SMOKIN’ STRINGS

Local Guitar Maker Creates One-Of-A-Kind Instruments from Cigar Boxes

Story And Photos By Angie Kay Dilmore

Re-purposing is a popular pastime, but Lake Charles resident Robert Newman enjoys a hobby that dates back to the Civil War, if not earlier. He designs and builds guitars from wooden cigar boxes.

A field technician for Lake Charles Coca Cola by day, this accomplished musician has been playing guitars since he was 13 years old. But, until approximately three years ago, Newman had never heard of cigar box guitars. “I stumbled across images of cigar box guitars on the Internet,” he says. “It piqued my curiosity, and I started reading about them. I saw what other amateur guitar builders were doing, and I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Newman researched the subject for a month prior to building his first electric cigar box guitar in 2013. Before that, he had built several traditional electric guitars. After he built his debut cigar box guitar, Newman’s friends and acquaintances became interested, and he started making the guitars for other people.

Newman has made around 40 cigar box guitars, to date, and sells them on eBay. “I keep about four or five completed guitars in stock, and I’m working on three others in my shop at any given time.” Prices range from $85 to over $100, depending on the materials used and the time it takes him to construct the guitar. He spends approximately six to eight hours building each guitar, not counting glue drying time.

Production is often determined by availability of quality boxes. Newman’s a non-smoker, and relies on the Internet and the generosity of local cigar purveyors for his inventory of boxes. He uses only authentic wooden cigar boxes, and no two guitars are exactly alike. He taps into his creativity to make a variety of different styles, using various materials.

“I build all types (of guitars),” he says. “Sometimes I build a fretless guitar, sometimes one with frets, sometimes a left-handed guitar, sometimes a right handed, or a four- or five- string, sometimes a six-string. There are no rules. I see a box, and I build around it. I let the box be my inspiration.”
Newman uses only wooden boxes, because he says they create a better quality sound. “They all have their own sweet spot, or tone,” he says. “I prefer the sounds of a four- or five-string guitar. Six strings sound more like a regular electric guitar.”

Newman says any type of music can be played on a cigar box guitar, but they are uniquely suited to a delta blues sound, which is created by using a slide on the strings. His guitars can also be fingered. Newman describes the sounds made by his first cigar box guitar (in photo) as “lonely and eerie.”

Newman didn’t grow up in a musical family, but he always loved music, and began playing guitar as a young teen. He gravitates to classic rock, blues and some country music, but he appreciates all genres of music and musical talents. He’s played in a number of bands throughout the years, but is not presently in a band.

Newman says cigar box guitars have historically been “poor-men’s instruments.” Mississippi and New Orleans blues musicians were some of the earliest players of this type of guitars. They couldn’t afford factory-made guitars, so they built their own out of whatever materials they could find, or had on hand, and called them diddley bows. Their ingenuity stemmed from a burning drive to create and play music.

“That’s what is so captivating to me about (cigar box guitars),” Newman says. “These guitars were developed out of an absolute desire to play music.”

Newman doesn’t consider his hobby a business. He tries to keep it casual, and never allows it to interfere with his day job, or his role as a husband, father, and homeowner. Yet he tries to play his guitars or focus on his works-in-progress as often as he can, usually a little bit each day.

Newman’s passion comes through as he describes his work and demonstrates his technique. “I enjoy doing this,” he says. “For me, the most rewarding factor is that there are other people out there who are playing instruments I have built. That’s very cool to me.”

For more information and photos of Newman’s guitars, visit rnguitars.weebly.com.