Vihuela, lagerphone, cigar box preamp, and Gretchen Wilson too

Rebekah Smith Photo

So, here I am trying out my newly fretted 7 string cigar box vihuela. It plays great and with the new preamp it sounds great too. If you look down at my feet, you'll see I'm playing a rhythm instrument - it's actually a small lagerphone designed so that stepping on one end makes the other end jump up and shake. BTW, the lagerphone is an Australian instrument made by attaching beer bottle caps stacked on nails to a piece of wood. This is a very simple one specialized for foot play. The lagerphone tends to migrate while I'm playing it. I need to figure out something to make it stay in place.

To the bottom right is Gretchen Wilson - one of our new kittens. She's named for a country singer that (stepdaughter) Rachel likes. Gretchen is a very odd cat - zebra stripes on her front legs, skunk stripes on her back, leopard spots on her belly. And, if you look at the top of her head from in front there's an image of a cat's face - and from the back there's an image of a woman. I figure she's (Egyptian Cat Goddess) Baset's favored cat :o)

BTW, Gretchen and her 3 siblings just love the lagerphone - the perfect stalking toy.

I mentioned the new preamp above - it's actually a cigar box preamp, mounted in a small Bahia cigar box. The preamp is based on plans by J Donald Tillman with some modification necessitated by the parts available at the local Radio Shack. It sounds great and improves the sound of every instrument I've tried through it so far.

Rebekah Smith Photo