Not Your Father's Cigar Box Guitar- Old School Sound Meets Modern Playability

Type

Electric

Cigar box guitars/instruments have been around since the 1800's, and there are many fine builders out there carrying on the traditional approach of the old "stick through a box with 3 strings" method. But what about some quirky, versatile instruments capable of being put to use by today's performing musician? As in, a REAL 6-string guitar??? Here is one of the latest of my cigar box guitar creations up for sale. My backstory: Sometimes you just go sorting through guitar parts bin from years of playing and working on guitars, and you end up finding all these extra parts. Then you think to yourself how much of a shame it is they aren't being used. Well, that's not happening here anymore. I recently dug up several bridges, pickups, guitar necks and random bits and pieces, stumbled upon some real wood cigar boxes and some scrap lumber, and decided to challenge myself. In the spirit of our forefathers, I grabbed a bunch of hand tools and started working. I've made several of these, and they all have their own character. Some are very basic, while others are fancier. Some are straight-to-the-point, while others have more versatility and unique features one normally doesn't find on a CBG. What sets these apart from what most people build out of cigar boxes is that for one, these are fully-functioning 6-string instruments and not just a three or four string. So it's not a "guitar-like" instrument, it's a GUITAR. You can play it like a standard guitar, or tune it to an open tuning and whip out your bottleneck slide and go to town. This one has a passive piezo disc mounted under the lid just hehind the bridge. No controls, wired straight to the output jack. Play it acoustically, or just plug into your pedalboard and/or amp, just like your store-bought guitar. No learning curve except for figuring out what settings you want to use with the passive piezo, which gets those old school, low-fi, raunchy sounds people associate with this kind of instrument when ran into your guitar rig, or run it through an acoustic simulator for something less raw-sounding, even "pleasant". Be careful, though, the piezos can bark at ya' if you run them through your fuzz or overdrive pedals! While this one has a contemporary 6-string guitar neck, the bridge is a piece of rosewood with a machine screw acting as a one-piece slotted saddle, harkening back to old school DIY parts making. The string anchor is also a DIY piece as well. As with any authentic cigar box guitar, it's not perfect. It is glorified "upcycling" at its best. It's a Frankenstein's monster built in a garage. It has character, natural wear and tear just from the existing parts that were fused together, and like with any instrument, you may want to do a little setup work on yours to make it play more to your liking--although I have heard nothing but praise about the playability of my creations, some even saying theirs plays as well as or better than their off-the-shelf factory-built guitars. These aren't examples of "fine luthiery", they're home built, roots rock, Americana, Blues machines for somebody who wants something a little bit different in their collection, or to get noticed onstage. And trust me when I say that PEOPLE NOTICE. And even if you're not gigging, at the very least, I find playing these to be quite inspiring. Something about the Piezo's plunky, unrefined sound of these along with the versatility of a regular guitar neck definitely makes you play differently, and gives you a lot of ideas. Anyhow, if you have any questions please ask, I'd love to see these go to a good home, where they will inspire someone to, if you'll forgive the pun, think outside the 'box'. This one's strung up with medium gauge acoustic strings, and is at home whether you're plucking around on the front porch or running it through an amp busking on the corner. Maybe even break it out for a song or two at your next live gig instead of that boring old regular acoustic. Go ahead and take a look at other builders on Etsy and beyond, and see what comparable (or not-so-comparable) instruments are selling for, and you'll see the occasional nicely-built model or two, but you'll see a LOT of rough-looking, thrown-together basic CBG's offering less versatility (and less PLAYABILITY) costing as much as or much more than what I'm charging. Thanks for looking.