Cigar-Box-Guitar-O-Rama

Recently I decided I was going to do my most "rustic" build yet. I wanted to use a pull-off neck from some thrift-shop score (a no-name Strat clone that I just bought for the neck and the pickups/wiring-harness, paying the princely sum of $30), but otherwise I was going to try to make a real "tool-shed special", even fabricating a bridge out of some kind of scrap wood or metal, and keeping the electronics simple (maybe just a pair of piezo discs and a single volume control). Bare-bones, bare-minimum but still with my "real 6-string guitar" methodology. I had it all more or less conceptualized in my brain, except I couldn't come up with an acceptable tailpiece/string-anchor. Argh!!! Then it hit me... What do you need for a tailpiece? Simple: a way to attach it to the body behind the bridge, and six holes or slots to hold the string-end "balls". Obviously the spacing matters (should be about 2" from high-E to low-E), but otherwise, you mig...

There are generally two types of people: those who know what a cigar box guitar (CBG) is---at least conceptually--and those who have never seen or heard of them. Most folks who grew up here in Appalachia have seen a washboard or jug used as accompanying instruments, and some might even know what a "washtub bass" is. But our culture nationwide is so familiar with guitars, banjos and mandolins as "the norm" that we don't really think too much about how folks who might not have had access to those types of stringed instruments might have made their own music outside of homemade drums, whistles and primal clanging of household items. Truth is though, some scrap wood, a cigar box, a few nails, screws and other random bits and pieces, some wire and a few handtools, and boom . Let's make some racket.  Obviously in the last century, building cigar box instruments has shifted to more of a hobby with a specific group of enthusiasts, instead of being a necessity . Manu...