One Man's Trash: A History of the Cigar Box Guitar

by William J. Jehle

William J Jehle, detritomusicologist and cigar box guitar historian, has collected fragments of these forgotten instruments to create the first written history dedicated to these humble instruments. Mr. Jehle’s fascination with cigar box guitars led to a wide-ranging search for any and all artifacts to learn more about these instruments, and this research has yielded a wealth of information that you now hold in your hands. Spanning over 150 years of artifacts, this book is a collection of the history of the cigar box guitar, its origins and its changes in value and perception from the mid-1800s to the present. Mr. Jehle assembles the disparate parts, snippets, one-line mentions, newspaper and magazine articles into a cohesive whole, and, deciding to share his discovery, shares this information with others, so that ultimately guitar players and makers of all skill levels may grow through their own experience of producing sounds with their fingers on strings, working with their hands on the instruments they play. May you enjoy learning more about these instruments, and may your own experience be enriched by this book.

358 pages, Paperback

Published December 4, 2010

Reviews

[Glen Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

I enjoyed the subject. The editing of the digital book could have been better. Not sure this was the case with the printed copy.

[Charles Atchison · Rating 5 out of 5]

The research that went into the formation of this book is amazing. Anyone interested in cigar box guitars and/or primitive instruments will thoroughly enjoy this book.