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134 Guitaris t March 2015

QUICK TEST

MISCELLANEOUS

While the rock world seems to

be creating more and more

extended-range instruments,

those of us working in the

acoustic world might well be

looking for fewer strings. The

four-string tenor guitar is

making a bit of a comeback and

there are a host of fewer-string

‘folk’ instruments that can all

add texture and interest to your

music, either live or recorded.

And that’s where this neat cigar

box guitar (CBG) fits in. For

many, a CBG is a simple, DIY

instrument that’s ideal for old-

style gnarly blues and slide.

There’s nothing wrong with

that, but St Blues has made this

one properly, which extends its

use considerably.

By design, a CBG is a simple

beast. The long, thin neck has

a Fender-style head, decent

Grover tuners and a nicely cut

bone nut. Fretting is very good

and although the neck profile

is pretty square, it is nicely

finished. There’s no bridge as

such, just a bone saddle held in

place by the string tension. But

once set correctly, the overall

intonation was really very good,

making upper-fret chord

voicing sound a lot more in-tune

than many cheaper CBGs

we’ve played.

This one is also electro, via

a custom piezo transducer

mounted in the cigar box body,

with a side-mounted volume

control and jack output.

We even get proper strap

buttons, too!

Sounds

Designed to be tuned to ‘open G’

(G, D, G, B), the St Blues is

supplied with a custom

D’Addario string set, a 0.045

wound bass string, a 0.026

wound, then 0.017 and 0.013

plain top strings. Of course, you

don’t have to stick to this tuning,

or the string gauges; raising the

top two strings was easy enough

to produce a ‘fifths’ tuning – G,

D, A, E, like a tenor guitar, banjo

or mandolin. Whatever tuning

you choose, you’ll have to get

used to the odd feel – strapped

on, it’s very unbalanced but light

in weight, so it’s actually quite

easy to hold it in place and play,

either standing or seated.

Unplugged, there’s enough

volume for practice and,

plugged in, while the body

becomes very microphonic,

albeit handy for right-hand

percussion; the sound is really

quite acoustic-like with a little

banjo-like ping and percussive

attack. Lower tunings slacken

the string tension and induce a

slightly more Eastern flavour, or

more African desert blues-like

tonalities, especially into a

lightly crunchy valve amp.

If you’re into your roots and

world music, it’s a very useful

tool, not least if you play slide –

the supplied setup is a little low

for that, but the bridge saddle

can either be shimmed or you

can just move it upright.

Verdict

It’s far from the cheapest cigar

box guitar out there, but it’s the

best one we’ve come across in

terms of build and playability.

Certainly if you’re interested in

exploring a slightly left-of-

mainstream musical world, it’s

far from a daft choice. Oh, and

you have a choice of different

brands of cigar box, too! [DB]

GUITARIST RATING

Guitarist says: A cigar box guitar

you should take seriously? We

think so…

A quality, ‘ready rolled’ cigar box guitar from the USA

CONTACT: Guitarguitar PHONE: 0800 456 1959 WEB: www.saintblues.com

St Blues Delta Blues Box

4 String ‘Montesino’

Cigar Box Guitar

£249