Shane Speal
Encyclopedia
Shane Speal is an American musician, historian and instrument builder, known as the "King of the Cigar Box Guitar" and recognized as the creator of the modern cigar box guitar
movement. He is the creator of http://www.cigarboxnation.com, a large network and history site for cigar box guitars. Speal is the central figure in the Max Shores documentary, Songs Inside the Box which spotlights the cigar box guitar resurgence.
In 2003, Speal created a one-page Geocities website with simplified free plans for building a cigar box guitar. As the website grew and Speal started getting many emails with questions for building, leading him to create the Yahoo!Group for Cigar Box Guitars in order to answer the questions in a public forum. After reaching 3000 members in 2008, Speal moved the forum to a Ning.com network format under the domain, http://www.cigarboxnation.com. Cigar Box Nation is now a large archive of cigar box guitar history, instructional videos, building plans and social network for cigar box guitar enthusiasts.
His "title" of "King of the Cigar Box Guitar" is self-awarded, but has be recognized by several journalists who have covered his work.
In addition to promoting the art of cigar box guitars online, Speal is a full time musician who performs exclusively with cigar box guitars. He has released over 10 albums. Speal has been featured in Premier Guitar Magazine and Make Magazine. Several of Speal's cigar box guitar videos have gone viral after being featured on www.BoingBoing.com.
Cigar box guitar
The cigar box guitar is a primitive chordophone that uses an empty cigar box for a resonator. "Guitar" refers to the traditional instrument and to a string bass. The earliest predecessors had one or two strings compared with the three or more used in today's models...
movement. He is the creator of http://www.cigarboxnation.com, a large network and history site for cigar box guitars. Speal is the central figure in the Max Shores documentary, Songs Inside the Box which spotlights the cigar box guitar resurgence.
History
Speal built his first cigar box guitar on July 3, 1993 using a cardboard Swisher Sweets cigar box and a plank of oak from his farm after reading an article about Carl Perkins' cigar box guitar in a 1976 issue of Guitar Player magazine. His inspiration was to find an instrument that would give him music "deeper than the Delta blues." In the next six years, Speal went on to build over 200 more cigar box guitars under the brand Catfish Music Works, perfecting a crude poplar stick-thru-wood box design and even achieving endorsements from Warren Haynes and the late Alan Woody from Gov't Mule/Allman Brothers. Speal would sell his instruments in consignment stores and cigar shops along with having the first known website for cigar box guitars in 1998, www.catfishmusicworks.com.In 2003, Speal created a one-page Geocities website with simplified free plans for building a cigar box guitar. As the website grew and Speal started getting many emails with questions for building, leading him to create the Yahoo!Group for Cigar Box Guitars in order to answer the questions in a public forum. After reaching 3000 members in 2008, Speal moved the forum to a Ning.com network format under the domain, http://www.cigarboxnation.com. Cigar Box Nation is now a large archive of cigar box guitar history, instructional videos, building plans and social network for cigar box guitar enthusiasts.
His "title" of "King of the Cigar Box Guitar" is self-awarded, but has be recognized by several journalists who have covered his work.
In addition to promoting the art of cigar box guitars online, Speal is a full time musician who performs exclusively with cigar box guitars. He has released over 10 albums. Speal has been featured in Premier Guitar Magazine and Make Magazine. Several of Speal's cigar box guitar videos have gone viral after being featured on www.BoingBoing.com.