How to Build a One-String Vibro Fiddle - 1937
These plans for an experimental diddley bow use an electric door bell clapper as a Dick Dale-style hyper tremolo picker. Fascinating...
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Shane Speal
- Oct 5, 2020
- 5 min
How to Make a Pre-Blues Cigar Box Violin
Before the blues showed up in the 1920's, there were minstrel shows and Vaudeville theater. Central to many of these shows was a...
1,645 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 29, 2020
- 2 min
How to Make a Simple Diddley Bow Pickup
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...
2,822 views3 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 24, 2020
- 2 min
How to Build a Super Tub Bass (an improved upright gutbucket bass)
An old time cigar box guitar sometimes needs some accompaniment, so we offer some classic free plans for a hot-rodded washtub bass guitar....
5,045 views4 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 22, 2020
- 2 min
Virginia's Cigar Box Fiddle, May 3, 1946
Several weeks ago, I received a message from fellow cigar box guitarist, Clint Herriman stating that he had discovered another historic...
585 views2 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 18, 2020
- 2 min
How to Tie Fret Knots (Fretting Instruments with String)
How to Tie Fret Knots Parts needed: monofilament nylon fishing line (10 to 15lb test). Tools needed: Scissors Small file Fret Calculator....
1,575 views3 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 18, 2020
- 1 min
Dangerous Electric Cigar Box Guitar Plans from 1919
Don't try this at home! These plans were discovered by cigar box guitar builder and researcher, John "Reddog" McNair. I'm not sure...
749 views2 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 18, 2020
- 2 min
1886 Cigar Box Guitar Story: Little Boy Musician in Galveston, TX
Imagine digging through countless newspaper articles for any mention of a cigar box guitar and then discovering a full story of a young...
402 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 15, 2020
- 3 min
How to Make Musical Instruments from Cigar Boxes, 1923
Pictured: A small round box ukulele, circa 1920's. The following plans are less detailed than others in our archives, but they give some...
560 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 14, 2020
- 6 min
Cigar Box Guitar Heroes: Music legends and their cigar box guitars
The Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band, New Orleans LA, 1899 “So I went ahead and made me a guitar. I got me a cigar box, I cut me a round hole in...
1,512 views0 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 11, 2020
- 3 min
How to Build a 4-String Cigar Box Guitar
Here's a simple cigar box guitar design I came up with using a shovel handle from Lowes. It's presented here in 'builder's diary' form,...
3,668 views0 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 10, 2020
- 5 min
How to Build a Cigar Box Banjo (Published 1884)
(Pictured: 5-string cigar box banjo, circa 2005. Unknown builder. The design is similar to the banjo plans featured here.) Shane's note:...
3,036 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 9, 2020
- 7 min
History of the Cigar Box Guitar
by Shane Speal ​ "On Saturdays, barbers sat their customers in the shade on the porch of the Store, and troubadours on their ceaseless...
5,081 views4 comments
Shane Speal
- Sep 4, 2020
- 1 min
Henry Wood's Cigar Box Violin Story, 1940's
I’d snatch a violin bow and I’d play that one-string fiddle while Mr. Statz would try to make his announcements...
151 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 4, 2020
- 3 min
Is this the original Hurdy Gurdy Man?
There was a Turk, of a most pompous appearance, who entertained crowds in the street by playing on an instrument of five strings passed over
153 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 4, 2020
- 3 min
How to Build a 5-String Cigar Box Mandolin (1922)
These historic plans from 1922 show how to build a five-string mandolin from a cigar box.
454 views1 comment
Shane Speal
- Sep 4, 2020
- 2 min
How to Craft a Bottleneck Guitar Slide
This article was taken from the original CigarBoxGuitars.com archives. You’ll need Wine bottle with long neck Glass cutter Masking tape...
1,181 views5 comments
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