October 2018 - storage.googleapis.com · Page 4 CBG Review — cbgreview.com October 2018 Performer, guitarchaeologist, storyteller Interview with Shane Speal, York, PA, U.S.A. Shane

Page 1 CBG Review — cbgreview.com October 2018

CBG ReviewOctober 2018

where in the world? a p.xx

contributors a p.xx

Letting your imagination run wild!Scott Hanley , USA a p.22

leave it to the swiss...not-so-noisy, switzerland a p.32

alias “cutFinger” interview with alain pache, switzerland a p.27

performer, guitarchaeologist, storytellerinterview with shane speal, usa a p.3

howlin’ rooster guitars and suchbasil Azizoghly, UAE a p.16

the hobby that changed my lifeElmar Zeilhofer, austria a p.10

everybody should have one...Sarven Manguiat, USA a p.xx


EditorialChild of necessity...

“Necessity is the mother of invention” is the way it all started. Nowadays the shoe is on the other foot and more a case of “invention is the child of necessity” as builders all over the world design and create their cigar box guitars and CBG-related instruments and accessories.

Our first article is an interview with Shane Speal, talking about his career and latest book. Shane’s preference is for “raw” no-rules blues, which is not really surprising given the contagious “raw” enthusiasm he has thrown into the CBG revolution over the past 25 years.

Then Elmar Zeilhofer tells us about the hobby that led to his invention of the “Original Flatpup” pickup in Austria. Basil Azizoghly describes how his chance encounter with cigar box guitars led to a passion for luthiery in the U.A.E.... Scott Hanley... Alain “Cutfinger” Pache in Switzerland. And leave it to “Not-so-noisy” in Switzerland to come up with the first laser-cut CBGs and ukuleles!

Cover photo (Shane Speal, Farmer Jon): David SuttonCopyright CBG Review 2018. All rights reserved. Email: cbgreview.com/contactwww.facebook.com/cbgmagazine

Back to the musicians as David “Dr. Easy” Reed tells us how cigar box guitars arouse the muse within him, and how he puts musical recycled art to use in his performances in the USA and the Caribbean. Then, in the interview to follow, Radiophonic West Band’s Géraud LaFarge tells us how the acoustic duo plays instrumental versions of all kinds of favorites with only a cigar box guitar and a banjo to

appeal to audiences young and old, from metalheads to hippies. No easy feat indeed!

Last but by no means least, Serafín Marín Ordóñez from The Fat Dog Cigar Box in Spain talks about his CBG venture and designs, and how the CBG community has spread to his country, with a growing number of Spanish CBG builders and many bands including them in their live shows – yet another country where CBGs are making their mark. It appears there’s just no stopping them!

Read, enjoy and share with your friends...Best regardsHuey Ross


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Performer, guitarchaeologist, storytellerInterview with Shane Speal, York, PA, U.S.A.Shane Speal appeared at the first Cigar Box Guitar Festival in 2004 . He has released numerous CDs under the name Insurrection Records using his hand-assembled “poverty art” “Speal’s music runs the gamut; from old blues to trash rock and out into the stratosphere of avant garde” – last.fm

CBGR: Shane, time flies – is it really 25 years now?

Shane Speal: It’s 25 years this year, I built my first CBG – the “Swisher Sweets” guitar – on July 4th, 1993.

Revolution, renaissance, resurgence, revival – what would you call it today?

I would call it the “Great Unplugging” – where society has too much technology, with China belting out about two million new guitars a year, people making electric hip-hop music on computers (my son’s a good example there) and the whole cigar box thing rebelling against that.

And so your new book is called “Making poor man’s guitars” – are you happy with the result?

My editors approached me and said we need a book out in 2018 – can you give us 16,000 words and 300 photographs in four months? So I set everything aside and ended up sending 32,000 words and 500 photos and told them to take out half and maybe use that as material for book two. Well they took everything and put it into one book. And even as late as April this year, I asked them to reshuffle the chapters and go over the book till I was happy with it.


This book has been a complete struggle, but basically everybody’s getting two books in one. There’s so much more I could put in there, but I see it as like the “Readers Digest” of 25 years of my research and performances.

Which explains why there’s a lot more in there than just guitars?

That was one of the things I kept going back to my editor on – the original title was “Poor Man’s guitar – building the instrument of American Legends.” But the book does have much more, like how to make an electrified washtub bass, a beer-can microphone – even all the secrets behind my foot stomper – all the instruments that I use in concert are in there, along with other instruments and what I call “guitarchaeology.”

“I would call it the “Great Unplugging” – where society has too much technology...”

“Guitarchaeology”?

I get these antique instruments and they rarely come with a story. So I’m left with the task of researching them with a fine-tooth comb – how they were built, where they came from and then trying to piece together a possible story – like an archaeologist. For example, one of the instruments in the book is the “Portland Cowboy,” which was made from a tin can with the original performer’s set list glued to the side. It was actually me and Ben Gitty who sat there one afternoon researching the songs on the list till we found all their origins. We realized that the performer was singing yodeling cowboy songs in the thirties or forties.


And you’re no stranger to writing, are you?

I know this sounds crazy, but my goal for the book was to make the book just as interesting to read in the bathroom as it is in the workshop – so full of stories and the whole “mojo” of what’s behind it all. And it’s not the first book I’ve contributed to. There was the book called “Hand-made Music Factory” by a friend of mine Mike Orr. When he wrote it, I suggested it could use some history and that became my contribution to his book.

“I love being a storyteller”

But yeah, I love writing. I used to work in radio writing ads and stuff and I love being a storyteller. I’m passionate about the instruments, but I also want to be a storyteller with them.

You’ve always said the cigar box guitar is the “exact sound and spirit” you were looking for and your original quest was to find your own sound as a performer?

The year before I built my first guitar, I was going totally 100% crazy about the blues, coming from thrash metal, punk, stuff like that. Once I discovered the blues, I kept going backwards from say, Muddy Waters and Hound Dog Taylor, to stuff that drove me crazy from the 1920s – like Blind Willie Johnson or Cryin’ Sam Collins – music that was primitive, a little out of tune and reckless. And that’s what I wanted with my music. My old Stella acoustic guitar just wasn’t doing it. Then I read a story about Carl Perkins’ two-string cigar box guitar and knew that was what I wanted! Broken to begin with, creaky, on the edge – all the stuff I was trying to play on the six-string guitar just came flowing out …

And knowing how all these instruments came about in the first place makes gives you more of a rush when you play them?

Once you throw the rules away and accept what you got, then you’re set. It’s all part of the “Great Unplugging!” It’s saying “ok, I’m gonna play with only two strings, two fingers or whatever.” That’s the freedom of it.

Would you say the book is a tribute to people’s ingenuity and creativity?

I would call the book not just a tribute to ingenuity and creativity, but to the spirit of “never give up!” All the stories that are in

Photo: Randy Flaum


there are about desperation. It always started with that. Now the desperation is not about money, it’s more about “humanity” – not all this perfection that you hear on the radio, but the sound of imperfection. That’s humanity.

We are definitely in a renaissance. There’s never been as many cigar box guitars as there are now. It gets to a point where you’re adding so many details to a guitar. It’s why I wrote my book – to keep everyone grounded.

“Roots music” isn’t just blues, is it? You trace the origins of through-neck box designs back to Africa...

For somebody to take a broomstick and shove it through a box the way so many old blues guys did to get started, well that design goes straight back to Africa; you can also find it in Japanese instruments – it’s a common thing – a stick through a resonator with strings attached. It all makes sense. And I show it in the book with the Ethiopian Masengo.

You also had civil war soldiers making fiddles, right?

They used cigar boxes for fiddles, banjos or guitars back in the 1800s. To get back to that in modern times is simply us reconnecting and keeping the tradition going.

“...and you’re feeling what they felt 100 years ago”

Granted, I have some cigar box guitars made by other people that are instruments of perfection, with frets and great intonation and everything, but there’s also a lot of pieces of junk that I’ve made – stick-through-box instruments – these are the ones that make you reconnect because you have to struggle through them and you’re feeling what they felt 100 years ago – the same challenges.


You don’t hear a lot of country musicians playing CBGs?

There’s been a few. Clay Bowles from Zack Brown Band plays one. But country music seems to have its own traditions and such. It’s kind of a different crowd. You’ll see home-made instruments a little more in blue grass circles. Here in America you can go to a blue grass festival and some of the best music is up on the hillside and everybody’s just picking. You’ll see washboards, wash-tub basses and the occasional cigar box instrument.

Me, I love classic country. My band does Hank Williams every night. I tell you one of the greatest country-style singer-songwriters I’ve ever met plays cigar box guitar and that’s AJ Gaither. He’s from the mid-West and plays a hand-made four-string guitar.

So let’s get back to your music and your sound...

Yeah, you know I started out as a solo performer. I would just get on stage and that’ when I came out with the foot-stomper

idea and little tricks like using a beer can mike to make my voice sound like an AM radio, and putting “slap back” echo on my voice to fill the air because you’re one person on stage trying to make a full sound with three strings and your voice. That’s how I developed my style and my sound.

And Shane Speal & the Snakes?

Well I started doing an open mic in a small dive bar in York, Pennsylvania with the first half-hour usually reserved for me as the host. The thing is the guys coming into that open mic would come up to me and ask to join in. So I had “Farmer Jon” with his wash-tub bass, Aaron Lewis on his harmonica, and Ron Benway from Seattle playing washboard – all sitting in with me and just following my lead. After months of this, I finally looked at them and said “You guys are so good behind me that I’m gonna book gigs for us as a band.” And that’s how the band was created from guys just hanging out.

Band members: (from left to right) Eric DeAlmeida (sax), Rick Stepina (hand percussion), Shane Speal (cigar box guitar), Farmer Jon (Soul Bucket), Derick Kemper (harmonica)


We don’t even practice or use a set list in our performances. I’ve got about four hours worth of songs memorized. The only thing I need to do is tell the harmonica and saxophone players what key I’m in. In fact, I direct my band on stage with the headstock of my guitar. If I take it and swipe it down, they’ll stop on a dime! We can have stops in the middle of a song when everything is chugging di di di di di boom! They’ll stop dead, it’s fantastic!

So I still do solo shows at smaller venues, but I would much rather play with my band now. If I go solo, I’ll go back to the way I used to perform, but now it’s more acoustic, deeper delta blues because I’m alone on stage.

Did you think back then that you’d be steering people all over the world in a similar direction?

No I never thought I’d be doing this. Back around 2002, I put free plans for how to build a CBG on the internet and they were very basic and very simple. And the reason was that there was nothing on the net, the instrument was forgotten. I wanted to see it have its rightful place in music history. I just wanted to show the guitar off.

And with all the builders coming out of the “woodwork,” did you succeed in what you set out to do?

All I know is a lot of people around the world have discovered the guitar and a lot of people are playing music that they would have never played before, and that makes me happy.

Photo: Kevin Stiffler



The hobby that changed my life

Elmar Zeilhofer, Vienna, Austria“The urge to take on new challenges has led Elmar Zeilhofer to different professions, countries and situations. The desire to play the guitar gave his career a new twist ... his biggest goal is the joy of experimenting and exploring the boundaries, both musically and as a builder” – Walking-Chair Gallery, Vienna

The start: When I started to build the first rudimentary CBG-like guitars in 2008 in my living room in Vienna, I had no idea how this hobby would influence my life. As with many builders, I started to try a little of this and a little of that, slowly digging deeper. And steadily filling up more and more space in the apartment with instruments I could neither play nor sell.

But there also is a virtual reality – the social media platforms where like-minded people gather to show off their stuff, to like and to get likes. At that time, I was going through a difficult phase and building CBGs helped me a lot, as well as dealing with other builders, especially at Ted Crocker’s Handmade Music Clubhouse and later at Cigar Box Nation.

“Yes, three strings, not six”

Losing interest: Besides virtual reality, there’s the real world. With a bunch of guitars under my belt, I stopped by at small live music venues in Vienna with the hope of finding someone who played these strange and unusual little instruments. And guess what? The comparison with “real” instruments was imminent. Yes, three strings, not six.


I tried to explain to the local guitar heroes that being perfect was not the intention; instead it was the charm of hand-built stuff that has flaws and characteristics like we all do. This rather artistic approach was emphasized by the slogan of my initial label: “Klangbox – simply trashy – and not perfect at all!” The number of handmade instruments in my apartment was soon big enough to do small exhibitions in Vienna. At least I could sell a few builds. Basically, to keep the hobby going...

“Klangbox – simply trashy – and not perfect at all!”

Saved by the Flatpup: In the beginning, cheap piezos and second-hand magnetic pickups were the weapon of choice. Until I started to make my own single-coil pickups in 2010 – “Nailpup” – with nails as pole pieces and thin neodym magnets at the bottom. With well over 100 instruments, I was thinking of a special make. One that could be nailed to a door or played on the street, consisting of only a bottom part and a headstock, only connected by strings... and a flat pickup. All the pickups I knew were too high.

Then I saw a sidewinder pickup in a second-hand shop. But it was still too high! My small neodyms were the answer – I put them on an iron tin instead of passing normal pole pieces through a bobbin. Hence, the magnetic field was redirected through the core, which became a part of the magnet itself. Also, the split coils were wound so that they could act as a humbucker.

The first Flatpups were presented to the public in February 2011 (a sample Flatpup is somewhere on display at the Technical Museum of Vienna). In March, I made my


first introductory offer to fellow builders. While I thought their low silhouette was the main feature, it turned out that customers praised them for the sound – I had hit the jackpot!

Experimenting, growing, sharing: During the next few years, I experimented a lot to develop the products further with the help of customers who I rewarded with discounts. I still used tin from cans to keep the cost of materials low. Also, I shipped them in normal envelopes under 5mm to save shipping costs. I also received a major boost from the videos of my buddy Chris Fillmore. Chris is an outstanding blues musician who can turn his hand to any instrument. So hearing him test and play my guitars and pickups is still always a real pleasure.

“While I thought their low silhouette was the main feature, it turned out that customers praised them for the sound...”

At a certain point, other builders let me know they were interested in making their own versions. To cut a long story short, I learned a lot about human nature and dealing with different people around the world – some good, some bad. Having loyal customers like Saner Guitars and a few home-grown builders saved my business. A very positive experience was with Dan Sleep, who was both a competitor and a gentleman.

Chris Fillmore


Business matters: While I was studying for my university degree, I somehow lost the contact to fellow builders and many of my customers. In those busy times, I kept myself above water with ongoing orders from customers like Justin Johnson, who I worked with to produce his signature flatpup humbucker pickups for his three-string “Justin Johnson Signature Shovel Guitar.”

“Customers have described their sound as one of a kind – open, transparent and harmonic”

During my final exams, I couldn’t keep up with the demand and alternative builders took over. Now the biggest challenge as a provider of small-scale pickups is the commercialization that is also chipping away at the cigar box guitar building scene. To combat the influx of cheap imports, I built up “Sixtus pickups” (www.sixtus-pickups.com), a brand designed for a specialist niche of electric guitar, harp guitar and resonator guitar players, combining everything I learned from our customers’ feedback. The response has been good and customers have described their sound as one of a kind – open, transparent and harmonic.

When I look back, I consider myself rich in the experiences I had while I was doing what I like. And just thinking how many thousands of instruments around the world are sporting an Original Flatpup made in Vienna is a great feeling! The outlook is a wish: Staying “in tune” with the real world, looking for a good job and making pickups on the side. Maybe a new design or product, or even a whole new invention, who knows?




Howlin’ Rooster guitars and such

Basil Azizoghly, Dubai, U.A.E.I grew up in Sharjah, the city across the road from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. That’s where I picked up the guitar when I was 14 years old. I got turned onto Led Zeppelin by a guitar teacher I briefly studied with and I’ve been exploring blues/rock ever since.

It was my last year of university when I was in Ottawa, Canada and my last summer there before coming back to the UAE to work at the family factory, manufacturing fiberglass roofing. A few friends and I packed into my car and drove down to Tennessee to the Bonnaroo music festival. That’s where I met a guy who built guitars out of cigar boxes. He had a stall where people were trying out all sorts of weird looking concoctions that made a massive sound. There were even a few acts at the festival who played them on stage. The idea was completely new to me. Up until that time I’d never even thought about how a stringed instrument was put together. I must have been asleep.

“It was just a cool instrument that I was interested in playing”

Well that planted the seed, but I still wasn’t thinking about making one myself – it was just a cool instrument that I was interested in playing. I spent the rest of that summer working on renovating the house I had been living in for the past seven years. I’d done construction jobs every summer as a student and loved it, so this was a great project for me. I did everything in that house, and it was the first time for most


of those jobs, but that project is what got me into making guitars. When I finished up, I was itching for something else to make. I had a few pieces of wood lying around from the project and that’s when it dawned on me that I should make some cigar box guitars. I went down to a cigar shop and picked up a few empty boxes, bought a few basic tools from the hardware store and stripped a few of my old electric guitars’ parts. A few YouTube videos later and I was spending my days out on the balcony floor, putting cigar box guitars together.

“What came out of the speaker was so raw and unpredictable”

It must have taken me three or four hours to make my first one. I was so excited to hear it that I left out a bunch of steps and just had the bare minimum to go with, a stick inside a box, with a very sloppily soldered pickup, and three strings to go with it. I took it over to my friends’ house. They were in a professional band and had a great set up. Max was practicing on his drums and I plugged into one of their amps and just played over whatever he was practicing. What came out of the speaker was so raw and unpredictable (I remember a specific howling sound that would sound somewhere almost half way along the string) and it would go on forever if I didn’t mute it. We jammed for hours that night and it was that experience of exploring something new where the old rules that you use to play the guitar no longer apply, and you start using your ears more than your mind. That was what that got me hooked to these guitars.

In the fall of 2013, I was back in the UAE starting my job at the factory, watching over the production line, and getting acquainted with how the factory runs. I quickly took stock


of what we had available to work with and I was pleased to find we had a lot of wood-working machinery that we used for making crates for shipping. There was also a decent amount of waste wood. On top of that, the industrial area was being repurposed and many of the surrounding workshops and factories were being demolished and what was left behind was a goldmine of materials for me to work with. I could make a lot of guitars with this.

So I went to work as I did that last summer in Canada, but on a larger scale. Within a month, I had about 20 cigar box guitars of various sizes and configurations. I decided to sign up to be a vendor at one of the local weekend markets. To my surprise, I sold half of them. That’s how it all started. I spent the next three years making cigar box guitars, selling them, and reinvesting the earnings into creating a workshop and buying books on guitar building until I realized this operation was becoming a thing. I had a full-time employee by this time and the orders were coming in – nothing too crazy, but my workshop was getting bigger and better and I wasn’t paying out of my pocket. I decided I needed to go and learn from a luthier directly, so as to take this to the next level.

“I decided I wanted to spend long hours making masterpieces”

I sent a few emails around Canada and that’s how I met Master Luthier Sergei De Jonge, spent a month in his guitar-building course at his property out in the Chelsea woods in Quebec. It was a life-changing experience. Up to this point, I had no idea what perfection looked like or how it was achieved. I wasn’t sure what “good enough” was and that’s what I learned from Sergei. I decided that I didn’t want to make big batches of mediocre guitars, I wanted to spend long hours making masterpieces.


So, I started making solid wood acoustic guitars, then I got into making ouds (oriental lutes), mandolins, banjos, ukuleles, electric guitars and anything with strings that somebody wanted me to make. Up until two months ago, this was still a part-time thing for me. I quit my regular job in July and have been doing it full-time since then.

Right now it’s me and Ranjith in the workshop (Ranjith used to be a carpenter at the fiberglass factory, but he showed a real interest in luthiery, so I showed him what I knew and now we work together) making all sorts of stringed instruments to order. We don’t stock anything. We also do guitar repairs (now about 70% of our work), which we started doing in response to demand.

“CBGs are not just for blues, they are for whatever your mind can come up with.”

I collaborate with local artists when artwork is needed. We also do art installations around town in places like hotels, restaurants and bars, usually themed around musical instruments. CBGs are more than guitars – they are works of art to hang on the wall and admire for their designs. They add some cool to any space! I’ve had people buy them to decorate their houses with, and then they start playing them. People like them because they are handmade and because they can talk to me personally about them. I answer all questions openly and am happy to show them the process. At the moment I have kind of cornered the market as there are actually no other guitar builders in the country.


One of my original ideas was to form a guitar-making community in the UAE. But, as I was doing this part time, I found I only had a few hours a day to work on building guitars, and most of it went toward making better guitars. I am currently working on a more market-ready version of a do-it-yourself CBG kit and focusing on promoting it here in the UAE. Once it’s ready, I would like to host workshops and use the kits to get people started. I am also getting many requests from people who want to apprentice with me. So I also plan to run a guitar-building course like the one I attended with Sergei De Jonge for them.

“There is no specific type of customer, just anyone who likes to make music”

There is no specific type of customer, just anyone who likes to make music. CBGs are not just for blues, they are for whatever your mind can come up with. There’s a local indie scene too. It’s very small, but that’s also a good thing. Everybody knows everybody, and I’ve had most of my work come to me by word of mouth. The community is very generous and we all try to help each other out.

I am currently working on a collaboration with local musicians here, working on starting a web series that promotes the local musicians. And then there’s the Howlin Rooster band! It was something we hoped we could do regularly, having the guys play the instruments I make, but we only did a few gigs. It’s still on the agenda though. We’ll get back to it as soon as the weather gets better here and the gigs start.


Hanley’s Cigar Box Guitars


Letting your imagination run wild!

“Creativity instrumental for guitar builder...Scott Hanley has stacks of cigar boxes in his Point au Roche workshop; he adds his own unique touches as he helps them make music” – Press-Republican 2017

I started building as a hobby back in September 2014. I’ve always wanted to play a string instrument, but due to an injury to my left hand, I was unable to learn how to play a six-string guitar. Then I happened to see a video of Justin Johnson playing a three-string cigar box guitar and thought it was so cool. From that day on, I kept telling my wife Michelle I’m going to build one someday.

Then it all happened when she saw a cigar box in a cigar shop and told me to stop talking about it and build one. The next day she went to work, I went out to my garage and found some old maple hardwood flooring to make a guitar neck. By the time she came home I was already playing it by the fire outside. Then shortly after the neighbor heard me playing, she came over and wanted me to build her one.

“By the time she came home I was already playing it by the fire”

From that day forward, I went from a hobby to starting a business. At this time I’ve just finished building number 89. I’ve expanded my builds from three-, four- and six-string cigar box guitars to cigar box fiddles, cigar box basses to full upright basses out of metal bowls and small wash tubs, and getting ready to start building banjos out of salad bowls.

Scott Hanley, New York, USA


I have found that sink drains make excellent sound holes and I use beer tap handles on my upright basses. I make bridges out of beer antlers and I often customize head stocks by carving raised wooden flames around the tuners.

I love the creativity when building – its like being a artist and starting off with a new canvas every time and letting your imagination run wild! I’ll start with a maple board and a box and end up with a piece of art you can play. I’ll see a tennis racket and wonder how I could make a guitar out of it when out shopping with the wife. I just made a really cool three-string slide guitar out of an oar!

“Its like being a artist and starting off with a new canvas every time and letting your imagination run wild!”

Then to see the customers’ faces when they first play their guitars and see the enjoyment in their eyes...it’s just amazing knowing I built these unique instruments. I guess that’s what makes me so passionate about building them. Michelle says she can see it in my face. And it’s the same for the other builders I know – once you build your first cigar box guitar and play it, you’re hooked. From that day forward you’re looking to build your next one, and everyone of them sounds different to the other. There are no real rules for them, even with tuning.

Back in June of 2017, I ended up building a four-string cigar box guitar for Roger Fisher from the band “Heart.” He had sent me a picture of the 1989 patent design headstock he made for one of his guitars and wanted me to copy the design for his build. Which was more than a honor for me to do for him.

Roger Fischer


Then, in October 2017, I received a phone call from the National Association of Music Merchants asking me if I would become a vendor and display my guitars in their summer show. So Michelle and I decided to go and see what it was all about. In July 2019, my guitars will be on display at the NAMM show in Nashville, Tennessee along with guitars from the likes of Taylor, Fender, Marshall and so many other top builders. NAMM is a trade show that only invites people in the music industry and, to this day, I still can’t believe my guitars will be in with the best of the best.

In January 2018, Plattsburgh, NY singer Nick Seymour asked me to build a six-string CBG for Zakk Wylde from Black Label Society who just received it in Montreal in August. Again it’s incredible to see great artists enjoying my home-spun guitars.

“I still can’t believe my guitars will be in with the best of the best”

I have to say it’s been like a dream since I started building cigar box guitars back then. I remember carving necks out of maple outside during the winter months in temperatures around nine degrees above zero, and not being able to feel my fingers sometimes. After that I would go back inside my basement and put everything together.

I did this the first two years of building until my wife said “you need a shop to start building in ‘cause your hobby is starting to turn into a business with all the orders you have now.” So I built my little 12x14 shop, which I’ve already outgrown.


“I love the creativity when building, and conversing with so many talented people around the world”

Since all this has happened and the orders have kept coming, I’ve also expanded into other builds. Next year I’m building a larger shop with a paint booth and a place to start inlay work, as well as a store in the front of my shop. As I said, I love the creativity when building, and I enjoy conversing with so many talented people around the world. I know this is my business now, but it still feels so much like a hobby to me. From cigar box guitars to metal bowls for full upright basses, life doesn’t get much better then this!


Alain“Cutfinger” Pache Photo: Christophe Losberger


Alias “Cutfinger”

“His virtuoso slide play on the 3-string CBG borders on magic...his repertoire mixes the big names in blues rock with his own compositions. Cutfinger serves his blues menu with his own personal and finely honed sound, which both fuels and touches the emotions at the same time.” – Vully Blues Club, Switzerland

CBGR: Alain, where does the name “Cutfinger” come from?

Alain Pache: Ha! I was joking once with a friend of mine because part of one finger is missing on my left hand. I thought it was funny and so I kept it as a stage name.

How long have you been in the music business?

About 30 years now, and 20 as a professional – ouch already!!

Who are some of the solo artists and groups you’ve backed over the years?

There ave been a lot...I worked for a long time as a “mercenary,” so I accompanied various artists in the rock scene like Joël Murner, Thierry Ostrini, Exo, and others throughout the French-speaking world. But I’ve been focusing on my own projects for a few years now.

What countries have you played in?

Switzerland of course, but also France, Belgium, Africa, Canada, Martinique and Guadeloupe, and one time in Israel.

Interview with Alain Pache, Lausanne, Switzerland


So you can switch between different styles?

Yes I was trained to do that, but my favorite styles are rock and blues. Over the years I have tended to take more pleasure in what I really like to do.

When did you pick up your first cigar box guitar?

About eight years ago when I met Blaise (lead vocal of Swamp Train). I tried one and immediately succumbed to its charm.

No problem changing from six strings to three?

It’s like all the instruments – it takes work to arrive at something, but naturally being a guitarist helps you take a few shortcuts.

How many CBGs do you own and who built them?

I built five guitars myself and I have two from Daniel Borel (DB Guitars), who is an incredible luthier in Avenches (Switzerland).


What tunings do you use?

Basically open E and G.

Is slide guitar easier on a CBG?

That depends what you want out of it.

I’ve seen you use two different slides at the same time – one metal and one glass?

Yes I developed this technique with two bottlenecks to extend the possibilities of phrasing with three strings and no frets. Whether I use glass or metal mainly depends on what I have at hand. I lose or break a lot of slides. But my preferred slides are glass and ceramic.

Tell me about “Squire & Cut” and how you and Myriam became a duo?

We met at the 1st Crossroads festival where I was invited as a guitarist and she did a vocal improvisation of one of my songs at a moment’s notice. Later I suggested we play together and since then she has became my musical “soul sister.”

And you play lead guitar for the roots music group “Swamp Train”?

Yes, Swamp Train is a super group that only plays CBGs. I think they’re the only group in Switzerland that never uses six-string guitars!

Squire & Cut


And your own “Cut Finger Band”?

This is a project that lets me do whatever I feel like to the best of my abilities and for my own enjoyment.

How many albums have you featured in?

Not that many, being more of a stage musician than a studio artist. I guess about twenty albums...

How many of your own?Under my name none .. but I haven’t given up!

Who writes the songs?

For Squire & Cut, it’s Myriam and me; for Swamp Train, basically Blaise and Steve.

When you’re not playing gigs, you teach at a music school…

Yes it makes up two-thirds of my job and I take a lot of pleasure in sharing my modest knowledge with students.

How do CBGs go down with the younger generation?

They love it, think it’s great but not that many of them start playing it.

What advice do you give your students?

I advise them to take maximum pleasure in their instrument and to be curious about everything – and to work 8 hours a day!

Swamp Train: (from left to right) Steve “Rattlebrained” Litsios (washboard, drums, vocals), Alain “Cutfinger” Pache (cigar box guitar), Blaise “Big Blowin’ Blaze” Mayor (vocals, cigar box guitar, harmonica), Dominik “Nikworks” Schaffer (bass)

Builders mentioned in this article: Daniel Borel (DB Guitars); https://dbguitars.ch; www.facebook.com/dbguitars



Leave it to the Swiss...

Have you ever ever wondered where the cigar box guitar scene would be without the Internet? No YouTube, no Facebook, no websites? The thought is daunting. So one could argue that the CBG movement owes some small debt of gratitude to Switzerland where the World Wide Web was conceived in a document written in 1989 by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee who was working at CERN (Europe’s particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland).

NotSoNoisy, Vevey, Switzerland by Huey Ross

Switzerland also has a reputation for precision-made instruments, so little wonder that French-Swiss video artist Guillaume Reymond from “NOTsoNOISY” in Vevey, Switzerland, with the help of Charly Pache from the “FabLab Fribourg” came up with the “Semiolo3” – the first Swiss open-source electric cigar box guitar created for laser cutting. Guillaume is famous as “a true child of YouTube,” with videos that have over 30 million views.


“Another world premiere in Switzerland...”

The Semiolo3 guitar has a “semi hollow” body with a short scale of 495 mm and three strings (tuned GDg). The body and the neck are made out of 39 pieces of plywood using a laser cutter. The pick guard is cut in 3 mm plexiglass. The open-source files are downloadable (under a creative commons non-commercial license), so that anyone with access to a laser printer can build their own instrument (provided they also have three tuning pegs, a three-string metal bridge, a pickup and output jack, some screws, glue and three guitar strings).

Then there’s the “ESDGI4 ” four-string tenor guitar/ukulele – also “semi hollow” with a scale of 495mm and made of 39 pieces cut with a laser cutter.

Both models follow in the wake of the “Pirate’s Guitar,” an electro-acoustic laser-cut guitar/ukulele – another world premiere in Switzerland – featuring a special short scale of 488 mm and either three strings like a cigar box guitar (tuned GDg) or four strings like a ukulele (tuned GCEA low-G). The Pirate’s Guitar is amplified through a piezo pickup sitting under the bridge. The body and the neck are made of 61 pieces cut with a laser cutter. Once again, builders supply their own tuning pegs, a pre-wired piezo, an output jack and some nylon classical guitar strings. The files are downloadable along with a tutorial on how to play – so instead of downloading music, download a guitar at http://www.notsonoisy.com/projects/

Finally, if you’re not exactly sure which piece goes where, NOTsoNOISY also conducts regular workshops for the precision technology buffs. The next one will be on 10 November at Fablab-Fribourg.



Culebra guitars


Everyone Should Own One!

Southern California is a great place to be a musician. I have been a nationally touring guitarist for over 11 years and play a number of styles including blues, jazz, rock & roll, funk, and jam. I started including cigar box guitars in my gigs around 2012 after receiving my first one as a gift. After a few years of touring with a CBG in tow, I built my first one in 2015 and immediately fell in love with the process. To this day, I continue to play cigar box guitars at my gigs and still get comments on how cool they look, how great they sound, and constantly get asked what the story is behind them.

Sarven Manguiat, Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.

Since my introduction to the cigar box guitar world, I have built hundreds of these guitars for hobby musicians, touring artists, and even cigar aficionados, including three, four and six-string guitars, basses, ukuleles, and mini amplifiers out of cigar boxes. To me, the cigar box guitar is such a unique instrument. Not only does it turn heads at every performance with it’s eye-catching appeal, but it’s rich history and background story is always a great conversation starter. While there is no doubt that the CBG scene is changing rapidly around the world and there are many great builders out there, it still surprises me how many people have never heard of them.


I started Culebra Guitars for a number of reasons: to pursue my passion for wood working and lutherie, and to shine some light on this increasingly popular, but still underrated instrument. I believe that music has the power to heal. “Culebra”, which translates to snake, symbolizes healing, rebirth and transformation. We at Culebra Guitars seek to shed the skin of old traditions and bring new life to this historic and beautiful instrument by turning it into a professional grade, inspiring tool with classic features and modern reliability for musicians at all levels.


The cigar box guitar is perfect for beginning guitar players as well as advanced players. With less strings, it’s easier to play chords, so there is a sense of instant gratification that is sometimes hard to get with a full size six-string guitar. For the intermediate or advanced player, the cigar box guitar is the perfect addition to your arsenal. It can challenge you and help spark new song writing ideas, inspire new styles of playing, or be the show-stopping piece that makes everybody pull out their cameras.

“For the intermediate or advanced player, the cigar box guitar is the perfect addition to your arsenal”

The Culabra team: (from left to right) Sarven Manguiat .....


Less is definitely more! I particularly admire the three-string CBG because its simplicity is its strength. While you can definitely play guitar leads and solos on a three-stringer with low action, the three-string format is ideal for kids, beginning guitar players, or rhythm guitar players and make a great introduction to the CBG world.

One of our most recent builds was for a friend who had received a box of cigars for the birth of his son. We transformed that box into a beautiful instrument, and even tuned it to DAD. The thought of his son growing up and learning to play – or even learning from his dad – brought smiles to all of us here at Culebra. With it’s smaller neck and overall smaller profile, CBGs are very easy to hold and play, which is great for both kids and adults with small hands.

“While you can definitely play guitar leads and solos on a three-stringer with low action, the three-string format is ideal for kids, beginning guitar players, or rhythm guitar players”


Not to sound too much like a marketing piece, but at Culebra Guitars, we take pride in the craftsmanship that we put into our instruments. Every guitar that we build is built to last, look and sound amazing, and perform at the highest level of quality. We continue to build cigar box guitars because we believe that this instrument has a rich history and an even richer future... Our goal is for everyone to own a Culebra guitar! “We believe that this instrument

has a rich history and an even richer future...”

Photo: Frank Rodrick


ContributorsShane Speal is the author of “Making Poor Man’s Guitars” following a long tradition of playing and promoting cigar box guitars in shows and festivals. In addition to the official Shane Speal website, his Cigar Box Nation website is an archive of CBG history, instructional videos, building plans and a global social network. He has featured in books, magazines, documentaries and also opened the Cigar Box Guitar Museum at Speal’s Tavern in New Alexandria PA. He also has a popular YouTube series on how to play CBGs.

Emar Zeilhofer started building CBG-like guitars in 2008 in his living room in Vienna, Austria. The “no-rules” CBG approach and his unwillingness to cut holes in guitars led him to experiment and try out new ideas to the point that, in March 2011, he took the do-it-yourself world of CBG builders by surprise and presented his “Original Flatpup” pickups for guitars and other string instruments to the public in forums and on YouTube. Owing to their novel “easy-on-top-mount” design, Emar’s flat design pickups have earned their rightful place in music history.

Basil Azizoghly grew up in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He started playing guitar when he was 14 years old and by chance began building CBGs in his last year of university. Ultimately he fused these two pastimes together when he left his job to set up “Howlin’ Rooster Guitars & Such” – where he now turns “just about anything” into musical instruments and makes DIY cigar box guitar kits. He is also fast becoming Dubai’s own master luthier. According to Basil, “find something you love and try to make a living out of it. It will keep you happy for life.”

Scott Hanley ...


Alain Pache lives in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he began playing the guitar and learning music when he was xx years old. He graduated from the Music Academy International in xx stage musician. He has played and still plays in a variety of bands – big and small – including ...

Ross Hewitt a.k.a. Huey Ross was born in Australia in 1953. Over the years he has worked as a tennis teacher, journalist, translator and editor, and now lives in a village in Switzerland. He enjoys building and playing cigar box guitars, as well as editing and contributing to CBG Review.

Sarven Manguiat is a nationally touring musician in the U.S.A. who entered the cigar box guitar world in 2012 after being presented one as a gift. Musically rooted in blues and rock music, he quickly developed his own voice on the CBG and discovered the versatility of the instrument. Since then he has applied it to many genres and situations. In 2015, Sarven began building his own CBG’s and other cigar box instruments. Being passionate about building, he now dedicates himself to making world-class CBGs.


Glen Kaiser and Shane Speal

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October 2018 - storage.googleapis.com · Page 4 CBG Review — cbgreview.com October 2018 Performer, guitarchaeologist, storyteller Interview with Shane Speal, York, PA, U.S.A. Shane