SlackJack guitars
By Amanda Milstead
Cruising through a common suburban street in Jonesborough, Tenn., the sound of a blues guitar wafts from a two-car garage. It’s Travis Woodall sitting on a stool playing an electric guitar made from a cigar box, a few pieces of wood and repurposed hardware.
“I was a drummer for a long time,” he said. “I never really was much of a guitar player. I saw a guy on Daytime Tri-Cities making ‘canjos,’ which are one-string instruments with a can and a string. I bought one. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.”
Woodall immediately became interested in instruments made from unconventional materials, and went to the Jonesborough library and found that during the Great Depression people in Appalachia were making dulcimers from gourds and banjos from calfskin and metal rims. In the Mississippi delta area, they were making guitars out of cigar boxes.
“People couldn’t afford commercially made instruments,” he said. “Music was the thing they had that held them together through tough economic times. Whether it was here, or in New Orleans or Mississippi the music was different, but the concept was the same. Those instruments really had a lot of soul.”
One of the key components in building a cigar box guitar is to use random objects to create unique instruments. Hinges, bolts, brass candleholders, veneer sample packs and scraps of wood go into the production of each SlackJack guitar.
After building his pilot instrument, Woodall brought his creation to Libation Station where he acquired several cigar boxes. The owner of the store bought the guitar on the spot.
“I just threw a number at him, and he paid me cash,” said Woodall.
"I called my wife, Brandi, and said, ‘I don’t have the guitar
anymore.’ She asked me what happened and I said, ‘I sold the
darn thing!’" -Travis Woodall
After two years in business, Woodall no longer makes stock unit guitars. Custom instruments and $89 do-it-yourself kits are the bulk of Woodall’s sales. He has made several custom guitars including one for Nashville, Tenn. songwriter, Deborah Allen and a double-necked one for Devon Allman, Greg Allman’s nephew.
“That double-necked one I made for Devon Allman is one of the coolest cigar box guitars I have ever seen,” he said. “He is a phenomenal guitar player. I was just blown away that he was into it that much and wanted one, so I said, ‘Sure, I can do that.’”
Woodall said that he was content with building one or two guitars at a time and has no plans to expand the business outside his garage doors. If the business became larger, he said that it would become too much like work.
“I don’t keep track of how much time I spend on a guitar,” he said. “I don’t punch in when I come out here, and that’s one of the cool things about it.
Contact Amanda Milstead at [email protected]
Cruising through a common suburban street in Jonesborough, Tenn., the sound of a blues guitar wafts from a two-car garage. It’s Travis Woodall sitting on a stool playing an electric guitar made from a cigar box, a few pieces of wood and repurposed hardware.
“I was a drummer for a long time,” he said. “I never really was much of a guitar player. I saw a guy on Daytime Tri-Cities making ‘canjos,’ which are one-string instruments with a can and a string. I bought one. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.”
Woodall immediately became interested in instruments made from unconventional materials, and went to the Jonesborough library and found that during the Great Depression people in Appalachia were making dulcimers from gourds and banjos from calfskin and metal rims. In the Mississippi delta area, they were making guitars out of cigar boxes.
“People couldn’t afford commercially made instruments,” he said. “Music was the thing they had that held them together through tough economic times. Whether it was here, or in New Orleans or Mississippi the music was different, but the concept was the same. Those instruments really had a lot of soul.”
One of the key components in building a cigar box guitar is to use random objects to create unique instruments. Hinges, bolts, brass candleholders, veneer sample packs and scraps of wood go into the production of each SlackJack guitar.
After building his pilot instrument, Woodall brought his creation to Libation Station where he acquired several cigar boxes. The owner of the store bought the guitar on the spot.
“I just threw a number at him, and he paid me cash,” said Woodall.
"I called my wife, Brandi, and said, ‘I don’t have the guitar
anymore.’ She asked me what happened and I said, ‘I sold the
darn thing!’" -Travis Woodall
After two years in business, Woodall no longer makes stock unit guitars. Custom instruments and $89 do-it-yourself kits are the bulk of Woodall’s sales. He has made several custom guitars including one for Nashville, Tenn. songwriter, Deborah Allen and a double-necked one for Devon Allman, Greg Allman’s nephew.
“That double-necked one I made for Devon Allman is one of the coolest cigar box guitars I have ever seen,” he said. “He is a phenomenal guitar player. I was just blown away that he was into it that much and wanted one, so I said, ‘Sure, I can do that.’”
Woodall said that he was content with building one or two guitars at a time and has no plans to expand the business outside his garage doors. If the business became larger, he said that it would become too much like work.
“I don’t keep track of how much time I spend on a guitar,” he said. “I don’t punch in when I come out here, and that’s one of the cool things about it.
Contact Amanda Milstead at [email protected]