The "Rodeo King" 3-string License Plate Resonator Guitar Kit

We've always been fans of the cowboy guitars with painted graphics that were sold in the 1930's-1950's.  Our Rodeo King pays homage to those instruments, while delivering a rough-and-tumble look of modern ranch life.  This guitar would look perfect hanging from a gun rack in the back of a beat-up pickup truck.

It all starts with a guitar body printed with old barn wood and branding iron art.  (Yes, that woodgrain is printed right on the birch ply body.  No, you won't get splinters!) We prep, cut and print all these parts right here in America at the Gitty workshop.  

Topping the instrument off is a real Wyoming pickup truck license plate, stamped with a cowboy and bucking bronco.   

Designed with back porch picking in mind, this kit has an full, rich resonator sound and is great for playing all sorts of music, including both kinds of music: country & western!  (Blues, folk and rock also sound fantastic on it.)  

It can even be built left-handed!

Designed and with most of the parts made right here at the C. B. Gitty workshops in Gonic, New Hampshire, this amazing-sounding guitar can be built at your dining room table with just a few basic tools. No advanced woodworking is required (no sawing, routing, etc) - just some basic clamping, light drilling and screw insertion is all it takes to build your very own four-string tenor guitar.

This kit comes with a set of strings meant for tuning to Open G "GDG", which has become the de facto tuning standards for 3-string cigar box guitars. If desired, you can re-string it with a set of High Open G Strings for an even more old-timey banjo-like sound. This kit also comes with a full fretboard already attached to the neck, making assembly easy. The detailed how-to guide not only shows you how to assemble the kit, but also includes some basic how-to-play information as well, to help get you picking once the build is done. We also throw in a full-color copy of one of Ben Gitty's Essential Chords Posters with every kit, which is a wealth of information to help get you strumming along with popular songs. 

Also don't forget to grab a copy of one of Ben's songbooks! He has a whole line-up of 3-string tablature songbooks - which is what you build with this kit!

Assembly time on this kit is 3-4 hours, not including glue set-up time. It is recommended for ages 16 and up, though younger kids can help build it with close adult supervision. 

Here is a testimonial from customer Ron H for one of our other tenor guitar kits: "Got my ... kit Thursday. I am very happy with it. It sounds great. Took your advice and am approaching it like a while new instrument. I've been playing in a form of open G (DGBD) but this is better. Especially the chord forms. I am very happy with the four string songbook. Your material is great. Thanks to you I now am understanding how to move from single string melody playing to choral melody playing. I've needed this info for a long time. THANK YOU."