I just got back from playing a great show in Maine in my friends' barn, called Beans and Bourbon. I'll post videos soon. I knew there might be folks there that might want some found-object instruments, so I made a couple to take with me. One of them is essentially the same as the very first instrument I built, which I have taken to calling the Ten Mile Banjo. This is the one I played at the Kennedy Center with Dance Exchange.
I learned something with this one: I tried using a bolt for the bridge, but it made for a very muted sound. I have seen several cigar box guitars ("cbg's" in the lingo of those who write about them on the internet) with a bolt as the bridge, but those have been electric. When they are acoustic it is a pretty bad choice. So I made a wooden one (oak, though I like pitch pine or maple better for bridges) and the difference in the sound was impressive. It sounds pretty good. I strung it with heavier strings than I did the 10 mile banjo, thinking that might make it louder, but it is about the same.
Here is what it sounds like:
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