Poor Man's Guitar

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.  

You have 24 hours left to save big on cigar box guitars and the Stubby Bottle Slide.  See the whole sale here.  LINK

If there was truly a modern version of jug band, Blue Man Group would be the Metallica of the genre.  Along with other theater acts, Recycled Percussion and Stomp!, the three guys with blues heads are creating contemporary tribal music performed on wildly creative homemade instruments.

My own experience with going back to church and trying to walk closer with God all started because of a really good worship band. The sermons were ancillary, but eventually did its job.

I heard Heaven in little country church somewhere in Southern York County, Pennsylvania, 25 years ago... 

TODAY'S FIVE COOL THINGS REVISITS THE MIGHTY SWAMPWITCH GUITAR COMPANY, built by someone only known as Anonymous Pick.

I've blogged about Pick before, even showing off a cool Wesseh-inspired three string in this video.

Swamp Witch guitars all feature…

TODAY'S FIVE COOL THINGS is a look back at some unique sound hole ideas that came out of my shop over the last several years.

WHY HAS NOBODY EVER MENTIONED that Bo Diddley's rectangle guitar is one of the most comfortable electric guitars ever built?  

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, MY WIFE MELISSA GAVE ME a cheap clip-on camera lens for my iPhone.  It had two settings: Fisheye and Macro.  The Macro lens allowed me to do some extremely close-up photography experiments.  One of my favorites was a study of my beat-to-hell macanudo cigar box guitar.  Here are five glimpses of an old friend.

I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND GUYS WHO COLLECT HIGH-DOLLAR BOUTIQUE GUITARS.  All my life, I've been fascinated by the cheap, bizarre and downright weird guitars that were sold in department stores in the 1950's and 60's.  I've owned dozens and…

TODAY'S FIVE COOL THINGS INCLUDE some behind-the-scenes set up details for creating the latest display of the Cigar Box Guitar Museum inside Speal's Tavern, located in New Alexandria PA.  

ONE OF THE CRAZIEST EBAY FINDS I EVER SCORED was this original photo of a ladies homemade instrument orchestra.