With no practical experience, I blindly craft away.

It shall be called The Coon Box. The reason should be obvious.

Whenever the tuning keys and strings arrive, I will finish it all up. I ordered a Danelectro HoneyTone amp so I can sit in my garden and annoy the neighbors. I can’t wait.

 

The talented Shelley Rickey got me all inspired when I saw her homemade diddley bows. I did some digging around the net for some more info on these cool instruments. I also got some great info from Shelley on how she crafted hers. Here is my first, the Sneaky Snake.

The nut is a pig tooth. The tuning key is the cheapest Morrison Brothers Music sells about $7. The current string is a banjo string I scammed from Austin. The wood is a pre-cut piece of poplar from Lowes. About $4.

The bridge and pickup is an old Altoids tin with a piezo element and female phone jack totaling about $8 if you include the Altoids.

By its self, it sounds a little weak but hook this sucker up to an amp and WOW! You can get a dirty blues crunch like you wouldn’t believe. I play like a 5 year old so I will let Steve show you how its done.

Now, I’m working on a 2 string cigar box guitar. Photos to come.

 

Amazing to think this is just one guy. Listen to the rest of it here.

 

Notice the slit in his comb.

 

Last week, I gushed about my new garden sink, full of history and a LOT of rust. I just love it. Wyatt and I ground off as much rust as we could without sand blasting it. After some research online, I found Rust Bullet and coated the top side with it’s rust inhibiting goodness. I am hopeful after the 72 hour curing time, it will at least be suitable to wash vegetables off and such as that. If nothing else, it sure looks better. Time to dress it up with a nice pad to stand on and it will be a great work area.

Old rusty sadness

Newer silvery grey goodness

 

Today’s favorite song. Joe Buck – Demon In My Head. This is real country music.

 

Little okra seedlings. Precious little babies growing in an old tire.

 

Paw Paw gave me this old galvanized sink. It used to sit behind his county house. We used it to wash vegetables, butcher rabbits and geese. All kinds of stuff. Wyatt is hard at work sanding all the rust off. I ordered some Rust Bullet to coat the top with. Supposedly, it will stop the rust process and completely seal it from ever rusting again. We shall see. Reviews online are good. I almost wish I could leave it looking just the way it is. It’s beautiful!

 

Ok, its time I got off my butt and learned how to weld. If you’re driving on 471 in Brandon, Mississippi, you will see these huge (about 6 ft.) metal chickens on the side of the road. I stopped by yesterday to take a closer look and get prices. This old dude has chickens from $650 to $150. Holy CRAP, that’s expensive. The lowest priced one was only a foot tall. Dude, I’ve got a foot tall chicken already and she even spits out eggs! Anyway, I’ve got to start making this great stuff for myself. Just look at that gorgeous bird!

 

What a great night of shrimp, corn and other veggies. Larry made a whistle out of his cob. I am waiting on my song.