cigar box guitar heaven

since i can't share with you the quilt i've been working on (it's a holiday present and i don't wanna spoil the surprise), i thought i'd share my latest musical acquisition instead. earlier this year i commissioned an extremely talented english luthier to build a very special cigar box guitar for me.

i asked him to use a vintage cigar box with an interesting design, electrify it, make it convertible from 3 to 4 strings (hence the two little brass screws above the base string and extra notches in the bridge and nut....very clever solution on his part!)...(also note back in the first pic the fret markers....those are made from salvaged vintage bone piano keys and a great amount of the wood is salvaged from old furniture)...

i asked him to carve a blossom and a skull on the custom bridge...

i sent him sketches and photos of my tibetan monk's skull tattoo and asked him to stylize it for the hand carved heel...

and to include some tibetan clouds and more blossoms...

then i asked him to carve some stylized tibetan clouds on the headstock...

he did some very creative layering of woods to give the instrument fine detailing.

now, we decided to not actually ship this beauty across the pond until after the holiday madness subsides (for safety's sake), but flatfoot johnny made this wonderfully teasing video to stoke the flames of my desire and longing... in it he describes the many features, gives a lot of close up views and plays it both accoustically and amplified!



ooooh.....i can hardly wait to coax my own music!!

namaste'