Suitcase Sessions

In this episode I hope to convince you that making Cigar Box Guitars is pretty simple and you can really use your imagination to build one.  Here I give plenty of examples for using things you might not expect to act as a bridge, a nut, a sound hole or tuning pegs.  I talk about each aspect of a standard guitar and what that might look like on your Cigar Box Guitars.

Watch the epidsodes on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@BobBowman962/videos

Cover Art by Alice Saurber: Alice Design Studio - 513-907-9878
Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 1 performed by Russ Wellington and Cody Goggin

Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 2 performed by Dean Dostal

In this episode, I answer the question I'm asked most often by my peers: How did you get addicted to Cigar Box Guitars?  My story is unique, like everyone else's but it is fun to learn how anybody discovers the Cigar Box Guitar and find out what it does to us as either builders or musicians.

Watch the epidsodes on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@BobBowman962/videos

Cover Art by Alice Saurber: Alice Design Studio - 513-907-9878
Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 1 performed by Russ Wellington and Cody Goggin

Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 2 performed by Dean Dostal

A conversation with Mike Breedlove, Owner and Operator of MGB Guitar Parts and Supplies.  In this episode we get to learn what motivates Mike and pick his brain on a wide variety of topics from his love of wood to his passion for the Cigar Box Guitar and spreading the word while helping introduce the artform to as many people as he can.

Mike can be reached by contacting him via his website at: www.mgbguitars.com

Watch the epidsodes on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@BobBowman962/videos

Cover Art by Alice Saurber: Alice Design Studio - 513-907-9878
Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 1 performed by Russ Wellington and Cody Goggin

Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 2 performed by Dean Dostal

In this episode we learn about the origins of the cigar box and how it came to be the primary transportation container for cigars.  We learn how many were estimated to be in circulation in the United States between 1800 and 1960 and who was 1st to package their cigars in wooden boxes and the earliest known use of the cigar box as an instrument we would know as the Cigar Box Guitar.

Watch the epidsodes on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@BobBowman962/videos

Cover Art by Alice Saurber: Alice Design Studio - 513-907-9878
Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 1 performed by Russ Wellington and Cody Goggin

Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 2 performed by Dean Dostal

Welcome to the “Suitcase Sessions” Podcast! My name is Bob Bowman and I love Cigar Box Guitars!  From the moment I heard Justin Johnson play a 3-string electric shovel and learned he made and played Cigar Box Guitars, I was hooked.  That was 7 years ago, and since then I’ve been a member of the St. Louis Cigar Box Guitar Club and have built 100 cigar box guitars.  I’ve coordinated and managed museum exhibits for the National Blues Museum here in St. Louis, Missouri and the Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts in Gadsden, Alabama.  I’ve taught workshop classes on how to make Cigar Box Ukuleles for the Tampa Bay Ukulele Society and for individuals right here in my own community. 

When my passion for woodworking finally intersected with my love for music, I experienced my own Crossroads moment and I’m still walking down that road.  

Join me as we explore the world of the Cigar Box Guitar and cover everything you ever wanted to know about the instrument and those who build them.  If you are like me, you are interested in every aspect of the subject from the artform, to sales.  This is where you will learn new things from the history of the cigar box and its use to the authors who’ve written about it.  We’ll travel the 4 corners of the earth to talk to builders and players, influencers, and innovators, we’ll stop along the way to enjoy some music and together we’ll draw closer as a community and be more informed as we spread the word!  So, for now, its time to pick up our suitcase and our favorite Cigar Box Guitar, and as Son House sang; “…[head] off down the road.” 

Watch the epidsodes on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@BobBowman962/videos

Cover Art by Alice Saurber: Alice Design Studio - 513-907-9878
Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 1 performed by Russ Wellington and Cody Goggin

Cigar Box Guitar Music for Season 2 performed by Dean Dostal