Gigar Box Guitars by Rough Guitars
Sicknote Steve roadtested the Dakota 3-string cigar box guitar which now has pride of place in his collection of unusual and interesting instruments
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When Sicknote Steve met Mark Clough at the award winning Croissant Neuf Festival, things got rough! Rough Guitars that is. Mark is the inspiration and workforce behind Rough Guitars, under which name he makes highly original recycled 'cigar box' guitars. Following the historical ethos of these people's folk instruments Mark utilises reclaimed materials and transforms them into some of the most desirable but immensely playable works of art you will ever encounter. |
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History We've all heard stories about famous bluesmen or country singers that started their careers on a simple homemade cigar box guitar. With a list of artists including Jimi Hendrix, Roy Clark and Carl Perkins, the cigar box guitar has been the precursor to many great careers and countless inspiring stories. The history of Cigar Box Guitars began in America in the mid 19th Until then, cigars were shipped in large crates containing a hundred or more to a case. But due to taxation changes, after 1840, cigar manufacturers started using smaller, more portable boxes with 20 to 50 cigars in each box. The earliest evidence of a cigar box instrument is an etching of two Civil War soldiers at a campsite, one is playing a cigar box fiddle. The artist, Edwin Forbes, was from France and worked as an official artist for the Union Army. The cigar box fiddle appears to sport an advanced viola-length neck attached toan advanced viola-length neck attached to a "Figaro" cigar box. The etching is dated 1876. | By the 20th century, times were still lean for many Americans and cigars gained even more popularity. The "television of the day" for some families was the trusty Sears and Roebuck Catalog that encouraged people to dream of items they would love to own. It also provided a catalyst for more homemade creations.
The cigar box guitar has such an awesome pedigree. Blind Willie Johnson made a one-string when he was five – he quickly learned to play melodies up-and-down that lonely string. Later, Blind Willie would record the monumental “Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)” on a standard guitar. The song is a instrumental classic that has droning chords lying in the background while a haunting melody is played up-and-down the high E string - a technique he learned on his original one-string cigar box guitar! |
Just some of the cigar box guitars produced by Rough Guitars |
