Cigar Box Guitar Articles

Have you ever noticed the wooden back piece of a conventional banjo. These are called resonators and their job is to keep the sound...

These plans for an experimental diddley bow use an electric door bell clapper as a Dick Dale-style hyper tremolo picker. Fascinating...

Before the blues showed up in the 1920's, there were minstrel shows and Vaudeville theater. Central to many of these shows was a...

This is probably the easiest electric diddley bow pickup/bridge combo I've ever seen. It is based on a one-string "diddley bow" guitar...

An old time cigar box guitar sometimes needs some accompaniment, so we offer some classic free plans for a hot-rodded washtub bass guitar....

How to Tie Fret Knots Parts needed: monofilament nylon fishing line (10 to 15lb test). Tools needed: Scissors Small file Fret Calculator....

Don't try this at home! These plans were discovered by cigar box guitar builder and researcher, John "Reddog" McNair. I'm not sure...

Pictured: A small round box ukulele, circa 1920's. The following plans are less detailed than others in our archives, but they give some...

This DIY microphone sounds like you're singing through an old AM radio. It also gives the meanest harmonica mic tone ever. This free...

(Pictured: 5-string cigar box banjo, circa 2005. Unknown builder. The design is similar to the banjo plans featured here.) Shane's note:...

These historic plans from 1922 show how to build a five-string mandolin from a cigar box.

This article was taken from the original CigarBoxGuitars.com archives. You’ll need Wine bottle with long neck Glass cutter Masking tape...