My oldest son taken to playing guitar, and like many guitar players, the amount of his playthings seems to be constantly growing. It is said that idle hands are the devils playthings. His interest into music has brought him out of just sitting behind a computer to interacting with creative folks. The friends that he has made in his teenage musician circles, has also led him to join the wrestling team. Who knew so many wrestlers also jammed. His confidence has grown and his physique has improved. Plus he rocks at both guitar and bass now.

Well I wanted my own little playthings of the musical variety. I felt an urge to join in this madness, but knowing that household budgets are limited, I decided to begin making guitars and musical instruments out of leftover wood and cigar boxes.

Cigar box guitars are embedded in American roots music. It spans Mississippi Delta blues to power rock, as well as international flavors. Basically anywhere people can fashion a pluckable string to a resonating chamber, you will find creativity in sights and sounds. With parts easily accessible from on-line shops, one can quickly amplify a primitive instrument to a searing electric scream machine for very little money.

This was my first creation, the Victor Sinclair fret-less, 3 string. It has a piezo pickup encased in silicone to lesson the sounds as it is being handled. It plays nicely with a slide. It is a red oak next with a bubinga fingerboard. I used zebrawood for the nut and floating bridge. I used a drawer-pull as a hand rest near the tail piece. Screened grommets allow for good resonance so it can be played unplugged.

This is my first build. I will post more as I continue this journey. See my Instagram for this guitar being played.