Our Story...

Cigar box guitars and other homemade instruments have a long and storied history in our country. Western pioneers, civil war soldiers, and other resourceful musicians across the nation built their own functional and expressive devices from household items and found hardware. This was especially true during the late Nineteenth Century in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta and on the streets of New Orleans, where improvised instruments were germane to the birth and early development of both the Jazz and Blues musical movements.

In the last quarter of the Twentieth Century, musically creative individuals became interested in reviving the art and craft of handmade stringed instruments. Spurred on by the connectivity of the internet, participation in this Do-lt-Yourself movement grew exponentially in the earliest years of the Twenty-First Century, and has now become a full-blown worldwide phenomenon. Specialized websites, groups, suppliers, builders, players and festivals now permeate the landscapes of Europe and North America. The Cigar Box Guitar has risen to the upper levels of popular culture to the extent that celebrities like Steven Segal, Johnny Depp and Sir Paul McCartney have jumped on the bandwagon.