Cigar Blog

Happiness is a good cigar

Cigar Box Guitar Man

January 24, 2011 By Cigar Blog

tm55724As you may have noticed, I have recently acquired an interest in cigar box guitars. While I have heard of them before, I didn’t really pay much attention to them. I have only begun to appreciate the art involved in making these guitars.

Will Sluetal, on the other hand, has been at it for quite some time. He is from Grand Haven, Michigan, and claims that he can make an excellent musical instrument given four hours and a whole lot of passion and talent. I must say, his work supports his claim.

Sluetal’s day job is the chief mechanic of the Grand Haven Department of Public Works. The skills that are integral to his day job are carried over to his passion, the creation of a wide variety of musical instruments from guitar boxes. Guitars, ukeleles, madolins, drums, and other “unnamed” instruments – these are only some of Sluetal’s works of art. Oh, and everything he creates is electric.

So does this mean that he is an avid cigar smoker? Well, he does smoke but he does not have to spend a fortune in cigars to obtain all the boxes that he needs and wants. He does have the smarts. What Sluetal did – and does – was to make guitars for the presidents of cigar companies. He gave these as gifts and he has been amply compensated with all the empty cigar boxes that he needs.

If you want one of his works, you can visit Elderly Instruments in Lansing and Surroundings in Manistee. Make sure you have about $125!

Filed Under: Feature, Gadgets, People, The Lighter Side Tagged With: cigar box guitar

Make Your Own Cigar Box Guitar

January 20, 2011 By Cigar Blog

Copy_of_Shanes-588x440This is no child’s toy, although one might think that. Truth be told, when I first heard of cigar box guitars a long time ago, I thought that my friends were pulling my leg. Why would I want to make one?

Then I did some reading and I found out that cigar box guitars were actually used by “real” musicians! According to Dr. Tony Hyman, the curator of the National Cigar Museum, cigar boxes prior to 1840 were actually crates. These crates could hold up to 100 cigars at a time. As time went by, manufacturers realized that the crates were not an efficient means of transporting cigars. Hence, smaller cigar boxes were created.

Along with the proliferation of cigar boxes, the popularity of cigar smoking increased as well. Naturally, a lot of smoked cigars meant a lot of empty cigar boxes. At this point, enterprising people started picking up those empty cigar boxes and started making good use of them. From guitars to banjos and fiddles – empty cigar boxes were turned into useful things.

Whoever got started on this probably didn’t have any idea of what was in store for these nifty little things. Well known musicians like Carl Perkins, Jimi Hendrix, George Benson, Ted Nugent, BB King, and Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd have all, at one point, played with cigar box guitars!

So it may be easier to buy guitars these days, but if you have some spare time and you want to let your creativity flow, why don’t you try your hand at making a cigar box guitar? Check out this video at Walyou.

Filed Under: Accessories, History, The Lighter Side Tagged With: cigar box guitar

What’s Popular

Quotes from Certified Cigar Smokers

February 23, 2022 By Cigar Blog

Cigar Smoking and Other Acts of Machismo

July 20, 2021 By Teresa Martinez

Where to Smoke Your Cigar in Seoul

June 10, 2021 By Cigar Blog

Cigar Chewing Badasses of Hollywood

March 10, 2013 By Teresa Martinez

Homemade Humidors

February 28, 2013 By Teresa Martinez

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Blends
  • Christmas deals
  • Cigar Brands
  • Cigar Care
  • Cigar Manufacturing
  • Cigar Quality
  • Community
  • Feature
  • Gadgets
  • Great deals
  • Health
  • Health Issues
  • History
  • Information
  • insights
  • News
  • People
  • Review
  • Technology
  • The Art of Smoking
  • The Lighter Side
  • Tips
  • Trivia
  • Uncategorized

Tags

Accessories art of smoking auctions bad cigars Big Smoke Blends cigar-making cigar accessories Cigar Aficionado cigar basics cigar blends cigar box guitar cigar brands Cigar Care cigar companies cigar endorsements cigar events Cigar Heritage Festival cigar lounge cigar news cigars cigar smoking cigar spike cigar tips cigar tools cigar types Cohiba Behike Corona Cigar Cuban cigars dry cigars electric cigars flavored cigars Havana handrolled cigars Havanas humidor humidors Julieta Landini Brothers Las Vegas longest cigar new blends Rome y Julieta Sir Winston Churchill Tampa Tiger Woods

Copyright © 2022 Cigar Blog