How Much Good Can One Cigar Box Guitar Do?

As it turns out, quite a bit - check out this guitar's amazing (and ongoing) story below.

For a while now, I have been working on finding ways to help my homeless friend Connan down in New Orleans. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to auction this guitar off and donate the proceeds his apartment fund. During that period, we also started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help our friend Dan Sleep, who is fighting pancreatic cancer. Dan helped run Cigar Box Nation for years and has been a huge part of the cigar box guitar movement over the year, giving generously of his time and expertise.

The auction for this guitar wrapped up on Monday, April 10 at a very respectable $340.00. Unfortunately the winning bidder had an emergency come up and wasn't able to follow through on payment, so I did a "second chance" offer to the #2 bidder... who happened to be a good friend of mine (who has asked to remain anonymous). This morning (Tuesday, April 12) I received notice that he had paid for the guitar... and soon after an e-mail arrived. In the e-mail, he asked that I give the money he paid for the guitar to Connan... but then he asked something I did not expect: he asked me to keep the guitar, and start a new auction for it... but this time, to donate the proceeds to Dan's fundraiser.

I'm not ashamed to say that this nearly brought me to tears. This little guitar is going to help two worthy causes at the same time... and who can say what else it will go on to do. How much good can one cigar box guitar (and the cigar box guitar community) do? We're going to find out!

Click HERE to View the Auction on eBay

100% of the final sale price of this guitar will be donated to Dan's GoFundMe fundraiser (if you want to donate directly, click here).

I want to say thank you for taking the time to read this, and a special thank you to anyone who makes a bid or donation. To the anonymous friend who made this possible... the biggest thank you of all.

Ben "Gitty" Baker

April 12, 2017