this box and they decided it was better to do a test run on a less sentimental piece before cutting holes into Gramp's.

Mr. Relic carved the neck and headstock out of oak. The saddle is a part of a door hinge and the sound holes were new grommets that were "aged" with heat and linseed oil. Two pietzos inside make it electric.

[acq. 4/8/12 - $8, guitar completed 5/8/12]

Unknown Instrument (Serbian Gusle?)

This unknown instrument called us to a new shop today. Carved goat headstock, natural skin drum head with (6) 1/4" sound holes appears to have marks from a missing bridge. There's also a central hole in the neck for a missing tuning peg, ?single-string? It's 33' long with a round back that has a cross shaped sound hole We've got a facebook message into an ethnomusicoligist to indentify (?Iktar, ektar?), will update if we identify it.

Update 3/17/12: Mrs. Relic's facebook friend did not know where the instrument was from. She guessed a dutar from Afganistan or mongolia (not her specialty) but had never seen them with the skin drum, nor carved headstock. She graciously tagged several of her West Asian focused ethnomusicologist friends. One of those friends was able to identify it as a Gusle from the Balkans. The Gusle is a one or two stringed instrument played with a bow. It is normally used as accompaniment for the recitation of sung epic poetry. How exciting, we can now try to fabricate the bridge, tuning peg and bow, we also have a lead on acquiring the gut or horse hair strings.

[acq. 3/9/12 - $20]

Head stock, straight-on

Headstock 3/4 view

Front full view

Tabletop Record Player

Columbia 360 record player. Originally was blonde wood but has been poorly painted black. It works!

[acq. 1/14/12 - $15]

The inside shows the original finish.

This close up shows the horrible black paint job. We've decided to try to refinish it.

It plays 78s, so we can try some of the old records from the farm.

The name 360 apparently comes from these side speakers which fill the room with sound in 360 directions!

Removable 45 spindle.