• Browse More Videos
• Blog
  • mp3
  • Photos
• Featured
• SPECIAL ANOUNCEMENTS
• Video
  • Bands
  • Documentaries

Mark Vickroid makes wonderful homemade guitars out of old cigar boxes. Some of them even have an amp built in. I went to his house in South St. Louis to see how he made them and talk to him about how he got started. Check out his band, The Vickroids, on MySpace here.

24 Comments

• At 2008.10.20 20:19, Doc said:
  

  This was a really good one, Bill. I think the spirit and sound of the cigar box guitars came through pretty well. The only thing that I think was missing was some footage of The Vickroids thrown in at the end, just to provide what the instrument is like in a band setting.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.10.21 10:07, kopper said:
  

  Hey Bill, you didn’t happen to see a guitar cut to the shape of Missouri while you were there, did ya?

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.10.22 19:04, Bill Streeter said:
    

    No I didn’t.

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.10.23 14:27, vickroid said:
    

    Kopper – Bill didn’t get to see the dungeon/practice room in the basement. The missouri diddley-plank is hanging up down there. I stole the pickup, but the guitar is still all yours.

    I’d love another show me blowout t-shirt though, mine got stolen before I even got to wear it once.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.10.22 17:07, Vickroid said:
  

  I thought you said I wasn’t gonna look like an idiot…
  Just kidding bill, lookin’ pretty good… As good as an idiot like me can I suppose…
  I vote for Vickroids footage at the end, and no phone call at the beginning… But thats why you’re the videographer and I’m the dummy makin’ guit-boxes from junk.

  Vickroid quote of the month:
  I’ll bet I could make something less crappy than that!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.10.22 17:14, Vickroid said:
  

  PS If anyone needs their computer fixed, network setup, website worked on, audio visual system setup, computer or laptop built, spyware removed, spyware added, keystrokes logged or anything in that general vicinity gimmie a call at the same phone number you’d call for a guitar, it’s given at the end of the video.
  That’s what the phone call at the begnining was about.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.10.22 17:34, Vickroid said:
  

  Err… pps
  check out lo-fi #185
  http://lofistl.com/2007/08/20/episode-185-the-vickroids/
  and the vickroids myspace for some CBG’s in action

  http://www.myspace.com/thevickroids

  Still lookin’ for a reliable drummer, by the way… Been practicing up for The Vickroid one man band, but it ain’t pretty.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.10.22 19:00, Bill Streeter said:
    

    Hey Mark, I thought about putting some of that footage from the other video but I knew that a link to it would show up as a related video in the sidebar, so it would be redundant.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.10.23 14:26, vickroid said:
      

      Aww, it’s OK Bill. I saw the related link too, just though I’d SHOVE it in.

      [Reply]
• At 2008.10.23 14:25, vickroid said:
  

  .

  [Reply]
• At 2008.10.24 20:22, Doc said:
  

  Mark — Have you or can you make a cigar box bass?

  [Reply]
• At 2008.10.27 10:28, Vickroid said:
  

  It’s not exactly a cigar box, but I made a full scale upright electric/acoustic double bass [fretless of course] with nylon strings, a piezo pickup, an oak soundboard and a weird pentagonal bucket body..
  It’s currently on loan to APOP records. You should stop by and they’ll let you play it to your hearts content. There’s also a pretty cool little cigar box uke on loan up there too. Both are for sale.
  I’ve also got a cigar box bass as well. It’s 4 strings, fretless, with an open frame headstock that uses cello pegs as tuning mechanisms. It’s got a small cigar box body and is meant to be played like an electric bass. It is, of course, electric. That one’s not for sale ‘cuz my friend Sam the Preacher made it for me, but I could make something the same or similar if wanted.

  Hell, if you want it, I’ll make it. You tell me what YOU want. Frets, no frets, scale length, pickup type [magnetic or piezo] number of frets, tuning mechanism whatever. I’ve done basses, guitars [1, 2, 3, 4, 6 strings] ukes, mandos, dobros, violins, whatever.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.10.29 00:25, Steven Fitzpatrick Smith said:
  

  Very cool video. Great editing. And I like the contrast.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.11.10 15:25, Clark said:
  

  WOW!
  WOW AGAIN!

  MORE, MORE, MORE, MORE!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.11.11 11:42, brody said:
  

  Excuse my very bad english
  this man : very beautiful
  What he does : very interesting
  His voice: very beautiful
  his guitars very strange
  their sound beautiful
  the mess in his appartment beautiful
  But your film : bad, bad bad
  You do not prepare the shooting
  You do not think about it ,
  you don’t go lookink for location
  The image, beautiful,
  like an advertise,
  the sound good, but the film : hopeless
  What a pity, knowing such an interesting person to do such a bad film

  [Reply]
• At 2008.11.15 18:12, Steve said:
  

  Great video Bill. You find the coolest things to capture. That guy is obviously brilliant.
  Very cool!!!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.11.16 21:06, Kaz said:
  

  Amazing instuments. Hope the dude finds success as he is obviously talented at what he does. As a lifelong St. Louisan, I also find the video an interesting socio-psychological profile in the study of what can be deemed “Pure St. Louis staight up attitude”. Not saying it’s a bad thing. But on a scale of 1 to 10, this dude is clearly pushing somewhere in the teens…

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.11.25 14:08, Vickroid said:
    

    HAHAHAHAHA

    Full of good ole’ St. Louis Piss n’ Vinegar.

    That’s me!

    [Reply]
• At 2009.01.02 19:10, the dish fairy said:
  

  get a hair cut and hire a maid…..for real, i enjoyed the video, if i knew how to play a guitar i might buy me one of those cigar boxes. i’ll spread the word they’re for sale.

  [Reply]
• At 2009.04.29 17:06, frannya (Franny) said:
  

  #stl love via #boingboing Mr. Vickroids Cigarbox Guitars | LO-FI SAINT LOUIS http://bit.ly/Dh1Pz

  [Reply]
• At 2009.04.29 19:13, T2AP (Jerrod Modica) said:
  

  MR. VICKROIDS CIGARBOX GUITARS are real cool. http://tinyurl.com/6prkpe

  [Reply]
• At 2009.04.30 11:19, Vickroids Fan said:
  

  What the hell ever happened to the Vickroids??

  I sure miss ‘em!

  [Reply]
• At 2009.07.28 15:14, Guitarras construidas con cajas de tabaco said:
  

  [...] Lo-Fi Saint Louis | Boing [...]

  [Reply]
• At 2010.01.23 10:39, vickroid said:
  

  The Vickroids are currently on hiatus.
  Drummer woes got to be to much hassle for a bit…
  there is/was a one man band [in the works?]

  [Reply]