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Cigar box guitars are one of the easiest instruments to play - especially those tuned to an "open chord" such as the standard GDG. As Glenn Watt and others have shown us, you can play all sorts of songs on open-tuned cigar box guitars using just one finger. You simply use the index finger of your fretting hand to hold down all three strings at different frets, to play the different chords that make up a song. You can find some of Glenn's best one finger lessons here... but of cour …

Like Jack Kerouac, I have always been drawn to the edges and fringes of modern society. The drifters and hermits, modern-day hoboes and wild-eyed street people who stalk the back alleys and forgotten corners of our modern world, these are the ones whose stories have always intrigued me.I know I could never live that life, but something about these people who live on the edge calls to me... in particular, the group of modern-day hoboes who still ride the freight trains, and take the time to tag t …

Give your next project a vintage curly maple or tiger stipe woodgrain look with this simple burn-and-stain technique.We sent Shane Speal our new Hubcap Howler Resonator Guitar Kit and he came back with another exciting new finishing technique that made the white birch wood look like a deep, antique curly maple!  Speal's original intent was to copy the look of an old Stella acoustic guitar in his collection, but the end result was something much better.  You'll need the following: …

Inspired by a customer's photograph, C. B. Gitty owner, Ben Baker takes a moment to concentrate on why we make these instruments, kits and parts.  Sometimes, you see a snapshot of a time and place, a little slice of life, and immediately realize: "I want to be there. That is my place." For some, that feeling is brought on by photos of landmarks and monuments, or scenic mountain vistas, or images of seas vast and blue and wide.And while those scenes appeal to me as well, there is just s …

When we developed the Hubcap Howler, word started getting around the Gitty workshop that this was going to be one of the most unique, old-time sounding kits.  At some point, one of us said, "we should send one of these to Brett Gardner and see what he could do with it!"  So we did!Brett is a master of classic jazz, he's based in New Orleans and performs with 100% homemade instruments.   There was noone better to test drive this kit!  Ben Gitty printed up a special versio …