Gift Ideas

Build the mythical one-string guitar from blues and Americana folklore.   This is the instrument that Blind Willie Johnson first learned slide guitar.   Countless other music legends have started with a diddley bow, too.   Originally...

Tack this piece of art to your wall and you'll never be left guessing on chords for your 3-string cigar box guitar again! This poster features 24 of the most popular chord forms for playing songs on a cigar box guitar (or other handmade instrument)...

Tack this piece of art to your wall and you'll be inspired to explore the blues on your 3-string cigar box guitar! This poster features a mix of the most popular scales for playing the blues on a cigar box guitar (or other handmade instrument) tuned to...

Four Different Slides in one ultra low-priced combo...  Each slide arrives in its own seperate burlap Mojo Bag and all packaged in a beautiful cigar box with the Cigar Box Nation logo.  You'll get one slide from each category: Stainless...

These shirts feature the original "Hard Times Make Great Music" design by Shane Speal and featuring artwork by Farley Andresen. This classic design is now available for the first time in a wider range of styles and colors, via our partnership with a...

These shirts feature the original "I Turn Junk Into Guitars - What's Your Superpower?" design by Shane Speal. This popular design is now available for the first time in a wider range of styles and colors, via our partnership with a custom print-on-demand...

Tack this piece of art to your wall and you'll never be left guessing on chords for your 3-string cigar box guitar again! This poster features 24 of the most popular chord forms for playing songs on a cigar box guitar (or other handmade instrument)...

This is a historic-themed 12 x 18" poster printed on brown kraft paper. The poster, designed by Shane Speal, features a photo of the famous Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band, a group of young New Orleans street performers from the late 1800's and early 1900's...

This is a sturdy Black trucker's hat style cap, proudly emblazoned with the Cigar Box Nation Logo. These hats have an adjustable hook-and-loop-style strap in the back making them One-Size-Fits-Almost-All (Ben Gitty's got a big 'ole head, and they fit on...

This poster is an artistic throwback to the Vaudeville phenomenon that was made popular in the United States and Canada from the late 1800's until the early 1930's. Vaudeville was a mixture of many different acts, mostly aimed at providing clean and safe...

This album from John Nickel, his first, features 10 original tracks performed exclusively on homemade and handmade instruments with 4 strings or less. The album features an intriguing blend of styles not often heard on cigar box guitars and other...

This is a set of 8 greeting cards, printed with original artwork from our own Zoli Viva Nova (aka Farley Andresen). Her sketch was inspired by some classic black and white photographs of old blues musicians, but of course we needed one playing a...

All of the stuff a CBG player needs... For years, we've been including a "player's pack" with our cigar box guitars, containing all of the goodies new cigar box guitar player needs to get going. Now, we've made the same pack (with a few extras)...

This display rack is the perfect way to show off your guitar slide collection. (Can you ever have enough guitar slides? We think not!) This 16-slide rack comes in kit form with unfinished surfaces, so you can paint, stain or lacquer them as desired...

This is a sturdy dark navy blue trucker-style hat, emblazoned with a patch bearing a rustic re-imagining of the C. B. Gitty logo. These hats have an adjustable hook-and-loop-style strap in the back making them One-Size-Fits-Almost-All (Ben Gitty's got a...

This blueprint-style poster features 24 of the most popular chord forms for playing songs on a cigar box guitar (or other handmade instrument) tuned to Open G "GDg". Shane Speal designed this poster, drawing the chord diagram and finger marks by hand,...

This poster features a vintage photo from the early 1900's, possibly taken in New Orleans. Shane Speal discovered this old photo at an antiques dealer back in the 90's, and recently re-scanned it in to make it available to the cigar box guitar and...

We present the "Electric Banjo": a historical musical instrument patent poster from our Musical Oddities Series of breathtaking, oddball instruments.  Art.  History.  Inspiration. This is probably the earliest patent ever for an electric...

This poster features a reprint of classic cigar box banjo (guitar) plans, which originally ran in the St. Joseph Herald newspaper in Michigan in 1886. These plans, which seem to be based on the classic Uncle Enos banjo plans by Daniel Carter Beard, are a...

We present the "Cigar Box Pitchfork Fiddle-Drum": a historical musical instrument patent poster from our Musical Oddities Series of breathtaking, oddball instruments.  Art.  History.  Inspiration. The Pitchfork Fiddle-Drum is the only...

Here is a perfect gift for a cigar box guitar enthusiast! This box set features some of the best music being made by musicians and bands that feature cigar box guitars and other homemade instruments. We include 5 full length albums on CD in this set,...

We present the "Hawaiian Tremoloa": a historical musical instrument patent poster from our Musical Oddities Series of breathtaking, oddball instruments.  Art.  History.  Inspiration. The Hawiian Tremoloa is a fretless zither named...

This amazing piece of fine art was painted by Amzie Adams based on an old photo of a "spasm band" in New Orleans from the late 1800's. Showing a trio of young black musicians using homemade instruments (a cigar box guitar, drum kit and drain pipe...

We present "The Ukelin": a historical musical instrument patent poster from our Musical Oddities Series of breathtaking, oddball instruments.  Art.  History.  Inspiration. The Ukelin was one of the most common of the snake oil instruments...

  We present "The Marxophone": a historical musical instrument patent poster from our Musical Oddities Series of breathtaking, oddball instruments.  Art.  History.  Inspiration.   The Marxophone is an instrument with a Rock N...

This is a set of 2 12 x 18" posters, designed by Ben "Gitty" Baker and printed right here in the C. B. Gitty workshop in New Hampshire, USA. These posters include 60 authentic secret hobo signs and glyphs, drawn from historic photographs and documents...

This poster features a reprint of the classic Edwin Forbes Civil War sketch of a Union soldier playing his "Figaros" cigar box fiddle while in winter camp. Forbes made this sketch while traveling with the Union army during the conflict, and later...

Get all three of our popular Canjo Songbooks at a great savings! This bundle includes our "Complete Canjo Songbook" full of Folk, Americana, Traditional and Old-Timey songs, our Canjo Hymnal chock full of traditional hymns and spirituals, and also our...

These shirts feature the original "Cigar Box Guitars" design created by Shane Speal almost a decade ago. TThis popular design is now available for the first time in a wider range of styles and colors, via our partnership with a custom print-on-demand...

These shirts feature the original design by New Orleans street performer and artist Connan 1961. The artwork shows one of Connan's distinctive skeleton characters playing a cigar box guitar. This popular design is now available for the first time in a...

Janis Wilson Hughes is a potter, cigar box guitar builder/player and in her spare time a chemical engineering research scientist. Over the past several years she has created a line of beautiful slides for cigar box guitars which have become the standard...