Shane Speal Sep 11 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, g...
Shane Speal Oct 16 2 min 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...
Shane Speal Oct 5 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 one-stri...
Shane Speal Sep 29 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 b...
Shane Speal Sep 25 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...
Shane Speal Sep 18 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....
Shane Speal Sep 18 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 wheth...
Shane Speal Sep 15 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...
Shane Speal Sep 15 1 min How to Make A Cool Lo-Fi Microphone from an Old Telephone This DIY microphone sounds like you're singing through an old AM radio. It also gives the meanest harmonica mic tone ever. This free pr...
Shane Speal Sep 10 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:...
Shane Speal Sep 4 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.
Shane Speal Sep 4 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 D...
