Cigar Box Guitar Articles

A rake handle and wine box create a playable slide bass. These plans, originally in Modern Mechanics and Inventions, 1931

Build a great playing cigar box fiddle with plans straight from 1940.

This homemade banjo-guitar was handmade by Luther Oliver (1904-1987) of Western Watauga County, North Carolina in 1919. He was only 15.

This primitive homemade banjo was found in a barn in North Carolina. The strings and bridge are long gone and the tin can body is rusted all

The Hee Haw Plank is a solidbody dulcimer designed by musician, Tut Taylor and marketed on the Hee Haw TV show in 1976. The instrument's...

Cook was inspired by three string cigar box guitars with neck-through-body design, but he wanted to make a solidbody version.

A two-string slide guitar made from a canoe paddle. Built by Shane Speal. How to build link included

Four-string cigar box guitar that was found in an old car abandoned in a field in Danville VA.

The neck and body are all one piece of wood. Leaf patterns are carved into the sides of the body and the inside was hollowed out. The butt

A scarcely recognizable, but truly lineal descendant of the humble cigar-box fiddle has made its maiden appearance on the American vaudevill

The publication challenged its readers to create new things from empty boxes. Of course, a one-string cigar box violin is mentioned

Although this website is mainly concerned with DIY cigar box guitars, I can't help but pass along cool articles like these 54 year old...

Vintage plans from 1923 showing a simple banjo made from a tin pie pan.

This three-string cigar box guitar was crafted from a discarded exit sign by Gary Desrosiers.

The Tremoloa was created & patented in 1932 by H.G. Finney to cash in on the Hawaiian music craze and features a warbling slide contraption

Musician and historian, Jim Morris restores 100 year old cigar box fiddle & creates an authentic copy.

Build an eight-string lyre with cigar box resonator. The plans call for zither pin style pegs and a wooden frame.

John Cougar’s “Jack & Diane” is a great song to get acquainted with four-string cigar box guitar chording. I’ve broken down this 80’s

How to build a fretless, four string cigar box instrument. Full parts list & step-by-step diagrams. From 1927

My latest lesson is a blues burner, the classic “Midnight Rambler” by The Rolling Stones. You’ll need a fretted, four-string cigar box guit