Cigar box guitar

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A collection of various cigar box guitars

The cigar box guitar is a primitive chordophone whose resonator is a discarded cigar box. Because the instrument is homemade, there is no standard for dimensions, string types or construction techniques. Many early cigar box guitars consisted of only one or two strings that were attached to the ends of a broomstick that was inserted into the cigar box. Other cigar box guitars were more complex, with the builder attempting to simulate a traditional string instrument such as a guitar, banjo, or fiddle.

Contents

[edit] History

Cigar boxes in their current form did not exist exist prior to the 1840s.[1][verification needed] 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.

Cigars were extremely popular in the 19th Century, and therefore, many empty cigar boxes would be lying around the house. The earliest proof of a cigar box instrument found so far is an etching of two Civil War Soldiers at a campsite with one playing a cigar box fiddle. The etching was created by French artist Edwin Forbes who worked as an official artist for the Union Army. The etching was included in Forbes work Life Stories of the Great Army, copyrighted in 1876. In this work, the cigar box fiddle appears to sport an advanced viola-length neck attached to a ‘Figaro’ cigar box.

In addition to the etching, plans for a cigar box banjo were published by Daniel Carter Beard, founder of the Boy Scouts of America, in St. Nicholas Magazine, potentially in the 1870s. The plans, entitled ‘How to Build an Uncle Enos Banjo’ showed a step-by-step description for a playable 5-string fretless banjo made from a cigar box. Searching through an archive of the St. Nicholas magazine does not immediately reveal that Daniel C. Beard wrote an article with this same title, however, nor that he published the plans at all in that magazine. It is more likely that the plans for the Uncle Enos Banjo were first printed in the American Boy’s Handy Book in 1882 as supplementary material in the rear of the book as suggested in its prologue. (Beard, Daniel Carter (1882). The American Boy's Handy Book. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0879234490. )

It would seem that the earliest cigar box instruments would be extremely crude and primitive, however, this is not always the case. The National Cigar Box Guitar Museum 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 bands and blues. 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 (similar to the cigar box guitar), jugs, washboards, and harmonica, black musicians performed blues during socializations.

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw a resurgence of homemade musical instruments. 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.

[edit] 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 luthiers adding cigar box guitars to their items for sale.[citation needed]

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.

Another factor in the current revival can be attributed to many musicians' desire for a more primal sound. Blues guitarists, in particular, have picked up the cigar box guitar in an attempt to play Delta Blues in its purest form.

The modern revival of cigar box guitars is documented in the 2008 film, "Songs Inside The Box" (http://www.songsinsidethebox.com) which was shot primarily at an annual Huntsville, Alabama event called the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza.

[edit] Notable performers

So I went ahead and made me a guitar. I got me a cigar box, I cut me a round hole in the middle of it, take me a little piece of plank, nailed it onto that cigar box, and I got me some screen wire and I made me a bridge back there and raised it up high enough that it would sound inside that little box, and got me a tune out of it. I kept my tune and I played from then on.
—Lightnin' Hopkins

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ According to Dr. Tony Hyman, curator of the National Cigar Museum
  2. ^ http://www.watoday.com.au/news/entertainment/music/seasick-steve-on-a-roll/2009/04/09/1239222961341.html
  3. ^ The complete peanuts by Charles Schulz

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar_box_guitar"