2015 Cigar Box Guitar Fretting Tips Contest Entries

Untitled-3We’ve compiled all of the entries we received for the C. B. Gitty/Cigar Box Nation 2015 Cigar Box Guitar Fretting Tips Contest, and created a PDF document out of it. This document contains all of the entries we received, unedited and as close as possible to the original formatting, with photos. We present it here so that everyone can share in the collective wisdom freely submitted by builders of cigar box guitars and other homemade intruments all around the world. Enjoy!

Cigar Box Guitar Fretting Tips Contest Entries

(Click the link above to view the PDF Document)

Daily Tip: What is a Diatonic Scale?

Fretting Scale TemplateFretting your cigar box guitar diatonically can be a nice alternative when building. But a lot of people are not clear on what it is.

A diatonic scale sounds like the familar “DO-RE-MI” scales we learned as kids. It contains only the “whole” tones of the scale, with no “accidentals” (sharp or flat notes that are outside of the primary scale). A chromatic scale on the other hand gives you all of the “extra” notes as well, and though it sounds much less pleasant when played from low to high, it presents a lot more flexibility when playing music.

For more information on this topic, check out our knowledgebase article.

Zero Frets – What they are, and Why and How to use them on Cigar Box Guitars

This photo shows a fretted cigar box guitar with a zero fret installed. We'll be showing you how (and why) to do this in this article.
This photo shows a fretted cigar box guitar with a zero fret installed. C. B. Gitty shows you how (and why) to do this in this article.

We have just added a new how-to article by Ben “C. B. Gitty” Baker to our knowledgebase, which deals with the topic of zero frets. Zero frets are sometimes considered an arcane topic by cigar box guitar builders, and in this article Ben tries to demystify them, showing you in simple terms and clear pictures what they are, why to use them and most importantly how to use them.

Click Here to View the Zero Fret Knowledgebase Article

New Video How-To: Making your own Cigar Box Guitar Fretboard

Glenn Watt, CBG GuruTake a few minutes and watch the new addition to our knowledgebase here at CigarBoxGuitar.com – a well-done video how-to lesson from CBG Guru Glenn Watt on how you can get started on making your own cigar box guitar fretboards with just a few simple tools!

Click Here to view the Knowledgebase Article!