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Comment by 3 String Blues on July 16, 2017 at 11:44am

Check out this news story from 1911...more cool stuff is posted at

http://homemade-guitars.com/

New cigar box guitar history posted every day, lots of interesting videos and stories, come check it out http://homemade-guitars.com/

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 31, 2014 at 1:53am

early 1900's cigar box guitar! wonderful art on the back!

new find today on ebay, It seems I am finding this stuff more and more!!!

...nice piece of history, more info will be posted at http://homemade-guitars.com/

 

 

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 26, 2014 at 5:43am

1948 Cigar Box Bass Cello made from 50 cent box... the info on the back of the photo
will post more history at http://homemade-guitars.com/
nice old photo

 

sorry about the watermark its how I found it!...but still cool!

 

I will post more history at http://homemade-guitars.com/

 

nice bit of history!

 

 

 

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 23, 2014 at 5:31am

1930's Cigar Box Banjo from the Depression Era ...more history on cigar box guitars posted daily at http://homemade-guitars.com/

I'm trying to post more history daily at http://homemade-guitars.com/ come by when you have free time and check out the site if you like cigar box guitar history.

 

 

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 21, 2014 at 4:54am

The Panjo!

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 19, 2014 at 7:48am

http://www.homemade-guitars.com

Check out this early 1900's antique Appalachian violin with Snake on back

I found this for sale today, it's great example of Americana

I will post the full archive at http://www.homemade-guitars.com check out the website for lots of cool stories and history

 

 

from http://www.homemade-guitars.com

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 15, 2014 at 2:36pm

check this old photo out!

Comment by 3 String Blues on January 11, 2014 at 1:45pm

Comment by Vincent Slegers on May 21, 2011 at 7:28am

I know Lightnin' Hopkins made himself a CBG when he was a youngster. His older brother had a guitar, but told Lightnin' Sam never to touch. One day, when Lightnin' was just noodling around on the guitar, his brother found out and made sure little Lightnin' could get his hands on it anymore. So Lightnin' just made himself a cigar box guitar after that. He tells about on one of his records. If wanted, I can upload it somewhere and embed it here. Although he is most well-know for his regular acoustic playing, I know of a couple of records where he has some nifty slide work going on...

Comment by 3 String Blues on October 26, 2010 at 6:35am

OK, I will go first! Here is a news story I found today, I found it while looking for photos of a Kamka Uke being played or displayed from the turn of the century when they were made...I found this instead...I though you might enjoy!

Ukulele were hard to come by when Clement Villanueva was a youngster in the Philippines. “We were very poor back home,” he says. “Ten people shared one ukulele.” I assume they took turns and didn’t all try to play the thing at once. In any case, the ukulele deprivation had a big impact on Villaneueva for which he’s more than compensated. At last count he had a collection of more than 130 ukulele, including 30 of the iconic Hawaii “cigar-box” ukes, many of which he has made himself. But his passion for the little four-stringed instruments has spread, curiously, to the hand-made cases in which ukulele are carried around. “They are so pretty,” he says of the cases. “People admire them more than my ukulele.” Cigar-box ukulele were first made by Hawaii’s legendary guitar and ukulele maker Samuel Kamaka. Villaneueva, who was a metal worker at Pearl Harbor until his recent retirement, studied an original Kamaka cigar-box ukulele and began to make his own. The problem is finding original 1886 cigar boxes. “They are very rare and hard to find right now,” he said. “I get one or two a month at swap meets and at the shows.” He collects original Kamaka ukulele and yearns for one special one. “I have so many ukulele but my collection is not complete until I find a painted Kamaka,” he says. “Hand painted in the 1920s. That one is $5,000. Hard to find.” Yeah, I say, but what’s the deal with the cases. You’ve got 80 of them, why not sell a few? “I don’t sell my cases yet because they are too pretty,” he says. And means it.

Photo: rae Huo