Owen wanted to give me a present. it isn’t my birthday. it’s not my anniversary. It isn’t any special day. He just wanted to get me a really great gift, better than any other he had ever give me. So months ago, he asked me to buy a wooden cigar box. Puzzled by the request, I did it anyway. It turned out that all real cigar boxes are cardboard, at least any that I could find. So I bought a box of the same size that was made of spruce and Owen said: “Good box!” He took it away.

My tattoo is a Phoenix

Four months (more?) later. he brought me a Cigar Box Guitar. On the front, it has a gorgeous Phoenix and on the back, an oak leaf varnished into the wood. It has designs all up the neck. Machines to tune its three strings and it’s set for the key of E because that is the key the I can generally sing in, assuming my voice feels like singing which it does whenever I’m not having an allergy attack. In other words, in the winter.

You can still see the hinges on the box and there is an actual yardstick is part of the neck which reprises the old version of these guitars.

It’s gorgeous. Completely and uniquely handmade for me. And yes, the designer and builder does take orders. Mine is the first non-electric one he has made. Usually, they are electric and have a pick-up, but I’m such a folky, Owen assumed I would want an acoustic instrument.

Until this gorgeous piece of musical art arrived, I had never seen or even heard of a Cigar Box Guitar which players refer to as a CBG. They come with anywhere from three to five strings. They are bigger or smaller, have various length necks and many don’t have frets or tuning machines. Some are almost guitars and have six strings, but most have three or four string. The majority seem to have three.

This is a genuine American folk instrument, made by poor people who couldn’t afford to buy a guitar, but found a way to make one from spare parts. I ordered a case that’s a little bit big, but is as close as I could get. It doesn’t need a case, but I don’t want the Duke to decide it’s a chew toy. That would be heartbreaking.

Mike Brown — the designer — takes orders and if you get in touch with me, I will give you his contact information. He suffers from serious diabetes and has infections in both feet, so he wasn’t able to come over to present it himself. But he would love to get business since he is too disabled to work.

I took some  pictures. It is truly a work of art. When I get the book I ordered I hope I can play it though i can sort of already play it. It isn’t difficult. I want to see what tunings are used for what kind of songs. Also, I ordered a brass slide. You can actually tune Cigar Box Guitars any way you want. There’s no set style, so be prepared to retune to match whatever song you want to play.

Owen, you’ve done it. This really IS the best present you could possibly have given me!

Categories: Anecdote, Gallery, Music, Musical Instruments, Photography

Tags: American folk instrument, cigar-box guitar, gallery, Music, Musical Instruments, Photography