Reused Guitar String Boxes

Hydroman52
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:52 am
Status: Offline

Sat May 14, 2011 9:39 pm

One evening this last summer, I was playing guitar and drinking a beer. Not wanting to leave a water ring on the wood table, I grabbed the nearest thing to put under it so I could keep on playing and not go searching for a coaster. It turned out to be a guitar string box that I hadn’t discarded, yet. Then I forgot about it. A few days later, a friend came over and we had a beer. I just grabbed a couple more of the boxes to use for the sweaty cans. He made a comment . . . . . . something like “Cool coasters” and that’s when the light bulb went on. He was right, they are extremely cool, especially for the music room.

So here is my contribution for Tony’s post of the week challenge.

Do-It-Yourself Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Coaster Instructions (in photos – it’s kind of self explanatory).

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess! What will you do with all this junk?

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 1

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 2

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 3

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 4

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 5

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 6

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Step 7

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Relax, you're done!

Artsy-Fartsy Guitar String Box Mess Solution - Hidden treasures for the curious mind!

Additional thoughts . . . . thoughts . . . . . thoughts . . . . . .

No bad experiences on my end so far, and, if you do this, you can feel good about saving the planet by recycling one guitar string box at a time. HA! I've also thought of attaching some old worn out strings and picks to them to sort of authenticate them more. I'm always changing strings, so I have a bazillion of these lying around. I'm thinking of stuffing a few inside my pockets next time I go to a concert . . . . . maybe I can get some big important celebrity to sign them. Now that would be a conversation piece!

WARNING! If you get the kids involved, you may want to use something besides super-glue or they (the kids) may wind up stuck to each other, or the pets, or the refrigerator, etc. You get the idea.

Now for the fine print and usual disclaimers . . . always check materials to see if there will be any ink bleeding or other damaging effects . . . .blah blah blah . . . . . . . this is not an endorsement for any products . . . . . blah blah blah blah . . . . . your results may vary . . . . . . . .. blah blah blah . . . . . . this is just what I do sometimes and it doesn’t seem to be a crime.

Enjoy,

Hydroman52


michelew
Posts: 87
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:43 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia
Status: Offline

Sat May 14, 2011 10:34 pm

Hydro's table - 1, Environment - 1. It's a win:win.

Damn and I changed strings yesterday but didn't save the packaging - recycled instead.

Very cool B) - but I can't see my MRS going for it in the lounge room.

Very resourceful and creative

M.


Chasplaya
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:41 pm
Status: Offline

Sat May 14, 2011 10:46 pm

Cool idea, you could also laminate them, they'd last a wee bit longer too.


suziko
Posts: 0
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:37 am
Status: Offline

Sun May 15, 2011 6:59 am

As someone with a weakness for crafting, I LOVE this idea!! I'd use a hot glue gun, though. After getting a piece of plastic from my refrigerator stuck to my finger, I am a bit afraid of super glue (thank goodness for acetone or it would still be there!).

The nice thing is that after they start to look a bit shabby, you can still recycle them!

Suzi


willem
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:53 am
Status: Offline

Sun May 15, 2011 7:17 am

Do they work with an heineken on it???? or an blond Leffe..


dennisg
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:34 am
Status: Offline

Sun May 15, 2011 8:22 am

I think most guitar companies throw away the soundhole wood that they cut out of the top of the guitar. Taylor saves all the soundhole wood, then they stamp their logo on the round pieces, and give them away to the folks who take the tour. Nice to have a little sitka spruce coaster sitting around. Seems like someone could do a decent business collecting the soundhole wood from Martin, Taylor and Gibson, and then selling them.

I'm pretty sure Cole Clark is the only company that keeps the soundhole wood but throws away the guitar.


User avatar
Music Junkie
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:17 am
Status: Offline

Sun May 15, 2011 8:54 am

Very cool idea. You have got me thinking now...... I like Chas' idea about laminating as well.

J


Chasplaya
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:41 pm
Status: Offline

Sun May 15, 2011 1:21 pm

dennisg wrote:
I think most guitar companies throw away the soundhole wood that they cut out of the top of the guitar. Taylor saves all the soundhole wood, then they stamp their logo on the round pieces, and give them away to the folks who take the tour. Nice to have a little sitka spruce coaster sitting around. Seems like someone could do a decent business collecting the soundhole wood from Martin, Taylor and Gibson, and then selling them.

I'm pretty sure Cole Clark is the only company that keeps the soundhole wood but throws away the guitar.
And by golly gee the best sounding soundhole wood on the planet, plus no maintenance required, no truss rodd no Nut or saddle to worry about, very easy to take on United Airlines without a worry about luggage handlers and bets of all No strings attached!


Hydroman52
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:52 am
Status: Offline

Mon May 16, 2011 10:37 pm

Hey everyone,

Glad you are liking this. Whew! Whenever I have a beer, I usually come up with really stupid ideas. When I first posted this, I had just finished a half of a beer, so I thought it was at least half-stupid.

Michelle – Win:win is always good. I was a bit worried that the string company wouldn’t take to kindly to this. After all, what company wants their product associated with a half-stupid idea (see above). But, as you can see, they encourage this sort of behavior.

CF Martin license to be creative.


Chas – Laminating? Good idea . . . . . wish I’d have thought of that . . . . . but then I had already had a half of a beer (refer to my half-stupid comment in response to Michelle above).

Suzi – Hot glue gun? Good idea . . . . . wish I’d have thought of that . . . . . but then I had already had a half of a beer (refer to my half-stupid comment in response to Chas above).

Willem – Your question prompted me to initiate some field testing. So, in the interest of quality control and assurance of international compatibility I made up a bunch of coasters and went out with some friends to perform an intense scientific study. Photographic evidence follows.

As you can see from this first photo, the coasters will work with New Glarus Totally Naked Ale (tap beer in the mug on the left) and a standard Diet Pepsi (the designated driver’s drink on the right).

Totally Naked and Diet Pepsi test.


This second photo proves that there is no compatibility issue with New Glarus Spotted Cow Ale (on the left) and an undisclosed mixed drink with a translucent tinge (on the right).

Spotted Cow and undisclosed mixed drink with translucent tinge test.


They performed flawlessly with Leinenkugel’s Creamy Dark Ale, too.

Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark Ale test.


We were trying to answer your original questions . . . . . . will they work with 1. Heineken 2. A blonde 3. Leffe. I’m afraid that we weren’t able to answer 1 and 3, but we did find a blonde, and they worked with her as you can see by the refill of the undisclosed mixed drink with the translucent tinge.

Blonde test.


Oh, and it also works with Lilja Hop Nest Monster Ale (. . . . . for Wisconsin Cheeseheads). It’s in front of the blonde in case you missed it.

I’m sorry my friend, I may have let you down on not being able to answer part of your question, so you might want to make up a few of your own and try them out for yourself on the Heineken and Leffe. But remember, we already know that it works with blondes, so in order to not duplicate the effort, you might want to try it on a red head or brunette.

Dennis – Now be nice to our good friends down under. Actually, I would be very interested in playing a Cole Clark soundhole.

J – Sometimes thinking can be dangerous. Thanks for the comment.

Chas (again) – HA! Touche!


A couple of other notes . . . . .

I did ask for permission to post the torsos in the photos, so don’t worry about that.

These things are quite the icebreakers with other guitarists. I found two new ones when they saw them and asked who played guitar. These things are instantly recognizable by other musicians (added bonus if you're trolling for players!).

Thanks for the comments.

Hydroman52


haoli25
Posts: 0
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:06 am
Status: Offline

Mon May 16, 2011 10:55 pm

Good idea Hydro. I have a suggestion for you. Rather than using super glue or hot glue, how about some double-sided to tape to stick them together, then dip the whole thing into some polyurethane. When it dries it will be water resistant and should last forever.

Bill


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic