History of Cigar Box Guitars

Cigar boxes as we know them didn't exist prior to the 1840's.  Until then, cigars were shipped in larger crates containing 100 or more per case.  After 1840, cigar manufacturers started using smaller, more portable boxes with 20-50 cigars per box.

Cigars were extremely popular in the 19th century, and therefore many empty cigar boxes would be lying around the house.  The 1800's were also a simpler time for Americans, when necessity was truly the mother of invention.  Using a cigar box to create a guitar, fiddle or banjo was an obvious choice for a few crafty souls.

The earliest proof of a cigar box instrument found so far is an etching of two Civil War soldiers at a campsite with one playing a cigar box fiddle.  This etching, copyrighted 1876, was created by French artist, Edwin Forbes, who worked as an official artist for the Union Army.

The cigar box fiddle appears to sport an advanced viola-length neck attached to a "Figaro" cigar box.  In addition to the etching, plans for a cigar box banjo were published in the 1870's by Boy Scout's founder, Daniel Carter Beard in St. Nicholas Magazine.  The plans, entitled: "How to build an Uncle Enos Banjo" showed a step-by-step description for a playable 5-string fretless banjo made from a cigar box.  The plans were eventually published in Beard's immensely popular American Boy's Handy Book.

It would seem that the earliest cigar box instruments would be extremely crude and primitive, however this is not always the case.  The National Cigar Box Guitar Museum has acquired two cigar box fiddles built in 1886 and 1889 that seem very playable and well built.  The 1886 fiddle was made for an 8 year old boy and is certainly playable, but the 1889 fiddle has a well carved neck and slotted violin headstock.  The latter instrument was made for serious playing.

Cigar box guitars and fiddles were also important in the rise of jug bands and blues bands.  As most of these performers were black Americans living in poverty, many could not afford a "real" instrument.  Using these, along with the washtub bass, jugs, washboards and harmonica, black musicians played the blues during socializations.

The Great Depression of the 1930's saw a resurgence of homemade musical instruments.  Times were hard in the American south and for entertainment, sitting on the front porch singing away their blues was a popular pastime.  Musical instruments were beyond the means of everybody, but an old cigar box, a piece of broom handle and a couple of wires from the screen door and a guitar was born.