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   I just finished this little guy for the good people at Collishaw farms in Cloverdale, BC. Patrick Harrison, who owns the farm, saw a little spot on cigar box guitars on the TV and tracked me down. He spent some time looking for a local artisan to build one for him. lucky for me, I am the only one in the Vancouver region. So far!.

   Here is a pick of how it turned out.

    If you would like to see more about it and learn a little about the build process, check out this link to my website.

http://wsbluesbox.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/ws-016-collishaw-farm/

I generally place them into a few categories, all wood, paper and wood, Masonite (particle board), and cardboard.

1. All wood is the best. I prefer Brickhouse the Mighty Mighty Menduro which is the largest box out there. I have one of the rare black. The Padrones are the same volume but longer and shallower. This is nice for the double resonator cone version you can see on my page. The quality of the wood is good the boxes are not constructed as well as a Brickhouse and I often have to fill in gaps or add additional bracing. They recycle them so my chances of getting a fresh one are less likely now. The wood is not dyed and I have some really pretty ones in my 25 box collection (and growing). Perhaps the usage and wearing make them more attractive I hope, like faded jeans.
2. Wood with Paper. The sound is as good #1 but the paper can deaden the sound if it is too thick or complete in coverage. The logos tend to be prettier but also larger causing me to try new ways to make sound holes that won't impede the graphics I like so much.
3. Masonite, let's face it sounds dead and really need to have pickups and go electric.
4. Cardboard is the same as above but they are great for me to practice new techniques on.

There is a newer category, the handmade box. Superior material assures great craftsmanship and you can control the sound however you will never get the true great sound of a dreadnought. Mandolins and ukes are not large either but have great sound. Not being a master of sound dynamics I just do my best. There was a great navy architect named Phil Bolger and a very famous airplane engineer named Steve Whitman who built square shaped boats and planes, not rounded. Science proved them to be correct in that they moved through the air with greater efficiency and speed. Phil's boats were banned from racing as they proved too fast even with handicap. People didn't like the flat sides and thought a true boat or plane was rounded and so they never really sold accept to the purist’s. One of those purest was Steve Job's who built the "Bolger Box" yacht just before his death that was to prove to be the "New Wave" in luxury yacht design. It has also been proven that rectangular shaped instruments produce better sound than the rounded ones. Moving air or moving through air or water is the same science. Again, everyone has been trained to want the traditional female shaped bodies (no guessing here as to why) despite the inferior sound quality. CBG's by accident are the vanguard of new instrument design and may change the world for the better.

Making my own 3-stringed instrument has been such a joyous revelation!

It began for me when I met an ex-fourth grade teacher from Montana, named Ray Jacobs. We were in California, where he was helping people turn cardboard and scrap wood into something that looked like a 3-string banjo — it sounded just amazing! And it looked so simple! I thought “shoot, I could play that!” (I’ve been guitar and music challenged for years).

Here's Ray and Shirley playing: 

Ray taught fourth grade for 20 years; many of his kids learned to make and play these simple, 3-stringed instruments. He also gave them an old V-8 engine and challenged them to take it apart and put it together; he took them to a local pond to squelch and splash and take buckets of pond water back to class, where they put it in split 55-gallon drums so they could play and learn when their “other work” was done; he shepherded 20 generations of kids into 5th grade, many of them with dulcimers they had made themselves, on which they could all play melody and chords — extraordinary gifts!

I thought, “someone should put this into a book so every 4th grade teacher can do what Ray did!” (I’ve been a “teaching artist” in the Oregon schools, and know how hard is for kids to get good, hands-on activities. Teachers are so bound by schedules, test requirements, and policy that they can’t afford to engage kids in anything not specified in the curriculum. So it takes an outsider to do the creative projects.)

I tried to find someone else to write up Ray's story (he also makes a whole range of beautiful instruments from cardboard, gourds, wood, you name it), but noone was as excited as I was, so when I took the family back east last October, we stopped for a few days with Ray and his wife Shirley (here's a nice little video about them from Western Folklife). He and I put a dulcimer together, and I took notes and pictures. It turned into a book – you can download it (free) here. (It’s also available as a (full color!) $10 paperback at the same site, or on Amazon and createspace.) If you like it, please share!

Les Cigar Box Guitar que nous connaissons et liées à la musique blues ou folk sont indéniablement des réalisations américaines. Celles d'esclaves qui ont adaptés sur le sol américain des instruments qu'ils construisaient et pratiquaient en Afrique. Du Diddley Bow unicorde à la CBG de 2, 3, ou 4 cordes à l'imitation de produits plus luxueux qu'ils ne pouvaient se payer comme la contrebasse, le violon, la guitare à 6 cordes, on peut dire que tous les instruments sont passés par leurs mains expertes pour arriver dans les nôtres aujourd’hui.

Mais ce type d'instruments et leurs constructions n'est pas un phénomène isolé mais bien un processus global, tous les pays, toutes les civilisations ayant un jour ou l'autre fabriquées ce type d'instrument.

Plus prés de nous, ce sont les poilus de 14-18 qui ont durant le peu de temps libre que leur laissait la guerre, revenait à l’artisanat qu'ils pratiquaient dans le civil pour produire, des bijoux, des meubles, des sculptures, des briquets, etc, et des instruments de musique dont ils jouaient aussi.

C'est l'art et l'artisanat insolite des tranchées, ou pour échapper aux horreurs qui les entouraient ces hommes créaient des objets de toutes beauté avec les moyen du bord et en récupérant tout ce qui pouvait leur tomber sous la main. A noter que les soldats allemands en face en faisaient autant ainsi que tous les autres soldats des autres pays impliqués dans ce conflit.

Voici pour inspiration quelques instruments de poilus fait dans des casque, des gourdes voir des masques à gaz!...

English version

The Cigar Box Guitars we know and related to blues or folk music are undeniably American achievements. Those of  slaves who have adapted on American soil the musical instruments they used to built and practiced in Africa. From one string Diddley Bow,  2, 3, or 4 strings  CBG  to copy of the most luxurious products they could not afford as bass, violin, 6 strings, guitar,  we can say that all instruments have passed through their expert hands to be nours today.

But such instruments and their construction is not an isolated phenomenon but a global process, all countries, all cultures have at one time or another , made ​​this type of instrument. 

Closer to us, are  the "Poilus" of 1914-18 (*nickname of french sodiers during WWI we can traduce by "hairy") who during the little free time that they the war left them, returned to the craft they practiced in the civilian life to produce, jewelry, furniture, sculpture , lighters, etc. and musical instruments they played as well.

It is the unusual art and crafts of the trenches, to escape to the horrors that surrounded them,  these men have created beautiful objects with all the things and means they could . Please note that the German soldiers did the same thing and with them all other soldiers of countries involved in this conflict.

Here's for inspiration some  instruments made ​​from  helmets, gourds and even gas masks! ...

Et voici une photo des soldats (Allemands) avec leurs réalisations (et deux "cigar box")

English version

And here is a picture of soldiers (Germans) with their instruments (and two "cigar box")

Et  ici un Diddley Bow d'un soldat Canadien.

English version

And  here a Diddley Bow of a Canadian soldier.

On pourra aller jeter un œil sur les sites ci-dessous ou il y pas mal d'instruments référencés et de superbes photos:

• l'artisanat de tranchées
• les objets de tranchées plus général mais on y trouve des instruments de musique
• le superbe  site de Claude Ribouillaud, sur les instruments de musique de facture amateur, et qui en retrace l'histoire. On lira en particulier la section: La lutherie sauvage : art des solutions et message latent trés intéressante sur les instruments des soldats de 14-18.
• Soldier's orchestra montre des photos de ces orchestres avec des instruments improvisés.(ci-dessous)

English version

You can have a look at the sites below where there are a lot of beautiful instruments referenced with pictures:

• l'artisanat de tranchées (the craft of the trenches In French)
• les objets de tranchées (The objects of the trenches in French) more general but there are musical instruments
• The superb  site of  Claude Ribouillaud (In French), on musical instruments imade by amateur, and which tells their story. We recommend to read in particular the section: La lutherie sauvage : art des solutions et message laten (The wild lutherie : art solutions and latent message - In French) very interesting and about soldiers instruments in 1914-18.
• Soldier's orchestra shows pictures of these bands with improvised instruments. (here below)
  

Doyle Guitars will be on display at Iron Stone Winery which is in the gold country of Northern California, just a few hours east of the Bay Area.

The guitars will be on exhibit at the Iron Stone Museum, as noted in their blog, starting today & through out the concert season and summer.

Iron Stone is a really interesting place with some very interesting things to see, like a wine cavern and one of the World's largest gold leaf nuggets.

Come on by, say hello to my dad Mike Doyle and check out some custom cigar box guitars (and a Elvis ukulele!)

I am starting my own CBG company; Insolitus Guitars. I chose the name because cigar box guitars are unusual, uncommon and that is what I enjoy most. I love unusual things and music from these instruments is beautiful to me. Even on youtube from the least skilled player the music rings in my ears something sweet. I found out about cigar box guitars in college my sophomore year. I didn't have money for a guitar so I 'googled' DIY (Do It Yourself) guitars online and there they were. They were minimalist (which I love) and simple to make. The various tuning styles that people have developed for them allows them to be uniquely diverse and can play any style. They are socially and economically relevant today as they were back in their humble begining.

Today's recession has called upon inovative and resourceful thinking. Recycling cigar boxes to create musical instruments and amplifiers is one great way. Using discarded or simple sustainable wood for the necks and other parts is great as well. They cost a fraction of the cost of a normal guitar to make but can produce sounds that are just as good; if not better. So for me to not look into making my own to sell and play then i would be making a mistake.

I am still a beginner in playing guitar, I have been tinkering and playing around with guitars and basses since I was fifteen years old. I never really had the time nor the patience to sit down and learn how to play them. Until i found out about cigar box guitars. These wonderful instruments inspire me. So my blog at wordpress is called: http://insolitusguitars.wordpress.com/ and here at Cigar Box Nation. You can follow my adventure in learning how to play and build these soulful and simple instruments.

Blues Guitars France is an attypical shop in France 17 rue Duperré Paris 75009 in the well known quarter of Pigalle. we only sell instruments handmade with differents luthier through the world , Indonesia, Usa ...We get our own brand Stlouis..We Make differents  electric guitars, Custom, Relic, Art.. the ART model are paint by a famous French painter named Julius Baltazar

Musicians love to come visit our shop to try out guitars to jam out on!

so give the shop anf the website a visit!!!

joel Poupeau

http://www.blues-guitares.fr

After getting some nice maple from my buddy Rob the week before Christmas, visions of cigar boxes began to dance in my head. Reality intruded, however, when I realized that I had no place to actually build my CBG. All of the surface space in the Wig Shop (my basement lair) was cluttered with the typical rockstar detrius: guitars, pedals, recording gear, and cocaine. After hastily cobbling together a workbench out of an old palette, wine crates, and a few cinder blocks, I commenced to sawin' and sandin'.

When I regained consciousness, I was coated in sawdust. I discovered that I needed a shave, and that my family had started calling local hospitals and taverns, attempting to locate my body. But upon looking down at my sad little workbench, I saw that a CBG-shaped mass was beginning to take shape among the wood shavings and empty PBR silos. Joy.

After taking sustenance and reuniting with my wife and children, I began to ponder the next steps. I would soon have to drill my pristine headstock, and figure out what type of bridge to use. What pickup should I deploy? And will I really have the nerve to fret this musical stogie?

Stay tuned, my friends.

My first attempt to build a Cigar Box Fiddle. I would like to craft everything myself, even the fingerboard. Hopefully the sound justifies the effort..

Hi.

I now have a little website up at:

www.roadkillmusic.co.uk

Please feel free to pop in and have a look. Comments welcome. If you like it enough to spread the word I would be grateful for that too.

Thanks and all the best.

John

    This is a cool one i built for a friend who is a well respected melodian musician here in Vancouver. His name is John Krieger. He wanted me to tweak it a bit and put a double octave string for the high strings and have a strum stick fretting on it. It turned out nice and sounded really beautiful. I used a nice Punch box i found in San Diego on a business trip and piece of Mahogany for the neck. The sound holes are decorated with some cool antique napkin holders i found at a flea market. I don't have any video of how it sounded unfortunatly but i was pleased with its volume and tone.

www.wsbluesbox.wordpress.com

    Here is another angle of it. The cool stand was made by my father who makes guitar stands, hardwood guitar picks, dulcimers, Psaltery's and other cool folk instruments.  

Hi peeps,

                Thought you might be interested in having a butchers at my 'tour bus'-I didnt want to clog up the nation with pics of a motor so I've placed them here.You can follow developments as the work on her continues throughout Spring 2011.

            Its a 2003 VW T4-they are used as surf buses around these parts and campervans too.It has only 45k on its 2.5 turbodiesel engine and believe me I was lucky to get it-they are like gold dust, especially in this condition.Being a family man, the Bellybus will be dual purpose-a rock roll seat/bed will be installed in the rear so the kids can travel when the old rusty Rover car eventually falls to pieces.

Pic 1-heres the Bellybus as was when bought-a regular panel van..

and heres a pic with the side windows installed-I had them limo tinted so peeps cant see any gear I might be carrying in the back-

On this third pic you can see the other side window also.With the tailgate open you can see I've not done anything to the inside yet-the wood panels and blue carpet were the previous owners work.I've just cheered it up a bit for now by sticking a few set lists from recent gigs up and chucking a few cushions in to sit on..I carry a sleeping bag under the drivers seat just in case..so far the Bellybus has taken me to gigs in Birmingham,Kent,London and across the sea to Belgium-at the wheel it feels like a family car-nice n smooth and not noisy at all..it drives with all the efficiency one would expect from a German vehicle..dubtastic ;o)  

So what next? well I need to remove the wood panels and insulate, remove the carpet (come on- carpet just aint rock n roll!) I'd like to have it wood everywhere,with gig posters and the like-kinda like a Bluesmans' wood cabin on wheels! I toyed with the idea of having a pic of Eric Clapton on the floor..heh heh..wipe your converse here.Anyway, this next pic is from some dudes T4 I found on the interweb-he's removed the ceiling panels and put wood in- like I want it-the ceiling is very cool but the rest of its a bit 'neat' for my taste-plus is that carpet I see on the walls..Noooo! still, you get the idea..well, seeing as I'm pants at woodwork I reckon Juju will be getting a call!

 Well thats it for now peeps-I'll update as the Bellybus develops over the coming months.Cheers, HB

UPDATE-MARCH-

             Well I've been busy stripping out the Bellybus and adding insulation to make it more comfortable when I ever need to kip in the bus-unfortunately my dream of having Juju fit out the inside is not to be as he is inundated with guitar orders and has a kitchen to build, so its down to yours truly.I am taking my inspiration for the interior from the cover of my album and am using hessian to carpet the walls-its cheap too-I'll be going for a mild rat type look (and believe me, with my woodworking skills its just as well!)  hessian/distressed gig posters on walls etc..

              Anyway,heres a few pics-this really is the boring bit..insulating/cutting panels and so on..rear wheel arch is covered in flashing tape to quieten road noise..

more insulation in the roof space-silver backed bubblewrap-

I've made doorcards and panels from 3.6mm ply-heres the doorcard for the rear tailgate sitting in me garage-as you can see I got my mate Bansky to decorate it  lol   

bit more exciting/fun than the generic grey one anyroad.

Ok dudes-more updates soon..

UPDATE APRIL-

         Ok peeps the rear seat is in,and I've got all the hessian where I want it-begun to stick up posters and stuff-heres a few pics-

This heres a close up of the 'mojo hole'-a take on honesty windows from strawbale eco houses if you will-I put in a used (knackered) bluesharp, a glass slide and a used plectrum.I really like the roof cos it cost me nowt-I just reversed the original panels! It added no extra weight-I was gonna put in thin tongue and groove but it weighed  a considerable amount and you'd pay for that at the pumps, so I decided against it-plus these hardboard panels give that ratty shed look I wanted.seat down into the bed position-king size-nice!gotta dash peeps-more pics later..

UPDATE MAY-

floor getting installed today-it might look fancy but its just 12mm outdoor grade ply and I varnished it 3 times-might not last  years n years but of course I have the option to lay a harder wearing floor on top at a later date if I feel the need.I've put 2mm of neoprene rubber strip all around the edges to cut down on the possibility of squeaks where wood meets wood or metal-what with the bus moving and all that.Left a little space in case of expansion due to heat also.It fits nice, but dont zoom on this photo or you'll see how bloody awful my woodworking 'skills' are!!

ok you zoomed didnt you?! DIDNT YOU?!!!

right next,so heres the riser that goes under the rear seat and houses the rear 6x9 speakers-I found a tea chest on the local dump-as you know, they have stencils sprayed on from being shipped all over the world and I thought I'd take it apart and make panels out of them.All the stencils are genuine apart from the Hollowbelly one which I added then sanded slightly to match it with the others..

so here it is in situ just to give you an idea-I've installed the floor and the riser is just sitting there unglued for now-seems prudent to ensure the speakers work before I stick the panel in.. I sprayed the speakers covers matt brown as they were brand new, then knocked em back a bit with sandpaper-the 2 rusty metal bands in the centre of the panel are those metal strips that hold the tea chest together.I used them to hide the join between the different panels, as well as add a bit more grunge..

the opposite wall panel now looks pretty boring so Im on the lookout for a few more tea chests-alternatively I may leave it so I have more space for future gig posters as and when they arrive..

ok thats it for now peeps-I'll get back when I next do something else-the step probably..

      July/August-ok so heres the step and riser going in-I used the offcuts from the free tea chests for the riser and also the rusty metal strips from the tea chest edges to match the pattern under the rear seat.The actual step is the same 12mm marine grade ply..oh and I used the 'Hollowbelly Punkblues' stencil I used on the cd flightcase-just sprayed it with black car spray,then white over the top..and Bobs yer uncle as we say in the north.

the lights are coming on nice...

Here is a little video that Dave put together of us in the studio last week as he was recording us for our New CD that will be coming out very soon. We will giving away some CD's as well, ...details to come, stay tuned.
Visit and LIKE The Budrows on Facebook for your chance to win.

http://youtu.be/DNuBizaa6do

If anyone wants to catch more of what I do, that never gets posted here,...please do go to youtube and search cinderellalifestyle . lots off vids, uke specials, national steel guitar,...nature walks and my rambles , which a basically 

instrumental ditties put to pics, usually short and sweet...

if you want to look a vintage junque, or find my CD, that's here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriescustomthingz

bye for now!