This freak of nature belongs to the “King of the Cigar Box Guitar,” Shane Speal. According to Speal, it has been heavily modified twice since he built it two years ago.
“I originally built this as a simple neck-thru electric cigar box guitar with a Foundry Tone P90 pickup. I realized afterward that the narrow box felt odd on my lap as I would play in concert, so I only used it as a backup guitar. It also became my ‘travel guitar’ for the 2014 Musack Charity Concert in LA [as evidenced by the autographs by Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, The Minutemen’s Mike Watt and The Specials’ Sir Horace Gentlemen].”
Speal continues, “as the tour season rolled along in late 2014, I broke my main cigar box guitar after throwing it across a dive bar. That meant I had to bring this one back out as a main player again. 
“In order to make it feel more comfortable, I added an arm rest and bottom cutaway that were cut from a junk Epiphone SG body.” What was added for comfort also made the instrument look like something from The Island of Dr. Moreau.
After performing with this setup for most of 2015, Speal recently added a Hard Tail bridge, replacing the bolt that served as a floating bridge. “The Hard Tail just give the guitar more stability, sustain and less string breakage. I’m starting to replace bridges on my other guitars with Hard Tails, too. I love ’em.”
Shane Speal will be headlining the New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival on January 16.