Cigar box guitar
Encyclopedia
Chordophone
A chordophone is any musical instrument that makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification....
that uses an empty cigar box
Cigar box
Cigar boxes are popular juggling props. Their rectangular shape resembles that of its namesake; they are sometimes padded on the ends and/or the sides with a felt-like material....
for a resonator
Resonator
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior, that is, it naturally oscillates at some frequencies, called its resonant frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others. The oscillations in a resonator can be either electromagnetic or mechanical...
. "Guitar" refers to the traditional instrument and to a string bass. The earliest predecessors had one or two strings compared with the three or more used in today's models. Generally speaking, strings are connected between the end of a broomstick or 1" x 3" wood slat and to the resonator, the cigar box
Cigar box
Cigar boxes are popular juggling props. Their rectangular shape resembles that of its namesake; they are sometimes padded on the ends and/or the sides with a felt-like material....
.
History
Cigars were packed in boxes, crates, and barrels as early as 1800, but the small sized boxes that we are familiar with today did not exist prior to around 1840. Until then, cigars were shipped in larger crates containing 100 or more per case. After 1840, cigar manufacturers started using smaller, more portable boxes with 20-50 cigars per box.Trace evidence of cigar box instruments exist from 1840 to the 1860s. The earliest illustrated proof of a cigar box instrument known is an etching copyrighted in 1876 of two Civil War Soldiers at a campsite with one playing a cigar box fiddle. The etching was created by illustrator and artist Edwin Forbes who, under the banner of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, worked for the Union Army. The etching was included in Forbes work Life Stories of the Great Army. In the etching, the cigar box fiddle clearly shows the brand ‘Figaro’ on the cigar box.
In addition to the etching, plans for a cigar box banjo were published by Daniel Carter Beard
Daniel Carter Beard
Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America .-Early life:...
, co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
, in 1884 as part of 'Christmas Eve With Uncle Enos.' The plans, eventually retitled ‘How to Build an Uncle Enos Banjo’ as part of Beard's American Boy’s Handy Book in the 1890 release as supplementary material in the rear of the book. These plans omitted the story but still showed a step-by-step description for a playable 5-string fretless banjo made from a cigar box.
It would seem that the earliest cigar box instruments would be extremely crude and primitive; however, this is not always the case. According to Bill Jehle, curator of The National Cigar Box Guitar Museum, and author of One Man's Trash: A History of the Cigar Box Guitar, has acquired two cigar box fiddles built in 1886 and 1889 that seem very playable and well built. The 1886 fiddle was made for an 8 year old boy and is certainly playable, but the 1889 fiddle has a well carved neck and slotted violin headstock. The latter instrument was made for serious playing.
The cigar box guitars and fiddles were also important in the rise of jug band
Jug band
A Jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. These home-made instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making of sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, stovepipe and comb & tissue paper...
s and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
. As most of these performers were black Americans living in poverty, many could not afford a "real" instrument. Using these, along with the washtub bass
Washtub bass
The washtub bass, or "gutbucket", is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by...
(similar to the cigar box guitar), jugs, washboard
Washboard
A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
s, and harmonica, black musicians performed blues during socializations.
The Great Depression of the 1930s saw a resurgence of homemade musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s. Times were hard in the American south and for entertainment sitting on the front porch singing away their blues was a popular pastime. Musical instruments were beyond the means of everybody, but an old cigar box, a piece of broom handle and a couple wires from the screen door and a guitar was born.
Modern revival
A modern revival of these instruments (also known as the Cigar Box Guitar Revolution) has been gathering momentum with an increase in cigar box guitar builders and performers. A loose-knit tour of underground musicians tour the East Coast (US) each summer under the banner "Masters of the Cigar Box Guitar Tour." These musicians include Doctor Oakroot, Johnny Lowebow, Tomi-O and many others. Also, there is a growing number of primitive luthiersLuthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
adding cigar box guitars to their items for sale. Of the more noteworthy cigar box guitar makers is Shane Speal
Shane Speal
Shane Speal is an American musician, historian and instrument builder, known as the "King of the Cigar Box Guitar" and recognized as the creator of the modern cigar box guitar movement. He is the creator of http://www.cigarboxnation.com, a large network and history site for cigar box guitars...
, the so-called "King of the Cigar Box Guitar."
Modern revival is sometimes due to interest in jugband and the DIY culture, as a cigar box is relatively inexpensive when considering other factors, such as strings and construction time. Many modern cigar box guitar can thus be seen as a type of practice in lutherie, and implement numerous personal touches, such as the addition of pick up and resonator cones into it.
The modern revival of cigar box guitars is documented in the 2008 film, "Songs Inside The Box" which was shot primarily at an annual Huntsville, Alabama event called the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza.
Notable performers
- Luther Dickinson, the guitarist of the North Mississippi AllstarsNorth Mississippi AllstarsNorth Mississippi Allstars is a Southern rock/blues jam band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson , and Chris Chew...
, uses an electric cigar box guitar called the "Lowebow." - Billy GibbonsBilly GibbonsWilliam Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...
of ZZ TopZZ TopZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
performs with a cigar box guitar made by Kurt Schoen. - Richard JohnstonRichard Johnston (musician)Richard Johnston is a country blues musician who won the 2001 International Blues Talent competition award, and the 2001 Albert King Award for most promising blues guitarist. His work as a street musician on Beale Street in Memphis, TN was documented in the Alabama PBS film Richard Johnston: Hill...
, the subject of the 2005 Max Shores documentary Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour, performs with a Lowebow. Johnston helped design the instrument with the builder, John Lowe. - Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
plays cigar box banjo on his album Real GoneReal GoneReal Gone is an album by Tom Waits, released October 3, 2004 in Europe, and October 5 in United States on the ANTI- label.The album features some of the few political songs Waits has ever written, the most explicit being "Day After Tomorrow", a song Waits has described as an "elliptical" protest...
. - Seasick SteveSeasick SteveSteven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician. He plays guitars, and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work.-Childhood and early life:...
plays several personalised and obscure instruments including a cigar box guitar - Ed KingEd KingEdward C. King is an American musician. He is best known as the guitarist for psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock and Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd....
of Lynyrd SkynyrdLynyrd SkynyrdLynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
plays a cigar box guitar made by Tomi-O. - Harry ManxHarry ManxHarry Manx is a musician who blends blues, folk music, and Hindustani classical music. He was born in the Isle of Man where he spent his childhood and now lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada....
, a Hindustani slide master, plays a Lowebow cigar box guitar. - Chris BallewChris BallewChristopher "Chris" Ballew is a member of the alternative rock group The Presidents of the United States of America and performs as a children's artist under the pseudonym Caspar Babypants....
, lead singer of The Presidents of the United States of AmericaThe Presidents of the United States of America (band)The Presidents of the United States of America, commonly referred to as Pot USA or "PUSA" or The Presidents, are a twice Grammy-nominated American alternative rock band. The band formed in Seattle, USA, in 1993. The three-piece group currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew,...
, has recorded with a one-string cigar box bass made by Shane Speal. - Kevin M. Kraft, an eclectic singer-songwriter in Kansas City, Missouri, uses, as his instrument of choice his own home-built cigar box slide guitars almost exclusively, and as an independent filmmaker featured the diddly bow in his critically acclaimed short film DRIFTERS.
- Joe BuckJoe BuckJoseph Francis "Joe" Buck is an American sportscaster and the son of legendary sportscaster Jack Buck. He has won numerous Sports Emmy Awards for his play-by-play work with Fox Sports.-Education:...
, one-man-band performer and also a member of Hank Williams IIIHank Williams IIIShelton Hank Williams, known as Hank 3 , is a neotraditional country and punk metal singer, drummer, bassist, and guitarist. In addition to his honky tonk recordings, Williams' style alternates among country, punk and metal...
's band AssjackAssjackAssjack is an American punk metal band led by Hank Williams III and Garrett Bremer . Assjack is one of the three features of Williams's live show, and they started off playing psychobilly material throughout 2008 to 2010, until they evolved into a strictly metal/punk band.-Career:For Assjack's long...
, plays a cigar box guitar made by Tomi-O. - Robert HamiltonRobert HamiltonRobert Hamilton was a Scottish mathematician and political economist. He was a founder member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh....
of the Low-Country MessiahsLow-Country MessiahsThe Low-Country Messiahs are an ambient blues ensemble from Lowell, Massachusetts, active since 2003. The group was founded by former Sub Pop recording artist Green Magnet School drummer Robert Hamilton and guitarist Brian Watkins. The music features home-made cigar box guitars and primitive,...
plays a 3-string Tomi-O cigar box guitar. - PJ HarveyPJ HarveyPolly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
plays a Baratto Cigfiddle. - Charlie BrownCharlie BrownCharles "Charlie" Brown is the protagonist in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.Charlie Brown and his creator have a common connection in that they are both the sons of barbers, but whereas Schulz's work is described as the "most shining example of the American success story", Charlie...
, of the PeanutsPeanutsPeanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
comic stripComic stripA comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, played a cigar-box banjo a few times in his first years (early 1950s) - Lightnin' HopkinsLightnin' HopkinsSam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
Played a cigar box guitar at times and said this on the subject:
- Alain JohannesAlain JohannesAlain Johannes Moschulski is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven...
plays a cigar box guitar in the entirety of his first solo record called "Spark", and also on tour. - Reverend Peyton of The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn BandThe Reverend Peyton's Big Damn BandThe Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band is a three-piece American country blues band from Brown County, Indiana. They play more than 250 dates per year at venues ranging from bars to festivals. To date, they have released seven albums, the most recent is Peyton on Patton a tribute to blues pioneer...
plays a three string cigar box guitar.