Spasm bands were a big part of New Orleans’ turn-of-the-century music scene. Cigar box guitars, fiddles and washtub basses all made regular appearances in the pool halls and on the street corners of the city, and played a role in the development of Jazz music! In fact, the first known use of the term “jazzy” to describe a musical performance was printed in reference to one of these spasm bands!
Homemade drum kits, like the one shown in this video, laid down the rhythmic backbones of these rag-tag groups. This video shows a young man, thought to be Kokomo Joe (a long-time street performer in the French Quarter), giving his homemade kit quite a workout.
Cigar box amp kits, inspiring books and a basic electric guitar kit are included in this unusual list.
Shane Speal has just posted his 2015 Gift Guide for Guitar World Magazine. Instead of just cigar box guitars and cigar box guitar kits, he’s suggested an amp kit and a few other unexpected items. Check it out.
In the pantheon of great guitar makers, Ed Stilley’s work stands alone like a castaway on its own musical island. Imperfect, bizarre and some even un-tunable to the modern equal temperament scale, his crudely made stringed instruments would make the most adventurous guitar collector shudder.Continue reading “The Fascinating World of Ed Stilley’s Guitars”
We just added a few more entries to our growing “Who’s Who” list of actively touring musicians who regularly feature cigar box guitars and other homemade/handmade instruments in their shows. Here are the most recent entries:
Did you know that you can convert conventional 6-string guitar tab into 3-string tab, for playing on a cigar box guitar? It’s true! Check out this post on CigarBoxNation.com from Cigar Box Guitar teacher Pat Curley, which explains how.