Ian Riley, Tarrangower Times

There are many aspects to the Maldon Folk Festival, a source of happy memories for the town. Once again, my curiosity got the better of me, and I strolled into the fire station after noticing some interesting-looking musical instruments. The first group were the cigar box guitars.

A cigar box guitar is pretty much what you would expect, and the idea came out of the American southern states, where poverty-stricken musicians made their own instruments out of necessity.

After some scratching around, I came up with quite a list of musicians who have been known to play a cigar box, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bo Diddley and Tom Waits, amongst others.

Greg McKinnon is the maker or Luthier of the cigar box guitars we have here and it’s immediately obvious that these are much more than musical instruments; they’re whimsical works of art.

Of the interesting themes, I especially liked the Steampunk designs, but there’s something even more interesting for me.

Try as I might, I have never been able to get even a single note out of a guitar, but these cigar boxes have three strings and open tuning.

This means that without even touching the fretboard, you get a chord and by just moving your finger down, you get enough chords to play a tune. So simple, even I could do it.

So, as well as a work of original art, you get a playable instrument. It might be a late-blooming new career for me!

This article appeared in Tarrangower Times, 21 November 2025.