Archive for December, 2015

Time to take it apart

Sunday, December 20th, 2015

Also known as Take Apart Day

Only Qualified Personnel can open this

Seems like fun too! The above item the little girl is digging into is from a high voltage power supply for an ionization gauge control. I think I had this thing in my garage since 1985.

Poudre River main library

This is where one of the events happened. I had gathered enough junk for everyone to have an evening of take apart excitement. Jeanne liked the idea that the garage finally let go of a few items we never needed in the first place.

Sewing Machine

Lots of gears and motors in this thing.  The guy at the sewing machine repair store gave this one to me. It seems that some of the newer machines are not worth fixing…

Tool Girls

I still had an old IBM PC with a 10MB hard drive in one of the bedrooms that hadn’t been turned on since 1984. Note that the participants are free to take any parts home to make whatever they want with them.

Everything is in pieces

And now what? Well, I am grateful that the local Best Buy store will freely take boxes full of electronic parts for recycling so I don’t have to worry about it. (OK, I did take a few parts home just because. Don’t tell Jeanne)

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CBGSIG Part First

Monday, December 14th, 2015

Yet another Special Interest Group: CIGAR BOX GUITARS

Jim says “All you need is a stick and a cigar box”

Oh, some other parts too, and a few tools would be handy


So, What is a Cigar Box Guitar?

1) They might say it’s a Primitive Chordophone with a Cigar Box resonator with the first ones made around 1870.

2) It could have one or more strings– it’s up to you.

3) Does not have to be made from a cigar box

4) There is some kind of revival going on!

2014 Annual Ride across Iowa known as the RAGBRAI

Cigar Box Links to get ya started:

Chicago CBG Festival – HERE

York PA CBG Festival – HERE

FLA CBG Festival – HERE




Floating bridge kit – HERE

Making a CBG using hardware store parts – HERE

Shamus easy method – HERE


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Pianos About Town

Saturday, December 5th, 2015

Free Piano Parts:

Old Pianos get repurposed

The Pianos About Town program is ongoing. That means after time the pianos get banged on so much that they no longer hold their tune for more than a day and a half. These old pianos are not worth fixing and since there are other donated pianos to take their place, we get to take them apart and keep the goodies… whatever that might be.

It’s a Rabab

An old style Central Asian musical instrument that is usually played with a bow. In this particular example it is a cigar box rebab for demonstration purposes only.

Tuning head

The parts of the neck and head are from the white key from a piano while the tuning peg heads are from black keys. The white part of the key is plastic (I haven’t seen real ivory keys in years) and the dark wood is ebony.

Rebab bridge

In this picture, the bridge is made from another piano key. This will be replaced with a curved bridge in the future of the instrument might actually be played like a rebab.

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Tony in the House!

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

At the Disco Museum:

The CSU President

Need I say more?

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