News
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 from all over the world.
No matter the inspiration, each of our stories guides our next build, and binds us together in this community of tinkerers, artists, hobbyists, musicians, woodworkers, and crafting-enthusiasts.
To give voice to these stor
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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 the heel, out over the back/bottom of the cigar box.Jack has built over 700 homemade instruments, so when he shares a tried-and-true building tip, we take notice! See the photos below to get an idea of how he does it.Here's what Jack wrote us about thi
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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 all your electric guitars!Hear the Demo
What you'll need
(Click each picture to purchase the item)
Hack the Kit
1. Wire Jacks to the Circuit Board
Instead of installing the Psycho Knob inside a guitar cavity, simply wire a 1/4" ja
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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. When I went to attack my bridge for a mockup, I found that the screws lined up perfectly on one side… and ended up hitting the corner of the very corner of the neck, and caused a blowout due to there not being enough meat to grab.This was where I r
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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 of my personal favorites). Without further ado, here is a recap of what happened during this build!Step One: The BoxLike a lot of builders out there, I started with a box. Not just any box however, this was a box that I had some history with. I
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29th Jul 2016