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While a lot of cigar box guitar builder attention goes to disk piezos and standard acoustic guitar-style rod piezos, there is another option that can be a great addition to your toolbag: the violin-style rod piezo. These little pickups sound great in cigar box guitars, especially when put through one of our pre-amp units.While standard rod piezos have a lead that comes off of one end (shown to the right), the violin-style (shown above) has a central lead that sticks straight down from the m …

Reduced feedback. Deeper bass response. And no more "quack!" I was complaining about certain tonal problems with piezo pickups when the idea for this standalone pre-amp came to me. It's deceptively simple... a $17 acoustic guitar pre-amp with a hacked input becomes a great EQ and signal boost. And it's all housed in a cigar box!Hear the Demo First of all, here's how it sounds... I built this prototype in less than one hour.  Here's how to do it:Parts NeededC. B. Gitty Pre-Am …

Have you wondered, what kind of music can be played on a cigar box guitar? You may be surprised by the answer: nearly any style of music you can imagine. From blues to country, and from classical to rock 'n' roll, a cigar box guitar can be played in any genre of music. Cigar Box Guitars Can Play AnythingAs proof to that claim, storyteller Randy Flaum posed the question, "What kind of music comes from a cigar box guitar" to several longtime cigar box guitar performers. Their answers can be seen i …

A Step-by-Step Guide On How To Make a Straight Cigar Box Guitar Headstock With Tools You Already Own We all know how popular those angled scarf-joint headstocks are, how useful the design is, and how good they look.  But even with all those good reasons to build with them, if all you've got is a few common hand tools, scarf joint-headstocks can be really difficult to make.  Instead, why not use a straight headstock on your next build? And not just any old straight headstock, …

You cigar box guitar builders continue to astound us folk, here at C. B. Gitty. Whether you're sharing your latest tricked-out gitty, experimenting with new ideas, or building your very first guitar, you are moving the needle with your awesome builds. And we love to see them all!To see just a small selection of the incredible work many of you shared with us this week, keep on scrolling down this post.And if you want to see your work featured on our website, be certain to follow this link to …