590 results for 'have tale'

A railroad traveler, who whistled while he worked for food, inspired the name of this handmade musical instrument.Since Ben "Gitty" Baker wrote the book, The Legend of the Hobo Fiddle, friends of Gitt

Early in the summer of 2021, I embarked on a two-week 8,400-mile solo journey around America by train. This adventure was equal parts post-modern walkabout, mid-life crisis, and long-awaited escape af

A vacant school in a small Pennsylvania town did more than provide shelter to hoboes: it inspired a work of art.In the handmade musical instrument community, you need not look far for a terrific tale

This past January I was out in Los Angeles for the winter NAMM show. NAMM is the National Association of Music Merchants, and it is the biggest music-industry trade show in the United States. I wrote

Using reclaimed materials is all the rage these days, and for a good reason. There is something inherently cool about taking an object that has already had a long useful life - like a roof joist from

There's nothing like a cluttered junk shop to set the handmade instrument builder's imagination to fizzing.  For me recently, that inspiration came in the aisle of an antique/junk/hardware store

I love junk. Not for its own sake, really, or out of any desire to accumulate it myself. I love junk because of its potential – the story of what it was, and the unwritten story of what it could

Reclaiming wood from old pallets to build cigar box guitars can be a satisfying endeavor. Giving new life to those cast-off hunks of wood is fun, but also involves some safety concerns. In this

“I’ve got something you’re going to want to see,” Merlin Miller said, as he entered my booth at the 2015 Huntsville Cigar Box Guitar Festival carrying a cardboard box.Merlin has been building cigar bo

Cigar box guitars have a long and storied history in popular music, and they have been used by a wide variety of musicians over the years. One of the most famous musicians known to have started on a c

Metal box corners come in a variety of styles and finishes. From low-profile surface-mount types to long-legged trunk corner styles, they are a great way to spruce up your homemade instrument build

I buy a lot of cigar boxes from a number of wholesale sources, including a couple of the biggest online and mail-order cigar companies in the country. Just last week a shipment of 5 pallets of empty b