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Early in the summer of 2021, I embarked on a two-week 8,400-mile solo journey around America by train. This adventure was equal parts post-modern walkabout, mid-life crisis, and long-awaited escape after two years of COVID lockdowns.My sole companion throughout this momentous journey was my trusty little Hobo Fiddle, a style of cigar box guitar I created a few years back. It’s a funky little thing, a cross between a ukulele and a guitar, envisioned with the goal of building the sort of instrumen …

C. B. Gitty got its humble start years ago when Ben Gitty Baker sold fretwire out of his basement to fellow cigar box guitar builders.  None of us could have seen the resulting tens (hundreds?) of thousands of instruments made from our parts since then.  We also didn't expect to see beautiful jewelry made from that fretwire, but that's exactly what Eugene Sarniak of Pennsylvania has done!Sarniak recently posted these photos of his fretwire jewelry on our Customer Submissions page. …

The following article is excerpted from the book, Making Poor Man's Guitars by Shane Speal ($19.99).  Measuring in at 30" (76cm) long, 5" (12 3/4cm) wide and 3" (7 1/2 cm) deep, this two-string cigar box guitar sports a body and neck that were crafted from one hunk of wood using hand tools.The body cavity was completely carved.  A soundboard made of 3/16" (1/2 cm) thin wood from the same stock was attached with nails.  A house-shaped sound hole is carved near the floating bri …

Hi all, it's Shane Speal.I just made a great playing acoustic/electric mandolin from a cigar box and parts from CBGitty.com.  I also filmed the entire process and turned it into this mini documentary.  It'll show you all the stops you'll need to make your own.  In the documentary, I refer to the parts page, www.cbgitty.com/mandolin to get information. Enjoy the video and then scroll down for more photos of the entire build.  Photos of my cigar box mandolin:Here are the p …

We thought we'd look back to the cigar box guitar strings of the past... those found-objects that were used by the great blues legends when they were just starting out.  Sure, C. B. Gitty is always developing and improving our cigar box guitar strings to be the best in the world.  However, it's fun to see what they used back in the early days. Here's our top five favorites.  (Try them at your own risk!) Robert Johnson's Broom Wire - Many blues legends, including Robert J …