Our Story
Here at Heavy Fog Guitars we handcraft Cigar Box Guitars with premium exotic hard woods and high quality accessories. We build unique 3 and 4-string electric cigar box guitars. Our guitars are built in Canada at our St. John’s, Newfoundland workshop. Each of our handcrafted guitars is a “one of a kind” instrument possessing an original tone, feel and look.
Our love of music is built into each and every one. Whether you are a beginner or a long time picker these instruments are easy and fun to play, providing hours of musical possibilities. If you are looking for a unique gift, a musician seeking inspiration or an individual choosing a new hobby our handcrafted cigar box guitars are a solid investment.
Our History
Heavy Fog Guitars was founded by Peter Lake on August 10th, 2015 in St.John’s Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada . Since the founding, He has crafted many guitars (played by notable musicians such as Justin Johnson, and the Hub Cap Stealers)
Justin Johnson Playing A Heavy Fog Guitar
Hubcap Sealers Playing A Heavy Fog Guitars
The journey began when Peter was watching the movie “It Might Get Loud”. While watching the movie he saw Jack White build a 1 stringed diddley Bow. Having Stoked his interest Peter began searching about homemade instruments and he came across a man named “Sea Sick Steve” who was playing a “Hubcap Guitar”. He began to do more research and discovered Justin Johnson playing a Cigar Box Guitar. He immediately knew he wanted to start building his own.
In the Summer of 2013 Peter found an old Ford hubcap laying on the side of the road. He picked it up, brought it home, and built his first “hubcap Guitar”.
(Peters First Hubcap Guitar)
In the summer of 2015, Peter decided to build his first Cigar Box Guitar. He was quite pleased with the end result, and decided to post a picture on social media. He was overwhelmed with the feedback. He began receiving messages from friends wanting one of their own, and before Knew it, it became a growing business. He called his business “Heavy Fog Guitars”.
(Peters First Cigar Box Guitar)
Several months later as the company began to grow, Peter was contacted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for a radio interview, which spread the fog across to its many listeners. Shortly after Peter was contacted by a local news paper “The Overcast” to do an article for their very popular monthly issue. This made “Heavy Fog Guitars” a buzz name in the city of St.John’s.
Comments
Great story Peter, and nice to hear that cigar box guitars are also made in Newfoundland/Labrador. I'm in Nova Scotia, began building in 2008. After 80+ guitars, including cbgs, lap steels, strum sticks, and a few full size solid body electrics, I moved on to building solid body electric tenor guitars.
I have also built a number of hand wound pickups and cigar box amplifiers, with a hand-wired 1/2 watt solid state circuit and salvaged stereo speakers from thrift shops and garage sales, and installed them into the smaller cigar boxes that weren't suitable for guitars.
For the past year I have switched my attention to building tube amplifiers. Always looking for new learning experiences and challenges.
Best wishes to you and Heavy Fog Guitars.