I had one of my favorite gigs at Tallarico’s Chocolate on Friday, beyond the wonderful opportunity to sit and play. Brian has a display of ‘cigar box’ guitars. The basic premise is a simple one, tow or three stringed instrument with a box as a resonator, usually in an open tuning, and perhaps with a slide. The one stringed ‘Diddley Bow’ is recognized as an early ancestor of the guitar. (Bo Diddley had said, ‘no relation…’)
These 20 or so ‘primitive’ instruments turned out to be nice and playable instruments but open to some creative interpretations. Crutch guitar, mail box guitar (signed by BB King), a 1×4 pine board with Jim Beam bridge and 1 oz. Jim Beam bottle for a nut. I got to play one cigar boxer, with pickup, and it sounded sloppy, and perfect for sloppy blues. Cool.