Smokehouse Guitars

If you want the finest handmade cigar box guitar available today, this is where you come to get it.  Period.

Owning a simple acoustic cigar box guitar does not mean that you have to sacrifice quality or playability.  Some people don’t want all the bells and whistles of an electric guitar.  That’s fine; I’m here for you.

I make some of the highest quality acoustic cigar box guitars available.  Each part of the guitar is designed with attention to the integrated instrument, each part being crafted specifically for playability and quality of sound.  The end result is a fluid work of art with unmatched tone and volume.

The key factor to the design of these guitars happens inside of the body.  Unlike most other cigar box guitars, the neck of this guitar never comes into contact with the lid (soundboard).  It is instead set into the body and cut at an angle to maximize internal cubic airspace.  The base of the box is strengthened with a solid oak spine, which is what the neck anchors to.  The underside of the soundboard is braced just like a traditional acoustic guitar and, when the box is sealed shut, the whole framework locks together to make an extremely sturdy resonator.

The other factor that goes into giving these guitars their incredible sound is that fact that I mount the bridge close to the center of the box.  This position, combined with the free floating soundboard, ensures that the maximum vibrational potential of the soundboard is realized.  All of this translates into an unbelievably powerful voice for such a small body.

On top of all that you can expect the exceptional features of a Smokehouse Guitar that are just a standard part of what I do:

• Fingerboard radius
• Fully dressed frets (no sharp edges, ANYWHERE)
• Some of the finest carving work that you can find in a three or four string neck

So when it comes to looks, everyone has their own tastes and it’s really silly to try to claim you have the best looking guitar out there.  When it comes to playability, however, you suddenly have criteria that can be defined.  After seeing what is available in the cigar box guitar world today, I have set out to build the highest quality 3 string guitar currently available.  What gives me the right to say this?

Go have a look at the other three string guitars currently available on the CBG market.  See any common threads?  I’ll bet you do.  Let me spend a little time talking about what sets this guitar apart from any other 3 string that you’ve ever seen:

Features:

• Red oak neck, French polish finish
• Chrome Ping Precision Tuners
• Custom bone nut
• Poplar fingerboard, radiused to 16″
• Stainless Steel Frets (frets have been professionally dressed, include levelling and end dressing)
• Fingerboard surface sanded down to 2000 and conditioned with Axe Wax
• Vintage tone archtop humbucker
• Fully intonable custom 3 string hard tail bridge.  Each individual saddle is height adjustable, allowing precise string action adjustment.
• Piezoelectric acoustic pickup mounted under the bridge.
• Switch Craft 3 position selector lets you select the humbucker, the acoustic pickup, or blend both together.
• Master volume knob
• Body finished in gloss laquer.
• Body features a control cavity to simplify repairs or modifications.

Now if you can find a three string guitar that boasts the kind of quality and complete control that this guitar offers, it was either made by me or the competition has turned the dial up on me, in which case the whole CBG world got that much cooler.  Either way, you come out a winner.