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Thanks everyone for the compliments!

I'll be doing some more gadgetry after I finish my first cigarbox guitar and as soon as I'm done with my dissertation.

Only problem now is I won't be able to clean out any old garbage without reprimands from my better half who is even more of a pack-rat than I am!

And thanks again :-)

Added by J. K. on May 18, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Well ,here we go,,,,,,,,

Its the weekend before memorial Day and I built as many 1 stringers as I could for this weekend.

I brought a total of 7 Didely Bows and 2 3 stringers.

I sold all the 1 stringers I had of the wood type Cigar box and 1 of the 3 stringers.

For the last couple of weekends I have noticed a trend in my area.

Paint it RED and its as good as sold,,,,,,.2 of the 1 stringers I painted RED ,1 with a matching red neck and 1 with a wood grain neck.

The ALL RED DB was the 1st… Continue

Added by Roger Martin on May 17, 2009 at 3:54pm — No Comments

Uploaded photos.

Photos of the amp-project is up with small descriptions and a link to where I got the plans.

So this is my first project finished for cigar box nation and also the first project I've done in a long time.

Last time I did some soldering of this type was to fix a neglected old fuzz/wahwah pedal from Colorsound that needed some pot-changes and added a 9 volt battery holder to it. Sounds awesome!

Added by J. K. on May 12, 2009 at 9:45pm — No Comments

My amp is finally finished

Finished the soldering two days ago, added the built in speaker to the mono-out breaker so when it's plugged to a speaker cabinet, the internal speaker turns off.

I was looking for something to build it into but couldn't find any plastic or metal boxes that would fit the small speaker I had. But then I found a magic 8 ball that had too little fluid left in it to work and the hole looked big enough for the speaker to work without modification.

How to disassemble a magic 8… Continue

Added by J. K. on May 12, 2009 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

Getting close...

So this weekend, I'll have my tuners and will _finally_ finish my first CBG. I have strung it up, but with eyebolts and it cannot hold a tune. So I've bought some tuners and we'll see.

Added by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on May 12, 2009 at 3:43am — No Comments

New Pictures added to the slide show

Hi All I am adding more pictures to my slide show to day. I hope you enjoy them.
Larry

Added by Larry McPheeters on May 5, 2009 at 4:55am — No Comments

Number 3

Here is number 3 in my "beginner series" of CBGs. I shortened the neck so the scale will be 24.5, but I think I am leaving it as fretless for now. The next one I make will be fretted.

Added by Dan Sleep on May 3, 2009 at 3:27pm — No Comments

Beginning of an Addiction

Added by David Fultz on April 29, 2009 at 1:38pm — No Comments

HIGH Voltage

Added by David Fultz on April 29, 2009 at 1:36pm — No Comments

New Song

I added a new song I made up last week on my new 4 string CBG, just finished it today. A little rough as far as the electronics , I need to find a nice 4 pole pup for the guitar then I could really rock. The piezo is not bad but would really like a better pup for it. Anybody getting rid of one let me know.

Added by Steve Winchell on April 26, 2009 at 4:05pm — No Comments

Well I've changed the name of my lil Comapny,,,,,,,

My Co. name has been Raging Rog Banjo Co. for over a year now,,,,,,,

But when the economy shut down the banjo biznssss shut down too. But its a good thing because I really didnt enjoy building banjos as much as I thought I would.When I built my 1st CBG now THAT I enjoyed!!!!!!!!!

So, as of this week my new lil biznsssssss is now called ,,,,,,,," YES YOU CAN!"

My sign sits beside my table set up I use at the shop to display and play on.

People come up and say " yes I can… Continue

Added by Roger Martin on April 26, 2009 at 3:55am — No Comments

The "Chameleon" guitar

So the more I looked at the area where the strings would touch the top of the box, the more I didn't like it. So, I decided to add a fingerboard and see what happened. I found some 1/4 inch red oak and poplar at the Home Depot that were perfect for the job. The 1/4 inch was just enough to raise the fingerboard high enough to make it more playable and resolve the problem with the strings touching the box.

I used the poplar, thinking that it would give the overall look some contrast. I… Continue

Added by Dan Sleep on April 24, 2009 at 1:57am — No Comments

99% Done

Well, I finished up the first prototype CBG. I still need to put a permanent bridge and nut on it, but I have a friend coming over who plays guitar to check it out and make suggestions as needed. Once we get the action figured out, I will replace the bridge and nut with permanent ones and glue them down.

I did notice that if I play a note much farther than about halfway up the neck, the strings will hit the edge of the cigar box lid. I moved the bridge around a bit to eliminate some… Continue

Added by Dan Sleep on April 22, 2009 at 10:35am — No Comments

"Songs Inside The Box" at On Location: Memphis film festival

"Songs Inside The Box," the cigar box guitar documentary will be shown twice during the On Location: Memphis International Film Festival. It will open a special block of film for seniors on Friday, April 24th at 12:30 and it will also be shown on Saturday, April 25th at 5:00 p.m. Johnny Lowebow, a Memphis cigar box guitar builder and musician will be present for both screenings to show off some of his instruments and play some of his music. The festival will take place at Malco's Ridgeway Four… Continue

Added by Max Shores on April 22, 2009 at 7:54am — 2 Comments

Finding my mistakes

As I started dry assembling my CBG, I found some of my mistakes. I mis-measured the length of the neck that needs to fit inside the box, so my holes and rivets for the strings were now in the wrong place. It would have worked, but I didn't like the way it looked. I re-measured (thanks Bob Vila, measure twice, cut once) and re-drilled the holes. This actually worked out OK because when I drilled the first set of holes, I hand drilled them since I don't have a drill press. (got to get one soon)… Continue

Added by Dan Sleep on April 22, 2009 at 6:04am — No Comments

PBS Show

Awesome! I just bought my brother a Fender American Strat. He's been a Gibson player all his life. He got into acoustics and got a Tak and a Martin. I think now is the time for a new addition to the guitar collection.

Added by Chas Boyce on April 21, 2009 at 7:10pm — No Comments

More stuff

I paid a visit to Ace Hardware for some supplies. I found that I could use some pop rivets (Part # 2014041, 1/8") and knock the pins out of them. If I take 2 of the remaining sleeves, I can put them into the string holes on the bottom of the neck, one from the top, and one from the bottom. They are just long enough to meet in the middle of the 1x2 neck piece. I can feed the string up from the bottom and the sleeves will protect the wood from the strings while being played.

The… Continue

Added by Dan Sleep on April 21, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Made a uke! no frets yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&feature=channel_page&v=sidUd2ZYuhc

Added by Sloth King on April 21, 2009 at 4:43am — No Comments

Getting started

A friend of mine posted a link to a video of Shane Speal playing some blues on one of his CBGs, and I loved that original bluesy sound! Since they seemed relatively easy to make, I thought I would give it a go.

I used to work at a cigar bar, so I know some of the folks there. I stopped in there Sunday morning after they opened and picked up some nice all wood boxes to start with.

I went to Home Depot and got a 9 foot length of red oak for the neck/s. It will be a really… Continue

Added by Dan Sleep on April 20, 2009 at 9:50am — No Comments

News, News, News!

Cool news and updates:

1. It looks like I'm going to be in my local paper (maybe). I've been contacted by a reporter who wants to meet this week for an interview for my guitars. Yay me!

2. I just finished a guitar for this guy named Dennis Casey. He's in this group called Flogging Molly. I didn't even realize who the guy was until half way through the build. Stupid me. Pretty cool, though.

Added by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on April 20, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments