I started off making cigar box guitars, but quickly got involved in making other items as well. This page showcases my various guitars, amplifiers, stomp boxes, tamboxes (tm), and soup can microphones. Guitars I often bundle up guitars, amps, and other products as a package deal for sale on eBay. If you are interested in a bundle not currently offered, please contact me and I'll put something together for you.
Guitars
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Hand made magnetic pickup + piezo pickup combinationI recently made a pickup winding machine (50's vintage Sears sewing machine), and am now making higher end guitars available with mag AND piezo pickups included. This is not my first go at making pickups, but it is the first in what I hope to be a long line of guitars featuring both types of pickups. The tone on these hand made pickups is deep and grungy. Much more bass than a piezo pickup. The poles are rusted screws, to match the general vibe of my guitars. The innocent appearance of a simple beat up CBG is maintained since there is no big blocky pickup visible, but don't be fooled, the tone in far from innocent. All pickups are made by me in my shop in the USA, not mass produced in a foriegn country. For variation, I have installed both types of pickups, available in 3 switchable settings... mag pickup, piezo pickup, and both combined. The piezo setting is your traditional twangy higher treble sound. The mag setting is more of a deep, heavy-metal sound. The combination of the two very rich, and sounds FANTASTIC.
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MeadGuitars has teamed with international blues teacher, author, and musician Andi Saitenhieb to produce:
Give it a listen here.
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My amps are also made from cigar boxes, and most all have my beat-to-sh!+ finish.
I have made hundreds these amps to go with my cigar box guitars. This experience has helped me improve on the design, sound quality, circuitry, and robustness of these little amps. You are not getting someone's prototype or 6th build. The design is dialed in, and they are a solid product. Some of the buyers of my cigar box guitar packages liked the amp so much, they requested that I sell them by themselves.
No longer do you have to worry about being heard. Will there be electricity where were going? Think of the opportunities this amp will open up for you being so small, light, and self contained. Just toss it in the back seat and go.
Most all of my amps have the following features or attributes: Made from a small Cigar Box. Treated with my Beat to Sh!+ method. Looks beat up on the outside, but the box joints have been re-glued for added strength. Recycled leather handle held on with rusty screws. Looks like an old piece of 1940's vintage test equipment my father used in his day. Portable, uses 6 aa batteries providing hours of usage; Four times more playtime compared to a traditional single 9v battery. Solid rubber feet keep it from slipping around. Feet mounted on two sides. Point speaker down for more bass and full coverage. Point speaker out for more directional control. 4" 8 ohm, speaker with large magnet. Speaker cone is protected with black metal mesh. Blue power indicator light. Circuit is based on a common, low voltage design. Includes new batteries.
Some of the amps have a headphone output jack. The jack automatically switches from speaker to headphone when a jack is plugged in.
All amps come with a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter to plug in an mp3, smart phone, or other small music player and large assortment of picks including a thumb pick and a finger pick.
Simple amp One 1/4" input jack, a 1/4" output (headphone or other) jack, volume control. This is the amp that started it all for me. I used to sell these exclusively packaged together with my cigar box guitars. Some of the buyers of liked the amp so much, they requested that I sell them by themselves. This amp uses the same components as the Dual Input amp below (except it only has one input). If you want to listen to this one, just check out the video below, and disregard the "dual input" aspect of it. |
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Dual Input amp Two 1/4" input jacks, NO output jack, two volume controls (one for each input, controlled separately). Great for those wanting a very small, cool looking amp, to drive two separate devices such as guitar plus harmonica, microphone, or stomp box; two guitars; two microphones, etc. Picture jamming out with a friend, or playing your guitar plus harmonica or stomp box on the street with this small light weight unit. Just think of it... you and a buddy jacked in together. Your guitar and another instrument both being amplified from the same small, portable device. Check out a video of this amp
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Distortion amp One 1/4" input jack, a 1/4" output (headphone or other) jack, volume control, Fuzz control. The added fuzz box circuitry increases the signal, so, this puppy really annoys my spouse even when I'm in a closed off bedroom on the other side of the house. I love it. Sounds really nasty with a slide, or when cranking on a hot lead. If you like, you can switch off the fuzz effect for a clean sound. Check out a video of this amp |
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Other Amps In addition to my standard beat-to-sh!+ distressing, I have also built amps using clean, native boxes in a variety of shapes and sizes. One common size is a small thin box that rides quite nicely in a gig bag... roughly 7"x5"x1.5". Shown here is a Road Runner Acme Dynamite crate type box made into an amp. And below that, one made from a 1962 vintage clock radio. Depending on my mood or customer request, I have built simple, dual input, and distortion amps into a wide variety of boxes. Availability is unpredictable. Just let me know what you are interested in and we'll see what we can come up with. |
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Small rhythm passive stomp box (foot bass) made from a small thick walled cigar box. Standard ¼” jack with piezo pickup. The box has been cut down to the wedge shape, and reinforced on the inside. Treated with my beat-to-sh!+ method. The box walls are solid thick wood with large finger joints. The hollow reinforced center provides a nice tone. Rubber feet help keep it from sliding around. Includes a high/low bass switch that varies the bass tone. Check out a video of one of my stomp box products And a stompbox being used by a satisfied customer
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Another original from Mead Guitars. A professional percussionist asked if I could make a multi-tone, multi-function hand held tambourine. While I was not able to get high zoot microprocessor based synthesized sounds as he had originally suggested, the TamBox is the results of lots of experimentation and back & forth prototyping. This hand held percussion device is played similar to a tambourine. Low pitch rattles are mounted on the inside and can be clearly heard. A number of different tones can be achieved by rapping on different sides and parts of the box. The external ridge provides great place to get a ra-ta-tat-tat-tat sound by playing with your ring finger. Sounds are picked up by a piezo pickup, and made available for amplification through a standard ¼ jack. Plug into any amp and go.
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Another original from Mead Guitars. Very retro sounding handmade microphone. This ain’t no Shure, Electrovoice, or Sennheiser. It’s a Cambell’s Soup can! Nothing fancy, just a cool sounding, cool looking novelty microphone. Made from a cleaned soup can, a ¼” jack, a piezo pickup, and specialty cloth cover. The label has been treated with several layers of clear coat to prolong its life. It should show its wear over time nicely. Picture the audience as you pull this puppy out of your gig bag; The stories you could tell about the hard times. Or your friends as they speak or sing through this. Works great with a harmonica.
Check out a video of this mic
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Cigar box guitar (CBG) pickup system designed by a CBG builder for CBG builders. As necessity is the mother of invention, I bring you this offering. I wanted to up my game and provide a magnetic pickup system for my guitars. Now is your chance to up your game as well. I purchased a couple of different traditional top mounted pickups to experiment with and was not pleased with the sound quality, the hassle associated with hacking a big hole in the soundboard, and the look of the shinny magnets and large cover plate. This magnetic pickup mounts on the bottom of the lid, exposing only the rusty screw poles with minimal disruption to the structure and look of the box. Being the curious hacker that I am, I researched and built a pickup winder from a 1950's vintage cast iron Kenmore sewing machine. I experimented with different magnets, coil thickness, and winding count to dial in a tone that works quite well in a three way switch combination with a Piezo. I offer a package including a hand made magnetic pickup, a piezo pickup, and a 3 way switch. Includes installation instructions.
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For Custom Orders or Info Contact: Larry <at> MeadGuitars.com |
