What are you at? This is it: Cigar box guitars

Robert Nugent of Conception Bay South says he first began building cigar box guitars as part of his step-daughter's homework assignment.

"She had a build your own instrument assignment, and I helped her build a one-string electric guitar," said Nugent.  

He first discovered how to make the unique instruments when he came across directions online. 

From then on, he was hooked.

Nugent gets the wooden cigar boxes come from local cigar shops. He also orders them from the southern United States. 

He said he mostly uses maple for the necks and fret-boards of the instruments, and uses bits of high end hardwood for smaller design features.

Nugent estimates that it takes 15 to 20 hours to make a cigar box guitar from start to finish.

An avid musician, Nugent's said that a lot of early American blues was likely written on similar types of instruments.

Meanwhile, Nugent said his step-daughter got top marks on her assignment, and she and her friends have gained an appreciation for the guitars.

"They get a kick out of these cigar boxes. They think they're lovely and strange and wonderful," he said. 

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