SMOKIN' LIL' SOUNDBOX

Even the Devil gets the blues

2010-03-06T11:36:00.001-08:00

Even the Devil gets the Blues is an electrified 4 string Cigar Box guitar with a custom painting of the devil playing his guitar. Even the prince of darkness has something something to sing about. The piezo pick-up is mounted between the neck and the box for a true blues sound. With its maple neck, oak fret board and branded in fret dots, it looks real sharp.

Electric Diddley Bow

2010-03-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

The Electric Diddley Bow is the Blues in it's most simple form. This is where it all started, one string being plucked, using a bottle to sound the notes and the unique style and sound of the blues is born. This electrified version uses a piezo pick-up mounted inside an antique tobacco tin, mounted on an old piece of driftwood. Very cool to look at, very fun to play.

Cohiba Brown

2010-03-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Cohiba Brown is a basic 4 string acoustic Cigar Box Guitar. This has a cherry wood neck with painted on fret positions and cut fret markers that keep with the nice clean look of the box.

Snake Bite

2010-03-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

This is the Snake Bite. This is a mean sounding electric 4 string Cigar Box Guitar. Better stay back or you might get bitten. This has a piezo pick-up with volume control, a maple neck and an oak fret board. It has branded fret dots and cut fret markersssssssssss.

The Big Clucker

2010-03-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

The Big Clucker is a basic 4 string acoustic Cigar Box Guitar, but this has a painting of a rooster that kept waking me up when I was staying at a friends house. At 4 am you can bet this guitar sounds better than a crowing rooster.

Friend 1

2010-03-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

This 4 string electric Cigar Box Guitar has the bluesy sound to match the somber look of the portrait on the box. It has a maple neck and an oak fret board with cut in fret marker and branded fret dots. There is a volume knob for total sound control.

Battalion 3-stringer

2010-01-01T17:54:00.001-08:00

This was a custom build for a birthday present...lucky guy. This is a cool rough cut box that I made into a 3 string acoustic. The fret markers were stained with a dark stain and then the neck was sanded to re-stain it with a lighter color. The fret markers are branded screw heads. This one has a nice tone and is pretty loud too.

Gurkha w/lipstick pick-up

2010-01-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

I built this guitar for myself. It is a rough-cut Gurkha box, the sound holes are beneath the gold placard and it has a lipstick pick-up for amplification as well as volume and tone controls. The oak fret board has thin fretwire to give it a old style feel. I think this is as far as I would want to go with a cigar box guitar because it should still have a home made sound and feel to it. You gotta keep it a little bit raw to truly give it a bluesy sound.

www.soundboxguitars.com

Catrina

2010-01-01T12:18:00.001-08:00

This guitar is one of four that I built as part of a 'dia de los muertos' art exhibit that I was invited to show my work at. It was at the City of Anaheim community center. These were very well received along with us playing live at the event. It was a great show.

www.soundboxguitars.com

La Mano del Amor

2010-01-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

El Catrin

2010-01-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Maria de la Cajita

2010-01-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

Recording Cigar Box Guitar, new songs

2009-08-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

My stepdaughter and I have recorded some of our songs and posted them on my website at http://www.soundboxguitars.com/Sounds.php , stop by and have a listen.

Here is how I did it, quick, easy and raw.

I borrowed a PA system and ran the guitar through one channel, the vocals through another and the kick drum and tamborine together through the third with a mic. I have this little digital recorder that I hooked up to with the phono jack output from the PA.

First we did a few test recordings and listened to them on the stereo to try and adjust the output levels from the individual channels. Once I had a pretty good mix, we sat down and started recording. I plugged the output straight into my mac book with a phono to USB cable and ran it into Garage Band. We recorded no more than 3-4 takes of each song and picked the best one.

The songs were not altered at all from that point, just transferred to iTunes and exported as and mp3's, and there it is, finished live recordings in one shot.

www.soundboxguitars.com

Cigar Box Guitar, 3 string Acoustic

2009-08-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

I just built this guitar for a nice lady in Tennessee. She wanted a simple 3 string acoustic to give to her husband for their anniversary. This is the result, a nice clean looking, great playing guitars that the customer loves.

H.Upman cigar box guitar

2009-05-31T13:05:00.001-07:00

Cohiba black and red cigar box guitar

2009-05-31T12:59:00.001-07:00

La Calavera cigar box guitar

2009-05-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

2008-08-03T08:26:00.000-07:00