Gitty's Bench Notes for March 20, 2014

This is an exciting time to be involved in the cigar box guitar revolution and handmade music movement! As the primary parts supplier for most of the builders in the movement, we try to keep our fingers on the pulse – and let me tell you, it’s a thumpin’. Justin Johnson is burning up stages across Australia on his C. B. Gitty-sponsored Smoke and Mirrors tour, Shane Speal and his Snake Oil band hit the studio this week to begin recording their first album, to be released on C. B. Gitty Records (get the shirt at www.cbgittyrecords.com). New Cigar Box Guitar festivals keep cropping up around the country, drawing good crowds… everywhere you look CBGs and the people who play and build them are being mentioned in the mainstream media.

And still, despite the growing awareness, recognition and interest, the core of what makes this movement great remains the same. That first spark of inspiration when people see and hear a cigar box guitar for the first time, when they say to themselves: hey, I can do that! (our Cigar Box Guitar Kits make it even easier!) It happened to me 6 years ago, and it continues happening to people around the world every day. That joy of discovery when building your first one, the impatience to get it strung up so you can see how she sounds; the frustration of the first broken string, and the satisfaction of getting it very nearly “just right”… and of course the never-ending list of ways the NEXT one will be better. Cigar box guitars and related homemade instruments bring music and instruments back to the people, back to their roots, out of the ivory towers and down to where they started. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of, and it’s changed a lot of lives for the better, including mine. Keep on buildin’ and playin’!)