News
FREE Online "Celebrate America" Songbook for Cigar Box Guitar & G-Bass
C. B. Gitty's founder, Ben Baker has always said, "I believe that anyone, anywhere can build their own instrument and make music on it." In keeping with his philosophy, he has written or commissioned hundreds of pages of cigar box guitar music in TAB for every player to learn. In this post, we present a collection of patriotic and American themed songs that we have posted online for free. Every song is presented in 3-string cigar box guitar, tuned GDG. Some have additional TAB
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29th Jun 2021
How To Play Any Song Using Just One Finger!
Cigar box guitars are one of the easiest instruments to play - especially those tuned to an "open chord" such as the standard GDG. As Glenn Watt and others have shown us, you can play all sorts of songs on open-tuned cigar box guitars using just one finger. You simply use the index finger of your fretting hand to hold down all three strings at different frets, to play the different chords that make up a song. You can find some of Glenn's best one finger lessons here... but of cour
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4th Jun 2021
Ben's Blog: "The Best Friend I've Never Met"
Like Jack Kerouac, I have always been drawn to the edges and fringes of modern society. The drifters and hermits, modern-day hoboes and wild-eyed street people who stalk the back alleys and forgotten corners of our modern world, these are the ones whose stories have always intrigued me.I know I could never live that life, but something about these people who live on the edge calls to me... in particular, the group of modern-day hoboes who still ride the freight trains, and take the time to tag t
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26th May 2021
How to Fake a Curly Maple Finish (Tiger Stripe, too!)
Give your next project a vintage curly maple or tiger stipe woodgrain look with this simple burn-and-stain technique.We sent Shane Speal our new Hubcap Howler Resonator Guitar Kit and he came back with another exciting new finishing technique that made the white birch wood look like a deep, antique curly maple! Speal's original intent was to copy the look of an old Stella acoustic guitar in his collection, but the end result was something much better. You'll need the following:
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20th May 2021
Ben's Blog: "The Place You Want To Be"
Inspired by a customer's photograph, C. B. Gitty owner, Ben Baker takes a moment to concentrate on why we make these instruments, kits and parts. Sometimes, you see a snapshot of a time and place, a little slice of life, and immediately realize: "I want to be there. That is my place." For some, that feeling is brought on by photos of landmarks and monuments, or scenic mountain vistas, or images of seas vast and blue and wide.And while those scenes appeal to me as well, there is just s
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18th May 2021