Darty Works

COMPLETED BUILD · MUSIC & WOODWORKING

A cigar box.
A backyard workshop.
A guitar of my own.

Built alongside my friend Brendan deVallance, starting with a find from a smoke shop in Astoria, New York.

Brendan and I set up a little workshop in his backyard woodshop and began our builds together. He was making a cigar box guitar of his own; I brought a box I’d picked up locally. Two builds, one place to work, and a good reason to spend time making something together.

Follow the build
Cigar box guitar in assembly with screened sound holes, skull knobs and an unstrung neck
Late in the assembly: the body hardware is in place, with the neck still unstrung.
STATUSCompleted build
STARTING POINTAstoria, New York
BUILT ALONGSIDEBrendan deVallance

01 · THE START

A box with a second life.

The cigar box came from a local smoke shop in Astoria. Its dark wood and gold lettering gave the build a character of its own before the first piece of hardware went on.

Original Hispaniola cigar box on a wooden table
The starting point: the cigar box from Astoria.
Shaped wooden neck fitted to the cigar box before hardware installation
An early fit brings the box and neck together.

02 · THE NECK

Small marks. Careful work.

The neck work tells the quieter part of the story: laying out fret positions, cutting slots, and making room for the details that turn a piece of wood into part of an instrument.

Paper fret-position template on the wooden neck beside a saw and square
Paper layout establishes the fret positions.
Wooden neck with fret slots, marker holes and a nut beside wood shavings
The layout moves into the wood: slots, marker holes, and the nut.

03 · THE DETAILS

A little personality in the hardware.

Gold skull-shaped tuner buttons and skull control knobs add a playful edge. The box keeps its original graphics as sound holes and body hardware become part of the composition.

Four gold skull-shaped tuner buttons on the wooden headstock
Four skull-shaped tuner buttons bring character to the headstock.
Cigar box guitar with three screened sound holes, skull knobs and an unstrung wooden neck
The body and hardware come together during assembly.

WHAT STAYS WITH ME

Making something together.

This guitar’s story begins with a friendship and a place to build. The photos bring me back to Brendan’s backyard woodshop: each of us working on our own instrument, beginning with something as ordinary as a cigar box.

It’s part of what I love about making. A found object becomes a project, and the time spent building becomes part of what the finished piece means.

Explore my S-style guitar build