The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!
How to Build and Play Cigar Box Guitars and other Homemade Instruments
Just in time for the weekend, we bring you, perhaps, one of the easiest instruments you can make in a short time.
In the following clip from the 2008 documentary “It Might Get Loud”by Davis Guggenheim, Jack builds a one-string Diddley Bow in a little over a minute. With just a few nails, a coke bottle, and a single coil pickup, Jack illustrates very nicely what those of us in the know have said all along:
“Who says you need to buy a guitar?”
Written and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1958, “I Still Miss Someone” is a tune about longing and heartache.
One-Hand Dan Russell brings a how-to video, with included chord diagrams, on how you can play this on your Cigar Box Ukulele!
Lap steels have seen a bit of a new life among Cigar Box Guitar and homemade music enthusiasts. C. B. Gitty has put out an affordable, easy-to-build kit that can be built in an afternoon, out of a scrap piece of 2×4 timber!
But what if you have already built one of these fine instruments from the kit above, and are looking for a little bit more of a challenge?
Sent in to us in 2016 by “Hubcap John” Hayward, these plans were originally printed in Practical Wireless Magazine, a UK-based Amateur Radio Magazine back in 1965.
These schematics lay out the ground work from dimensions to wiring diagrams, that you can follow to build an electric Hawaiian-Style Lap Steel Guitar!
Click the image below to download these FREE PDF Plans!
The Twelve-Bar Blues is an important chord progression that has served as the basic melody for thousands of Rock and Blues songs over the years.
When considering where to begin with learning the basics for blues on your Cigar Box Guitar, one of the best places to start is learning this chord progression.
It can even be adapted for other open-chord tunings!
Click here for a free PDF Tab download and a bonus how-to play companion video by Ben “Gitty” Baker.
Friday is finally here and the weekend is only a short work day away. Why not celebrate by starting a new song to practice over the weekend?
Soutbound Strings brings tablature for “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen arranged for a 3-string, Open G (GDG) Cigar Box Guitar. A timeless and powerful classic, it’s hard not to close your eyes and get lost in the music.
Click here for the FREE PDF with a bonus instructional video!
One of the most common ways to eliminate the frustrating buzz and hum in your electric Cigar Box Guitar, is including the strings in the pickup circuit by grounding to the bridge.
But what do you do if you aren’t using a metal bridge?
Glenn Watt brings you an excellent article that explains how you can do just that.
Click the picture of a bewildered looking Glenn below to learn how you can ground without a metal bridge!
A pre-wired magnetic pickup harness are a great way to electrify your next Cigar Box Guitar. They are easy to install and can really add a great touch to your build.
In this how-to video, Craftsman Glenn Watt brings you step-by-step instructions on how to install one of these harnesses, specifically the “Florentine Screamer” by C. B. Gitty.
The instructions can even be adapted to install other pickups as well!
A frustrating problem to run into while building an Electric Cigar Box Guitar, is the dreaded Hum or Buzz when you first plug the guitar into an amp. It can be discouraging to new and experienced builders when trying to diagnose and fix the issue.
Enter this informative article by Ben “Gitty” Baker that can help to speed up the troubleshooting process. He presents some of the common sources that can cause the buzz and some tips and tricks that can help mitigate if not solve the issue altogether.
Click here to learn Ben’s tips on diagnosing the Hum and Buzz in your Electric Cigar Box Guitar!
What better way to shake off the Monday blues than learning a new song?
Glenn Watt arranged an excellent cover of “Voodoo Child” one of Jimi Hendrix’s most notable tunes. Here he provides a video showing how it can be played on your Open G Cigar Box Guitar and provides tablature so that you can play along.
The final part in a four part series, Gitty shows you some advanced techniques that can help increase the versatility of your canjo.
Click here to learn more about how to spice up your canjo playing.
The third part of Ben “Gitty” Baker’s introduction to Canjo’s jumps right into the basics of tuning your canjo, how to read tablature and demonstrates by teaching you how to play two well-known Songs: “Camptown Races” and “When the Saints Go Marching In”.
Click here to learn how easy it is to pick up and play a canjo!
Part two of a four part video series, Ben “Gitty” Baker dives into the details of what parts make up a canjo, American Canjo Company’s Diatonic fretting, the “Blue note” and more!
Click here to learn more about the composition of these instruments!