Cigar Box Guitars in the Schools - C. B. Gitty Helps Another Teacher Build CBGs with Students

At C. B. Gitty, we've always been excited about the idea of kids building cigar box guitars, and what they can learn from it, so we jump at the chance to work with teachers and schools who are insterested in making this happen. 

A couple of months back we were contacted by Tom Knight, a teacher at the East Woods School in Oyster Bay, NY (on Long sland) about a special class he wanted to do with some of his students. The East Woods School is a "small by design" private school that offers pre-nursery through eighth grade and focuses on "whole child" education. "We believe in providing our children with roots and wings," reads their mission statement web page, and for me at least that resonates very well with the idea of kids building their own musical instruments from scratch.

Mr. Knight placed his order with us and we shipped the parts. A couple of weeks later he called to say they needed more screws and bushings for the tuners, and we sent him some more at no charge. A few weeks then passed and we didn't hear anything, until this past week when an e-mail with eight photo attachments arrived, showing each of the 8 seventh-grade students who took part in the special elective CBG-building class, proudly showing off their creations.

"I have some background in instrument making, having built a classic guitar and a lute a number of years ago," said Knight, when I asked him how he had come up with the idea of putting this class together. "Last year, my wife and I started taking guitar lessons together and this rekindled my interest in lutherie. in the meantime, I was looking on the internet for some repair parts for my wife's Les Paul and discovered your website. The idea of building a CBG fascinated me and I constructed one this past summer with the idea of having this become a project for my students."

Knight goes on to describe the building process: "The major obstacle was the degree of precision certain operations required, particularly installing the frets (all their instruments are fretted). The difficulties were overcome through the construction of multiple jigs, fixtures and templates, such as a ruler fitted with brads to mark fret locations, a fret saw miter box, tuning peg hole template, and miniature miter boxes for slotting nuts and bridges. I was fortunate in having a group of highly dedicated students, and they all managed to finish their CBGs in the six weeks we had allotted for the project."

Check out the photos below to see the results of Knight's decision to make this project happen. There are few things I like more than seeing a kid proudly holding an instrument they built themselves.

Here are some quotes from the kids in the class:

"Fun to make and plays like a charm." Charlie H.

"I have never experienced anything like this before. Cigar box guitars make sounds exactly like real guitars! It was a lot of fun." Isabella I.

The class was really good. It helped me get relaxed. When I finished, I was proud of myself." Paul L.

"Building cigar box guitars was so much fun. I learned a lot, and it was a great chance to learn to create an actual instrument." Jaylynn A.

"I enjoyed making a playable guitar that I can use." Grace C.

To date we have helped dozens of teachers in schools across the country build CBGs with their students, and are always happy to hear from more.

If you are a teacher or know a teacher who may be interested in building cigar box guitars in their school, please contact us at info@cbgitty.com for more information!