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I've heard it said: "A cigar box guitar is never going to sound like a Martin or a Gibson... but then again, a Martin or a Gibson is never going to sound like a cigar box guitar." Pro musicians tend to be very particular about the sounds they want in a song, or at a particular place in a song. Sometimes they want pure, clean precision. Other times they want raunchy, growling jangly mojo funk. That's where cigar box guitars come in. Really, the quote above sums it up rather well. Someti …

Cigar box guitars have a long and storied history in popular music, and they have been used by a wide variety of musicians over the years. One of the most famous musicians known to have started on a cigar box guitar was Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a groundbreaking blues and rock musician who rose to fame in the 1960s and is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Despite his later fame and success, Hendrix came from humble roots and built himself a cigar box guitar to play before he …

This is the second part in a series of posts featuring answers people have given to the new member question on Cigar Box Nation: What do you find most interesting about cigar box guitars? We share some of the answers here as a source of inspiration and reminder of just how amazing this hobby of building and playing homemade instruments really is. ·········· “I think the sound is wonderful! I saw them being played at Lowe Mills in Huntsville, AL and I was hooked! Bought a great guit …

My grandfather Irv was fifty-one years old when I entered the world on a cold January evening in 1977. He had been working his whole life fixing and maintaining mechanical equipment, starting as a car mechanic and then later helping to keep the ancient machines in an old crayon factory running.As a child, I remember studying his hands, as we sat at the veneer-topped table in the small kitchen of my grandparents’ home. I spent a lot of time there growing up, while my mom was at work. Those hands …

After a run of eight years spearheading C. B. Gitty's marketing efforts, our friend Shane Speal has moved on to new pastures. Going forward, he'll be heading up the Digital Marketing efforts for Fox Chapel Publishing, the company that published his book Making Poor Man's Guitars. Don't worry though, the King of the Cigar Box Guitar isn't going anywhere. He'll still be making music, building guitars (for fun!) and making videos to share on his YouTube, TikTok and other channels. I want …