Category: General News

Cigar Box Nation member, OneSixTwoCBGs created this army of gas can guitars.  Notice the variety of setups, from the dulcimer fretting of instrument #’s 1 and 5, the humbucking pickups in 2 and 4 and the poplar fretboard of #6.  Other details include machine screw nuts and 23″ scale.   More photos:  http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=26cm23iclh6p3

Cigar Box Nation member, Vachkirit started this slide instrument build with a Laughing Cow tin and what appears to be a piece of salvaged wood for the neck.  The guitar/banjo hybrid sports simple accoutrements such as a bolt for a bridge and rusted circles for sound holes.  See more of his photos at http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=2dn96ueu845sb

Shane Speal posted this picture showing a great little technique for getting your tuners perfectly aligned during installation.  The pro tip was part of his full tutorial on upgrading tuners in old guitars.  He also includes info on drilling holes, the proper wrench sizes and more.  See the article here:

How I Revived the Life of This Teisco Guitar with a $15 Set of Tuners

In the next step to advance the Cigar Box Guitar Revolution, Shane Speal has teamed up with C. B. Gitty and Facebook to develop CBG-TV: Cigar Box Guitar Television. 

The concept is simple:  Live video broadcasts featuring lessons, concerts, DIY tips and more.  Viewers can ask questions in real time, too!  Speal and C. B. Gitty plan to also include interviews and reports from cigar box guitar festivals.

See the previous broadcasts and subscribe for future ones at Facebook.com/CigarBoxGuitar

We recently received these plans from “Hubcap John” Hayward which were originally featured in Practical Wireless Magazine in London in 1965. The plans feature a lap steel guitar with full schematics. They were scanned from the original and sent in eight different parts. We did our best to match them up into one complete PDF.

Download a copy here.

Darren Dukes’ double neck is a fantastic use of a La Flor Dominicana cigar box which features a huge trapezoid shape.  Dukes worked with the shape to fit one neck with a reso cone and the other neck for straight acoustic.  Both necks are four strings.

This guitar is currently on display at the Cigar Box Guitar Museum at Speal’s Tavern in New Alexandria PA.

This little newspaper clipping proves that even the smallest mention of cigar box instruments can give us a glimpse into the past.  Lige B. Brown (possibly “Elijah” B. Brown?), a musician who created his own cigar box fiddle, was so proud of his creation that he had to visit the local newspaper office to show off his axe.  Now that’s a cool little glimpse.

For even more historical info, check out these archived plans from 1928 on how to build your own cigar box violin.

This piece of history is part of the bigger C. B. Gitty/Cigar Box Nation Historical Research and Preservation Initiative, a movement to explore and document the history of cigar box guitars and related instruments.

Archived by Shane Speal, Feb 24, 2016

You never know what you’ll discover when tracing the history of cigar box guitars, banjos and other homemade instruments.  This little clipping comes from a parenting advice column from 1929 and when I found it, my smile was as wide as the Mississippi.

As modern musicians, we tend to ‘poo-poo’ yesteryear’s ways of teaching.  However, this little clip shows that our forefathers knew what real soul and real music was.

So here’s to the music and the passion behind it.  May we never lose sight of the true soul which is speaking.

Archived on February 19, 2016 by Shane Speal

Cigar Box Nation member, “Keith” recently created a cigar box guitar using a Lone Ranger lunchbox as the body.  One of the most striking details was the pistol-shaped headstock (pictured above).  Not only was he able to give a realistic silhouette of the gun, but he also maintained a mostly-straight string pull from the nut.

To see the entire guitar, check out “Lone Ranger Guitar on Cigar Box Nation.”