News
The Reso-Electro Cigar Box Guitar Project - Pt. 1: Intro, Parts and Layout
Shane Speal's latest four-string cigar box guitar combines a wide array of CBGitty.com parts into an alternate-reality, retro blues machine. Follow along as he describes the gumbo of parts, techniques and creative ideas behind it. Here
…
11th Mar 2021
Hum and Buzz - Some Tips for Effective Electrification
Electrifying your cigar box guitar or other homemade instrument build can be a very rewarding experience. Being able to plug into an amp not only gives you more volume, but it opens the door to a huge range of effects that would not otherwise be avai
…
2nd Sep 2020
Metal Box Corners: Stylish & Practical Cigar Box Guitar Hardware
Metal box corners come in a variety of styles and finishes. From low-profile surface-mount types to long-legged trunk corner styles, they are a great way to spruce up your homemade instrument builds. In addition to their decorative appeal, th
…
2nd Feb 2020
Book Review of "Fiddle Fever" by Sharon Arms Doucet - a cajun boy and his cigar box fiddle
Find this book on Amazon: “Fiddle Fever” by Sharon Arms DoucetPlunge into the world of the early 1900’s Louisiana bayou, where a fourteen-year-old cajun boy named Felix struggles to find a way to let out the music in his soul. After experiencing
…
26th Sep 2019
VIDEO: This Riff Will Help You Sell More Cigar Box Guitars
Want to sell your cigar box guitars? The king of the cigar box guitar Shane Speal shares his sure-fire riff to sell more cigar box guitars with the video lesson in this post. Shane Knows What SellsLet's hand this over to Shane so you can get
…
3rd Jul 2019
Why Use Reclaimed Materials To Build Cigar Box Guitars?
Using reclaimed materials is all the rage these days, and for a good reason. There is something inherently cool about taking an object that has already had a long useful life - like a roof joist from a 19th-century mill, church or theater - and makin
…
26th Jun 2019
How to Mount a Snake Oil Mini Humbucker & Pickup Ring in a Cigar Box Guitar
Want to install a Snake Oil mini humbucker and pickup ring in your cigar box guitar?It's easy! Just follow the step-by-step instructions below to mount our most popular pickup in your cigar box.Installation is EasyWhat follows is a ste
…
13th Jun 2019
Build CBGs That Move The Needle - These 5 Builders Show You How
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
…
19th Apr 2019
What's Your Story? 19 First-Hand Accounts Of How People Got Into Cigar Box Guitars
We all have an origin story: the reason each of us began crafting handmade musical instruments.Some stumbled upon a cigar box guitar at a craft fair or music festival. Others saw Shane Speal’s videos on YouTube, encouraging and educating people
…
23rd Apr 2018
The Extended Heel - a Pro Tip from Master Builder Jack Bowers
Recently C. B. Gitty customer Jack Bowers shared one of his building techniques with us, a great way to add some extra stability to a neck without having to do more bracing inside the box. His method is simple - add an extension onto the bottom of th
…
14th Aug 2017
Build a Cigar Box Distortion Unit With This Easy Hack
Last year, C. B. Gitty introduced the Psycho Knob internal distortion, an easy-to-install circuit that added fuzz effects inside your guitar.
Now Shane Speal shows you how to hack the kit to become a standalone unit that can be used on a
…
2nd Mar 2017
Cigar Box Guitar Builder's Diary: The 7-20-4 (Part 2)
Hey folks! Nick again with the second part of my 7-20-4 build.Step 4: The BridgeThe bridge turned out to be a bit of a stalling point on the build. As I mentioned in the last article, I had settled on the 3-string Gold hard-tail bridge
…
16th Aug 2016
Cigar Box Guitar Builder's Diary: The 7-20-4 (Part 1)
Howdy folks! My name is Nick Lanciano, and I am one of the newer folks over here at C. B. Gitty. This is a build progress diary I wrote for the building of my second Cigar Box Guitar, a 3-String Electric Cigar Box Guitar using a 7-20-4 Cigar Box (one
…
29th Jul 2016
Stairway to Heaven on a 3-string Cigar Box Guitar
We're totally gonna steal these licks! Historian, author and all around Renaissance man, Charles Atchison just posted this video giving an overview of the main parts of Stairway to Heaven. (Which means he took an 8 minute song and condens
…
4th Nov 2015
Merlin Miller Recreates Historic Uncle Enos Cigar Box Banjo
“I’ve got something you’re going to want to see,” Merlin Miller said, as he entered my booth at the 2015 Huntsville Cigar Box Guitar Festival carrying a cardboard box.Merlin has been building cigar box guitars and other homemade instruments for years
…
3rd Jun 2015
C. B. Gitty helping to Sponsor the 3rd Annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival!
Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker will be attending the Chicago Cigar Box Guitar Festival this year, and it was announced yesterday that the company will be helping to sponsor the event. C. B. Gitty will be sponsoring the Open Mic stage, and who knows, he migh
…
4th Sep 2014
A review of "Holler!", the new album from Shane Speal and his Snake Oil Band
I can already hear it... “Oh, so Gitty’s reviewing the new Shane Speal album he bankrolled.
I wonder if THAT review will be unbiased…”Maybe it won’t be entirely unbiased, but I will try to be
honest. I just couldn’t NOT review this album. So h
…
25th Jun 2014
Writing the Cigar Box Guitar Manifesto
I have been thinking for a while about writing some sort of manifesto, or mission statement, that attempts to sum up what this whole cigar box guitar movement, often referred to as a revolution, is all about. When you really get down to thinking a
…
11th Jun 2014