Who made cigar box guitars and why?
The stigma of cigar box guitar’s being built strictly out of poverty is largely propogated by the depression beginning in 1929. It became the basis of many early blues performers childhood myth that they cobbled together an instrument from a cigar box, proved their musical prowess, and graduated to a "real" version of the same instrument. Instruments made from cigar boxes date back much earlier, as far back as the civil war as illustrated by Edwin Forbes in his famous copper etching "Home Sweet Home" that depicts two Union soldiers entertaining themselves from the tune of the same name being played on a Figaros cigar box violin. The earliest evidence for cigar box instruments dates back to the introduction of the cigar box itself around 1840. Before cigar boxes, any container or scrap material would have been fair game for the creation of a musical instrument. For more information, search for Detritomusicology.
The origins of most cigar box guitars stem from poverty. Many times, the builder was just a child who desperately wanted to rock out, but had no money to buy an instrument. In addition, cigar box guitars were made and played by Depression Era jug band members who specialized in making instruments out of anything. Are there any rules to making and playing a cigar box guitar? Absolutely not! This is perhaps the most enduring trait of the instrument. This is not like a violin or piano that have snooty traditions attached. Creativity rules in cigar box guitardom. Remember, it was intuitive children with open minds who made the majority of these suckers. So why did the cigar box guitar lose it’s popularity with childeren? You’ve got to remember, most of these were made in the Depression Era. Kids (and adults) had no other choice but to invent the things they wanted. Also, remember credit card machines like those from Electronic Merchant Systems or Flagship merchant services hadn’t even been
