Hey, what's that sound: Homemade guitars

How to Make a Cigar Box Guitar brings you yet another great news article!

Who uses them? The most famous axeman to use a homemade guitar is undoubtedly Brian May. The teenage May built his signature guitar, The Fireplace, out of, well, a fireplace, a bit of table, a spring from a motorcycle and his mum's knitting needles (honestly!). Avant-guitar genius Glenn Branca invented his own dulcimer-like guitars, and Boredoms' leader Eye similarly strikes, rather than strums, a magnificent seven-necked beast of his own design (each neck is tuned to a different open chord). Diddley bows (ultra-basic, one-string-nailed-to-a-plank-of-wood contraptions that can be made easily by children) are a common training instrument for young blues musicians, and the tradition of making guitars from cigar boxes still thrives in hobbyist blues circles.

How do they work? A guitar can be constructed from pretty much any combination of strings, pick-up and neck. Once you accept that, the only limit is your imagination. There are loads of handy online guides and video tutorials, with axe-crafters as young as 14 swapping hints on materials and technique, so getting started can't be that hard. Although for every elegant challenge to the throne of Les Paul (whose first electric guitar, The Log, incidentally, was exactly that – a pick-up nailed to a stringed log), there's always someone who thinks it's a good idea to make an axe out of his Millennium Falcon or make a skateboard guitar.

Where do they come from? Cigar box guitars date back to the American civil war, and diddley bows go back even further – they are thought to have evolved from Ghanaian string instruments. Today, the likes of Jack White and Seasick Steve keep the traditions of old masters such as Lonnie Pitchford alive.

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