SIMCOE, Ala. – Keith Crumbley has busy hands. He is one of those people who has to be fixing, building, cleaning, doing something all the time. At Cullman City Primary School, where he works as a custodian, students and teachers see his practical handiwork, but when he gets home to his Simcoe workshop, he becomes a true artist. On his bench he crafts high-end examples of the cigar box guitar (CBG), an old folk instrument that has become a hot trend in recent years.
Homemade stringed instruments with cigar box bodies go back to the Civil War era, and the guitar version was popular with early folk and blues players who could not afford to buy commercially made instruments, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In recent years, the CBG has enjoyed a revival, showing up everywhere from front porches and open mic nights at local coffee houses, to major pro stage setups with musicians like Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Paul McCartney.
Crumbley is currently building his 86th CBG, lovingly known as a Crumbley Caster, and said of the nearly five years he has spent pursuing the craft: “It’s just a pastime. It’s something to do, you know, when you’re sitting there at the house, instead of watching TV or something, and you just want to do something with your hands. I’ve always worked with my hands. My dad always taught me, ‘You can’t do nothing without your hands; you’ve got to have your hands.’
“It’s just a hobby, a good joy to make something and actually see what you’ve created- not actually see it but hear it. You know the feeling: once you build it, you get right down to the end, you want- ‘I’ve got to get this thing put together. I want to see how it sounds.’”
Crumbley enjoys putting in the time to use traditional hands-on building methods when he works on his instruments.
“Since I’ve been doing it, I’ve bought different saws and different tools and stuff to help, but I still mostly make them by hand,” he said. “I like making all my necks and stuff by hand. I just like doing it all from scratch, doing it by hand. I could buy the necks, but it would be just like a kit guitar or something, you know.
“I’ll sand everything down, make sure it’s smooth and level. Then I’ll cut my fret slots in it- I’ve got me a little mitre box- and then I’ll cut my fret slots in it, and then I’ll glue it to the neck. Then, before I ever finish the neck, I’ll make sure everything’s flat and level again, then I’ll round off my neck and do whatever I need to do to it, you know. The last thing I do is put my frets on.”
Called up to the big leagues
Crumbley’s instruments have found their way across the country, and recently two of his instruments got invited to a gig at none other than the National Blues Museum in St. Louis, Missouri for a fall exhibit starting in two weeks.
Michael Breedlove, CBG builder, owner of parts supplier MGB Guitars and exhibit sponsor, posted on the museum’s Facebook page: “MGB and Friends are pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit of cigar box guitars. Working with the National Blues Museum in St Louis this display will include 60 handmade instruments. Thirty artists from all over have collaborated and created a display of CBGs that will provide a visual representation of various styles. Grand opening of the exhibit is scheduled for September 13th at the National Blues Museum in St. Louis. Several artists will be at museum on the 13th and the 14th to discuss the art of building a cigar box guitar. The display will also include a pick and play interactive area where visitors can touch and play 10 different instruments.”
One of Crumbley’s CBGs will be in the display, and the other will be among the hands-on instruments. Once the exhibit closes, the instruments may go on a cross-country exhibit tour before returning to their owners.
Asked what it meant to him to see his work going to a national exhibit, Crumbley said: “(I’m excited, very excited. I mean, it’s something like me and these other guys talk about. Myself, I never dreamed of this ever getting this far. You know, I was thinking: build, you know, 15, 20, 30 of them and go on and do something else. But to me, to be able to be in the (National Blues Museum), to have some of my builds in the blues museum, it’s very exciting. It’s like an accomplishment- that I did accomplish something by doing this. It wasn’t that I was wanting to, but I did- and the fact that people are recognizing this. You know, this is something that’s not going to die off. This is something we’re trying to bring back to the public.”
Crumbley continued, “For me to have this in a museum, for other people to come and look, and actually pick up one of my instruments, pick it up and play it, and see how it sounds, it’s exciting. I’m thrilled. There’s not really many words you can say. It’s just something that’s unbelievable to me. I still have to pinch myself every once in a while.
“I know there’s a lot of great builders out there in the world. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not the best builder. But there’s a lot of great guys out there that build a lot of good instruments, good-sounding instruments,” he smiled. “And all of us together just need to keep this thing going, you know, so it’s not a lost art, because so many things that happened years ago is getting lost in this new generation, this new culture. This is something we need to keep going, and need people to see, and see how it was built, how it was made and how it sounded.”
For more on the National Blues Museum, visit www.nationalbluesmuseum.org.
For more information on Crumbley Caster cigar box guitars, visit www.facebook.com/CrumbleyCaster/
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These CBGs recently left Keith Crumbley’s home workshop for the National Blues Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo courtesy of Keith Crumbley)
(Photo courtesy of Keith Crumbley)
