Cigar Box Nation recently broke the story about legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood trying his hand at a cigar box guitar. Turns out it was a Daddy Mojo built by our friend Lenny Robert. Get the full details from the feature article over at CigarBoxNation.com!
Category: General News
A Stick, Some Strings, and a Box… Sounds like a Plan!
Free Cigar Box Guitar Blues Album
Did you know that there’s a bunch of free cigar box guitar music available over at CigarBoxNation.com? It’s true! For years, CBN members have been contributing to compilation albums that are then made available for free download.
Here’s a great one to get started with: the 2012 Cigar Box Nation Blues album, made up of 27 tracks that are a mix of originals and covers.
One of the great things about the Cigar Box Nation community is the massive amount of free music offered by our musicians. So…what’s the next great download album gonna be?
Product Feature: The Electric Delta 3-pole Cigar Box Guitar Pickup
FINALLY! An inexpensive magnetic pickup for 3-string Cigar Box Guitars!
For years, cigar box guitar builders have been asking for 3-pole pickups specifically for 3-string cigar box guitars, but that has always been the rather pricey realm of the hand-wound pickup makers. Now, those days are over, with the introduction of the C. B. Gitty “Electric Delta” 3-pole single-coil pickup. With its laser-engraved wood-top bobbin, wooden bobbin base and pre-wired 1/4″ output jack, popping one of these little growlers into your next cigar box guitar build is a no-brainer.
Priced as low as $16.99, this pre-wired pickup system is ready to install, no soldering or additional wiring required.
Video: Tom Waits with a Cigar Box Guitar in the Band
Check out this video of a live Tom Waits show, where one of the band members is playing a cigar box guitar!
Shane Speal – Seduced Into Crafting: My Life as a Sound Searcher
Shane Speal was recently invited by the business community of York PA to deliver a PechaKucha* speech on the art of crafting. He used the opportunity to express how the cigar box guitar changed his life.
Source: York:Crafted, a series of events featuring brief lectures on what it means to be a craftsman in York, PA.
*PechaKucha speech format allots for 20 slides/20 seconds per slide.
York:Crafted official Facebook
Jeff Daniels and sons playing Cigar Box Guitars Onstage
Jeff Daniels, in addition to being a great actor, is also an avid songwriter and musician. Recently he discovered cigar box guitars, and joined his son’s band onstage where they all had a spin on their CBGs. Good stuff!
Video Documentary on Argentinean Cigar Box Guitar Builder
This short documentary was put together by a group of student filmmakers. From the Vimeo post of the video:
“A glance into the life of Luis Schmied, an Argentinean banker whose true passion has always been music and happens to be a very talented maker of handcrafted cigar box guitars. He shares what sparked his curiosity for this peculiar hobby, his technique to make each instrument unique, and the emotion he gets by peoples’ response to his craft.”
Inside The Box – Short Documentary from Vinnie Zullo on Vimeo.
It’s Microwave Dave Day!
“Microwave” Dave Gallagher is one of the giants of the Cigar Box Guitar performance world, and a legendary figure in and around Huntsville, Alabama. He has been a big part of Huntsville’s cigar box guitar festival over the years and this year has been honored by the city with his own day – June 28 is officially Microwave Dave Day!
In honor of this special day, AL.com has published a nice article that tells the story of Microwave Dave, the man and the musician.
Click here or on the image to the right to check out the article.
John Nickel and Joe McCormack talk Cigar Box Guitars on Absolutely Alabama TV Show
Our friends John Nickel of Nickel Cigar Box Guitars and Joe McCormack of ALNA Cigar Box Guitars recently spent some time in front of the cameras, talking cigar box guitars with Fred Hunter of the Absolutely Alamaba TV show. John and Joe run the world’s first cigar box guitar retail shop down in Huntsville, Alabama, and are the center of an amazing community of builders and players in that area.
2015 Sound Hole Contest Winners Announced!
Congratulations to Logan Maxwell of Shinnston, WV for the winning entry!!!
Maxwell won the $100 C. B. Gitty gift certificate for his Tree of Life soundhole design. Maxell says about his design,
“I used curly maple for the neck and walnut for the body as well as the fingerboard. The sound hole for the back of the banjo is my rendition of the tree of life. I free-handed the outline then cut it on a scroll saw; then I took a dremel and rounded the edges. I did not keep track, but up to that point I probably already had about 3 hours in it. I’m sure I at least doubled that on sanding, by hand, making sure all the previous grit or cutting marks were taken off.”
More Winners & the Torturous Judging Process:
To say that judging this contest was a torturous process is an understatement. We received 54 amazing entries (see all of them here), each one unique and pushing the boundaries of homemade instruments. From scroll saw art to eye catching design work, each one could have been a winner.
But we could only pick three top winners and three honorable mentions. Sigh… These results will surely cause discussion and debate. Good art does that.
And this is good art.
Second Prize: $75 C. B. Gitty Gift Certificate is awarded to The 57 Chevy Flames by Jim Derrenbacker of Floral City, FL
Third Prize: $50 C. B. Gitty Gift Certificate is awarded to Jeff Cox of Fort Worth, TX and his popping skulls
Honorable Mentions: C. B. Gitty added additional prizes in the final weeks, including three honorable mentions. These builders will each receive a $25 C. B. Gitty gift certificate.
Thanks to everybody who submitted entries to the contest. Look for a new build-off contest coming soon…
-Ben and the C. B. Gitty Staff
Summer 2015 Cigar Box Guitar Festival Guide
CigarBoxNation.com has just posted the Summer 2015 guide to all of the main cigar box guitar festivals taking place in the United States and abroad. From the oldest festival (11th annual in Huntsville, AL) to the ones just getting started, it’s going to be a great year for CBG fests! Come on out to the ones nearest you to see great live music, check out cigar box guitar vendors and meet some of your fellow enthusiasts.