SHANE SPEAL Cigar Box Guitar Rag

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. The clue is in the name, a cigar box guitar is a guitar made from a wooden 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 be packaged in wooden boxes from around the middle of the 19th century and there are etchings of civil war soldiers sitting at a campsite where one of them is playing a fiddle made from a cigar box.

It's quite simple to turn a cigar box into a basic guitar using a length of wood and a few tuning pegs and this is why they became a popular form of 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. There has been something of an explosion in interest in these simple home made instruments, partly fuelled by the internet. And you don't have to use a cigar box to make home made musical instruments. Many creative cigar box guitar builders use anything from oil drums to biscuit tins and lunch boxes to make some fine sounding instruments.

If you are struggling with your fancy six string why not get yourself a three string cigar box guitar and join the revolution.

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Filed under: Antiques and Collectibles

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