In the Great Depression, out of work musicians would build musical instruments out of whatever materials they could scrounge. They quickly learned that these cedar boxes yielded very high quality notes and therefore routinely used them for crafting instruments.

The box itself will be an antique cigar box from the 1930s (approx) made of Western Cedar. This is important as this wood type is an excellent tone wood routinely used in modern guitar building. We will learn to construct a cigar box guitar from scratch, including the fundamental concepts of sound boxes, fret boards, bridges, and the other elements that make an instrument resonate.

When students leave, they will have all the skills needed to start on their guitar making journey!

Attendees must be intermediate woodworkers, comfortable with basic tools and techniques including the table saw, table router, planer, jointer, band saw, and sanders. 18+.

Sessions will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30-8:30 pm, for 4 weeks, plus two Saturdays 9 am-noon.

Week 1: March 26 & 28, 6:30-8:30 pm

Week 2: April 2 & 4, 6:30-8:30 pm and April 6, 9 am-noon

Week 3: April 9 & 11, 6:30-8:30 pm

Week 4: April 16 & 18, 6:30-8:30 pm and April 20, 9 am-noon

Barrow Turner is a woodworker and instrument maker who is excited to share his skills with everyone!