Mentioned in the broadcast: Shane Speal's List of Essential Bulk Parts
Cigar Box Nation has the inside-scoop on the Nov. 15 episode of Bull. Our own Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker was involved in the set design, providing a full arsenal of cigar box guitars and other homemade instruments, helping them create a scene from an u
Let's take the whole DIY music thing one step further and delve into homemade effects! In this video, Valenten (a.k.a. Instant Pyrolysis) presents a DIY plate reverb system based on an old cymbal and speaker.
Visit the Instant Pyrolsis website at
Read more…...and one more: the Uke + Amp-in-Case (below). Uker says, "I tried building a case with a little amp inside. I used poplar and 1/4
You guys have gone pure metal lately with these great submissions. From Brent Briggs' Rusty Shovel guitar (above) to insane instruments made from metal, tin cans and aluminum, these builders prove that Cigar Box Nation is more than empty wooden box
Read more…Uketobefest kicked off with a bang...er, rattle this week when Tim Mueller of Catalyst Customs posted this wild ukulele design, featuring tambourine zils (aka jinglers) embedded in the headstock.
Mueller used standard ukulele tuning pegs, positioning
Read more…Shane Speal shows off the Excaliber cigar box guitar (http://spealguitars.com), a creation meant to capture crashy rock tones. It is tuned to Open E (E B E Ab), which is the first time he's used this tuning.
There's lots of ideas and inspiration in
Read more…This is one of the latest creations by Rich Kennedy of Deepseed Guitars. The double-neck harp cigar box guitar features intricately woodburned and painted scenes of heaven and hell. Attendees of the PA Cigar Box Guitar Festival got to see this in
Read more…I recently scored a bunch of these tobacco tins at a flea market.
I have no idea what to do with them, so I posted a survey on Cigar Box Nation: Facebook for ideas. I'm posting some of them below.
Have you made instruments out of these? Post
Read more…It's been awhile since we've heard from Binghamton, NY shredder, Pinecone Fletcher. When I saw his latest teaser video for an upcoming CD release concert, I jumped up and cranked the computer speakers as loud as I could!
Fletcher is a member of Ci
Read more…Make Magazine originally published these plans for a great working "Strung Out" PVC bass in 2009. We recently discovered that they archived the plans and info so that everyone could build their own.
Scroll down below to get the plans and check out t
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Ukulele Ray is one of the most charismatic fellers we've ever seen. Known for his Captain Morgan fashion sense as much as his wild lunch box ukuleles, Ray has just raised the bar again with his double neck soup can uke.
Ray built his first Campb
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Plans and text by Daniel Hulbert of Circuits & Strings
After a lot of planning and thinking, I can finally release the plans to this electric ukulele. I tried to make the design as simple as possible.
This ukulele can be made without a router, a
Read more…GET THE TAB: http://shanespeal.com/thunderstruck
AC/DC's song, "Thunderstruck" contains the unmistakable one-string rundown by Angus Young. It's really not that hard to play once you learn the scale and set up your cigar box guitar with lots of disto
Read more…In celebration of Uketoberfest 2016, here's one of our favorite cigar box uke videos on the entire internet. Shelley Rickey: "Tonight You Belong To Me"
This video first appeared way back in 2009 and introduced us to Shelley Rickey. Lately, she's
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