ABOUT CIGARBOX GUITARS

Cigar Box Guitars go way back in time. Together with the blues, they are the wonder-kids of  poverty and oppression.

 

CBG's were made from a broomstick, some kind of box, and a piece of wire stolen from a screendoor. Mostly having no frets, for an unmuffled clear tone, they had to be played with a slide (pieces of metal piping, bottlenecks and even knifes). These single stringed models are called "diddley bow" and still being made. At the beginning of the  guitar documentary "Make it Loud" we can see Jack White building and playing one. Quite impressive!

Of course normal guitars also existed then. And who had the skills, in either way, built a piece with more strings to be able to accompany his solo's with some groundtones. Because of the complexity of the construction most of these guitars were limited to two or three strings. The last being able to be tuned in every possible chord.

You might think cigarbox guitars are typical American, but during the First World wWar and following depression in Europe, quite a lot of these instruments show up on the frontline and poor parts of big towns; the kind of places where people need some music to lighten the soul. And though those musicians will not have played a typical blues, I'm  convinced the intention of their music must have been very much the same.

It's not my purpose to give you the complete CBG-story here, I'm no historian. Most of my information I simply found surfing on the internet. And if you want to learn more, I'll give you a few random links here to start right down here.

What 's most important  for me is that the typical sound and character of this kind of instrument is clearly connected to a kind of music I love. It's the kind of music that formed the base for all modern popular music.

 

Wikipedia on CBG's

A Blog about CBG's and comparable instruments

About Joe Willie Duncan, a diddley bow hero