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Want to build a cigar box guitar worth handing down to future generations? Want an antique-look and terrific tone for your next build?You can build that kind of cigar box guitar with a little help from Shane Speal. In this post you'll discover how Shane makes collector-quality guitars using antique cigar boxes. Plus, he shares how your next build can have eye-popping vintage graphics, along with a host of other useful benchside tips.Shane reveals all of his secrets and more in the vide …

I love junk. Not for its own sake, really, or out of any desire to accumulate it myself. I love junk because of its potential – the story of what it was, and the unwritten story of what it could be. There’s just something special about taking a pile of junk and turning it into a work of art, which also happens to be a playable musical instrument.Gone Junkin' So, back to junk. This past weekend, I was staying up in Bar Harbor, Maine as part of a yearly Mother’s Day get-togethe …

Using reclaimed materials is all the rage these days, and for a good reason. There is something inherently cool about taking an object that has already had a long useful life - like a roof joist from a 19th-century mill, church or theater - and making it into something new. Be it a coffee table, library shelf, toy box, or musical instrument, creating new items from old materials that have their own story is very appealing.Of course, as builders of cigar box guitars and other handmade/homema …

Want to build better cigar box guitars? Looking for some solid advice on how to build CBGs that sell?In this post, we have three short videos from Shane Speal with insanely useful tricks and hacks to build your best cigar box guitars. After each video is a step-by-step breakdown done in pictures of Shane's years of hard-won advice. Insanely Useful Tricks & HacksHere's just some of of the CBG-building tricks you'll learn in this post:How to quickly and efficiently repair trim on pap …

Want to install a Snake Oil mini humbucker and pickup ring in your cigar box guitar?It's easy! Just follow the step-by-step instructions below to mount our most popular pickup in your cigar box.Installation is EasyWhat follows is a step-by-step account of how to install a Snake Oil mini humbucker and pickup ring. The great thing is, you don’t need a shop full of tools to install one of these wildly popular pickups.As you can see below, the tools needed for installation are fe …