Cigar Box Guitar - Goin to Brownsville
I’ve been playing guitar for well over thirty years but I’ve only recently discovered the fun that can be had with easily made cigar box guitars.
If you are new to cigar box guitars I should explain what they are. A cigar box guitar is, as the name suggests, a guitar made from a cigar box. They tend to be home made instruments that use a cigar box as the resonator in the same way that an acoustic guitar uses its guitar body to amplify the sound from the strings.
Back in the 19th century cigar smoking was far more popular than it is today. They began to package cigars in wooden boxes from around the middle of the 19th century and people soon found a use for these boxes in various home made instruments.
It’s quite easy to turn a cigar box into a basic guitar using a length of wood and a few guitar tuners and this is why they became a popular folk instrument. The simplest of cigar box guitars might have only one string, but they are commonly made with three strings and no frets. A bottleneck slide, knife or even a piece of animal bone can be used to fret the steel strings.
Cigar box based musical instruments are a traditional form of folk instrument that could easily be made using items that would otherwise have been thrown away. In recent years many people have discovered the fun that can be had playing and building home made guitars and other instruments. And home made guitar like instruments don’t have to be based on a cigar box. Many people who build these home made guitars use other boxes for the resonator including oil cans, childrens lunch boxes and even biscuit tins.
If you are struggling with your fancy six string why not get yourself a three string cigar box guitar and join the revolution.
Tags: cigar box guitars, folk instruments, guitars, musical instruments