What Everyone Should Know about Cigar Box Guitars
Cigar Box Guitar – Goin to Brownsville
Although I’ve been playing guitar for many years it is only recently that I have discovered the fun that can be had with a cigar box guitar.
If you don’t know what a cigar box guitar is I shall explain. 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 cigars were far more popular than they are 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 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. The steel strings would be fretted using a slide or a bottleneck.
Cigar box based musical instruments are a traditional form of fok instrument made from rubbish such as empty cans or cigar boxes. In recent years many people have discovered the fun that can be had playing and building home made guitars and other instruments. And its not essential that you use a cigar box to make home made musical instruments. 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.