Custom Built Cigar Box Ukulele

Recently I built this beautiful custom Cigar Box Ukulele for Austin, Texas musician Carolyn Wonderland.

It is made from a black Brick House cigar box, a mahogany neck, ebony fret board, electric pickup, and some cool antique brass. It even has the 1960's Flying Heart inlay done in abalone shell.

Take a look at this beauty!

The re-purposed antique brass came from the historic West Hill Hardware Store in Akron, Ohio.  This is a great old time hardware store with many hard to find parts. I love this store and stop in every chance I get.

See more of my Cigar Box Ukulele's

How to Make a Cigar Box Instrument

I came across this great poster which details how to build a cigar box guitar (or any instrument).

Remember it is basically made from 3 materials:

1. A cigar box
2. A stick of wood
3. Strings

 For more information on or where to purchase this unique one-of-a-kind Americana instruments visit Cigar Box Ukulele's

Greatest Underrated Guitar Players Part III

By: Kenny Auyoung



Howard Leese (Heart): Fated to share the stage with two of the most beautiful and talented women of the rock era, Howard Leese continued to lend his creative talents to Heart long after its other founding members had departed.

It was Nancy with her beautiful blond tresses that stole the spotlight, but it was Howard's guitar that powered the group. Secure in the knowledge that he was a key component in Heart's driving guitar based sound, he was never bitter about the fact that his name was only recognizable amongst true fans of the group.

Listen to "Barracuda" or "Magic Man" or "Even it Up" and you are instantly struck by the inherent "coolness" of the opening riffs, and his mastery of harmonic overtones is second to none.



Mick Mars (Motley Crüe): Mostly thought of as a fair to middling heavy metal guitarist, Mick Mars phrasing is perfect for the Crüe's sound. Chunky, dirty and staccato at times, it still manages to be melodic.

Upstaged by Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee and their bad-boy images, Mick stays cool and aloof behind his powerful music. Despite the darkness inherent in some of their tunes, you cannot fail to be uplifted by Mick Mars' musical skills.



Really there are so many worthy players that I could go on and on, but this is just a listing of those few that have bugging me for years. It's true that people have their own tastes, and for some, these guys wouldn't even make the top 10, but it makes me feel better to have my sentiments known.

If I'm lucky there may be a few of you out there - just a few - who will say, "Man, I've been saying for years that he (or she) has never got enough credit."

I would also add here Carolyn Wonderland from Texas. She is a very versatile artist playing anything from blues to rock. Check out her rendition of Misunderstood on the Lap Steel Guitar. Her finger work is amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3hE7FxG6H8&feature=related

Author Bio

Kenny Auyoung: Webmaster @ GetMeABand.com - Looking for a band? Search through thousands of musician's profiles to find the right band members in your local area. Find musicians, start a band, and play music -

Finished Cuesta Rey Cigar Box Guitar

Alright after a little “fine tuning” so to speak I finally have my latest build the Red Cuesta Rey Cigar Box Guitar to where I like it!

I ended up completely redoing the fret nut and replacing it with of all things a brass toilet bolt. Why you may ask? Simply because it was large enough in diameter to fill my needs. I used a hacksaw blade to deepen some notches in the threads to hold the strings in place.

Completely remaking the bridge was another piece I wanted to change. I ended up using a nice piece of scrap wood called padauk. Padauk has a reddish or orange color to it. I chose padauk because of the overall red background in this particular Cuesta Rey cigar box.

Using my fret saw I placed a cut diagonally across the wood and glued a piece of fret wire in place. From there I sanded off any excess wood so that a slope was created from the edges up to the crown of the fret. This allows the strings to come in contact with the metal fret wire and not the wood.

A bonus I wanted to share with you in having to go find parts for the retrofit. I ended up at my local family owned “non-big box” hardware store. I made new friends, found a potential source from one of the clerks for antique cigar boxes and found the store sells old brass cabinet pull knobs and handles. These knobs and handles look great on CBG’s!

In this particular build I purchased a larger Cuesta Rey cigar box for the main guitar body and a smaller Cuesta Rey cigar box of the same style for parts. I used parts of the smaller box lid to dress up the guitars headstock. I also used a piece of the bottom of the smaller box to dress up the tailpiece.

I did not add a fret board this time around but relied on the natural beauty of red oak that the neck is made out of. The neck was shaped by hand. Since I intended this CBG for all slide work I did not include frets. I did, however, inlay multi-colored wood veneer strips in the correct fret positions.

All in all I am very pleased the way my little red Cuesta Rey cigar box guitar turned out. She sounds great when plugged into an amp!