CigarFox

The cigar box guitar is an instrument that has fascinated many guitar players, mainly in relation to whether they are real musical instruments. Many people who have learnt how to make a cigar box guitar have done so simply to give their children something to amuse themselves with but the truth is they can make serious music. The origin of the cigar box guitar is in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when there were many people seeking to express themselves through music but could not afford to but real musical instruments. The use of homemade musical instruments like the cigar box guitar had a resurgence in the years of The Great Depression.

The need for improvised musical instruments led to the proliferation of jug bands which gave people the opportunity to play melodies and generate rhythm for dancing using homemade instruments. So musical gatherings featuring washtubs, spoons and kazoos became commonplace in communities all over America. Gourds with guitar necks attached originally provided the basis of homemade guitars but as cigars began to be shipped in small boxes and the boxes were left lying around the house, sooner or later somebody had to try them out as resonators for guitars. The neck for your average cigar box guitar was often a broom handle with one or two strings attached.

If you want to make your own cigar box guitar you will need some basic tools: a box cutter or pocket knife, a hacksaw, a drill, some fine and coarse grade sandpaper. The raw materials for making your guitar are: a cigar box, a one inch by two inch piece of lightweight soft wood (poplar is a good choice), a dozen one inch nails, wood glue, some wood stain and an applicator. To tune your cigar box guitar just buy three tuning pegs from your local musical instruments store. Their are plans available from expert cigar box guitar makers, in fact there is even a Yahoo Group you can join.

Once you have made your three string cigar box guitar you have several options for tuning. These tunings are from bass to treble: A E A, G D G, A E G.

Many guitar legends are supposed to have played cigar box guitars but not many are talking openly about it. Here is an unverified list of reputed cigar box guitar players who have made names for themselves using conventional instruments: Rockabilly legend Carl Perkins, jazz guitarist George Benson, epitome of refinement Ted Nugent plus other noted musicians like BB King and Jimi Hendrix.

There are also guitarists who make and play their cigar box guitars as their sole musical outlet. One cigar box guitar mover and shaker is Shane Speal, the curator of the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum in York, PA. Shane is archiving cigar box guitar history. He has found the earliest known plans for a cigar box banjo (circa 1870), unearthed etchings of Civil War Soldiers playing cigar the box fiddle and owns a genuine dated and signed cigar box violin from 1899.

John Lowe, a musician and bookstore owner from Memphis who makes electric cigar box guitars called Lowebows. They are made from two oak dowel rods, a wooden cigar box, three guitar strings and a bass string. You play Lowebow with a slide. Lowe’s repertoire has everything from Johnny Cash to Iggy Pop. You can find him busking on Beale Street.

About the Author:

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? http://playaguitarforfree.com/ is my blog which shows you that there are many people like you who wish to learn how to play bass, acoustic or electric guitar. You will find guitar lessons, videos, articles and reviews to answer your questions, calm your fears and help you play the guitar.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Cigar Box Guitars – Their History and Players

cigar box slide guitar-banjo

I need idea’s on what to get my daddy for Christmas, and I don’t buy things for people.?

Here’s what I’m getting the rest of my family…Mom..I’m buying a flock of chickens to feed a family for the Heifer foundation, and a worry doll. Younger sister..I’m taking her to see a foreign film and ethnic dinner, older sister– extending a Micro-loan in her name she’ll get the money back at the end of a year. Brother-I’m buying him into a Charity poker event. I’m completely out of idea’s. I try to get something that fits their personality and that gives for more than a day..he like golf, cigars, bowling, hunting, working, money, reading, and owns his own business.

oh i bet he would love to play a round of golf with you! he’d get to spend time with you which is a plus. and even if you don’t like golf you could drive the cart and eat lunch with him. do that, he’ll love it. and maybe get him a new golf club or some new golf balls.

Huge Bear Cigar Daddy Flexes

How do you get the frets right on a cigar box guitar? Mine is not intonated very well.?

How do you get the frets right on a cigar box guitar? Mine is not intonated very well.?
I used the 24.5 inch diagram off of cigarboxguitars.com and printed it out then affixed it to the neck that I made but the sound is not in tune. Is there an easier way to put frets on cigar box guitars so I can actually get the frets intonated right so that you can play chords on it…

Measure the distance from the bottom of the nut to the 12th fret.

Add 3/16″

This distance should equal the distance from 12th fret to bridge saddle. If it doesn’t then you’ll have to move the saddle and/or bridge.

A Cigar Box Guitar Builder’s Guide to Stringing and Tuning / Bottleneck Slide Blues / Open Tuning

When you have the need to really change things in your life and you have the courage to pick up the challenge, you will find Blue Moon opportunities on an almost daily basis. However, there are some who are just too smart for their boots and try to create opportunities where there aren’t any.

A North Carolina man purchased a box of rare and very expensive cigars, and promptly insured them against fire. The temptation to light up just one of the rarities, sit back and enjoy its luxury, proved too much for him. He then proceeded to smoke his way through the entire box, within a few weeks. This of course, was without having bothered to pay even the first premium on the insurance policy.

“My rare cigars have been lost through a series of small fires,” was the man’s claim to the insurance company. A claim the company refused to pay up on. They said the man had consumed the cigars in a normally acceptable way. They of course had no proof of this, apart from the man’s own confession.

The judge agreed the claim was frivolous, however the court acknowledged the man was holding a policy from the insurance company, which warranted the cigars as being insurable and covered against fire. The judge pointed out the insurance company had failed to specify what form of fire was unacceptable.

Apart from a costly process of fighting the court, the insurance company was forced to accept the judge’s ruling. The judge awarded the owner of the cigars $15,000, through loss by fire.The insurance company appeared to graciously retire, until the man cashed the cheque. Believing he had thoroughly outsmarted the insurance company, through what seemed to be a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity, the man proceeded with his plan to spend the money.

Once the cheque was presented at the bank, the insurance company ordered the man to be arrested on a count of twenty-four acts of arson. The man’s testimony from the previous court case was used to condemn him. Convicted of deliberately burning insured property, the man was sentenced to twenty-four months in jail, besides being charged to pay a $24,000 fine.In a world where cigarette smoking has become socially unacceptable, the world’s largest cigar is 45 foot long, according to the Guiness Book of Records. Castelar surpassed his own record of a 35-foot cigar created in 2000.

It is certainly something to choke on. How many months jail would the North Carolina guy get if he could insure and then smoke the biggest cigar?

About the Author:

Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are the CEO’sYouMe Support Foundation and Child Trust Fund. They offer a genuine Blue Moon Opportunity, which could not only change your life, but the lives of some really great kids. Take just a few minutes to check it out atWin A Resort.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Blue Smoke Cost Him Big Time

electronic cigarette black mini with blue LED demo

I’m making a cigar box guitar and I need a little help?

I don’t have any tuning pegs around… is there anything I can use instead of tuning pegs?

Hello there,

I would advise you to buy actual tuning pegs if you plan to play the guitar. I have played string instruments that used wooden pegs for tuners. That was common with vintage (antique) ukes.

The problem with those sort of tuning pegs is that they do not hold the string in tune as you play. The string constantly goes out of tune. You have to retune the string after a song, sometimes part way through a song. That is no way to play. That is a problem on a lot of cheap guitars. The tuning pegs do not hold tune. Homemade ones will not likely hold tune either.

Avoid the headache and buy the tuning pegs. You can buy some off eBay for a few bucks. Money well spent.

Later,

American Folk Blues Prison Ballad / Cigar Box Guitar / Bottleneck Slide / Open Tuning

Guinness / Cigar Box Guitar / Violin Diddley bow slide