Poor Man's Guitar

Ok, something has been bugging me lately about modern church music.  (And no, I'm not talking about the cliche'd Nashville instrumentation.)  It seems like everything is emo, music dictated solely by emotions... and mostly depression. 

Here's a unique piece of American history.  This Hollow Back Violin is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Invented by William S. Mount of Stony Brook, New York,

Hey all, it's Shane Speal.  I just wanted to let you know that StubbySlide.com will be back up and full of goodies in the very near future.  I had to temporarily close the doors as I worked to launch Poor…

Quick book reviews for DIY music fans: Afro-American Folk Arts & Crafts (1983 William Ferris) -

Excuse me while I disinfect my TV 

Can I rant for a second?  I promise to make it short... 

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  "God bless the mad scientist feature writers who wrote for science magazines!"  I'm always discovering more experimental instrument plans as I dig deep into guitarcheology.  Today's discovery is a set of plans for building an electric banjo, taken from Popular Mechanics, October 1970.

Merry Christmas, everybody!  The members of CigarBoxNation.com have just released their free download album, A Cigar Box Nation Christmas 2019 and I proudly have it hosted here on PoorMansGuitar.com, free for you.  

Thank you to Steve Trowbridge for compiling and…

My son, Shane Jr. (pictured above on drums) is a budding musician who is exploring as many instruments as possible. 

Yesterday, he came downstairs holding his acoustic guitar with an excitement in his face that is indescribable.  If he was a dog, his tail would be wagging off his butt!  "I just invented a new tuning on my guitar," he said and proceeded to show me a variation of an E7th open tuning. 

In my book, Making Poor Man's Guitars, I showed how legends can be built into an instrument.  This is when the builder starts thinking of some wild, fictional account of the instrument he's making.  

Just today, I received these photos and description of Gera's version of a cigar box guitar.  He asked himself, "what if a cigar box guitar originated in Brazil?"  Here's his full story:

I'm fascinated with the art of Church worship.  In my opinion, we could be doing so much more when it comes to creatively inviting people into the Throne Room of God.  Today, I started a Facebook group called Creative Worship in order to get new ideas for instrumentation and increasing the effectiveness of music in the Church.

Last week, PoorMansGuitar.com shared the full documentary, Songs Inside the Box.  (Watch it here.)  Today, we have an outtake from the 2007 concert featuring Shane Speal performing "Blue Raga" on a 3-string cigar box guitar and Timothy Renner backing him up on a cigar box tampura.

The award winning 2008 Max Shores documentary, Songs Inside the Box is now free to view below!  The concert and interviews were all filmed on site at the 2007 Alabama Cigar Box Guitar Festival in Huntsville AL.  Shane Speal is…

My entire woodship is in disarray as I pull everything out, reorganize and clean.  I spent over 6 hours just cleaning it as I prepare new projects made from a 1930's pipe organ I recently acquired.  During a 10 minute break in cleaning, I found the creative muse as I tried to find a place for a couple wheel barrow handles and a Coke crate.  

What can I say about this video?  As a guitar collector and musician, it leaves me heartbroken.  All these guitars were crushed by the tank tracks of a massive crane.   (video below...)

Why do we write love songs only about young love?  Why is it always about the "first kiss," "first glance," etc etc?  To me, the stories of old love are more interesting. 

Ed Stilley sings with his wife, Eliza.  Photo:  Still on the Hill.  

Ed Stilley was a prophet who fitted children with instruments of praise.  I've written about him in many articles (linked at the bottom of this blog) and stand in awe of the commitment he had to his calling.

Here's a cool little article from my archives.  Enjoy...

I love being in my woodshop.  It doesn't matter what I'm building, just as long as I can go out there, slowly clean an area up and then make something cool.