Group Events & Tours

Welcome Travel Professionals

Simply Southern's Melissa Bowman learns how The Cigar Box Guitar Store came to be, Jeff & Tara's current mission with the store--and how easy it is to make a joyful noise.

Group Offerings

Talk and Cigar Box Guitar Lesson Experience

Short talk covering the history of the cigar box guitar, Huntsville’s role in this cigar box guitar music genre with the only CBG store in the world and the world’s longest-running cigar box guitar festival; followed by an interactive experience playing this unique instrument. Option to add on a talk and tour about the history and many uses of Lowe Mill, the largest privately-owned artists community in the U.S.
Location: The Cigar Box Guitar Store, Lowe Mill.
Time: 15-30 minutes at The Cigar Box Guitar Store; Add a minimum of 30 minutes for talk and tour of Lowe Mill property. Longer visits can be accommodated just ask.
Cost: Free. Miniature cigar box guitar souvenir ornaments available at $5 each.

Build a Cigar Box Guitar and Learn to Play

Everyone in the group builds their own guitar with an instructor and then the group learns to play their new CBGs in a group lesson. We supply everything you need and there's no cutting or drilling required.

Location: Your location.
Group size: 5-25 participants; inquire for smaller or larger groups.
Time: 2-3 hours
Cost: $185 per person, including guitar for each participant to take home. Guitars can be customized for your group with date, name of tour, etc. Options are available to package guitars for shipping in single guitars or in groups available. We ship worldwide.

Entertainment for Event or Meal

Cigar box guitar musicians are available for your event or during a meal. Many genres of music.

Cost: Starts at $250. Inquire with details of your needs to receive a quote.

To schedule a group activity, contact Jeff & Tara via e-mail or at 256-886-8554.

The Only CBG Store In The World!

The Cigar Box Guitar Store was founded by John Nickel and his father Pat Nickel in 2010 and was one of the first studios to open at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment. Jeff and Tara Mello purchased the store from the Nickel family in February 2021. It is the only brick-and-mortar store in the world selling CBGs.

Jeff is the juried artist for the store and the majority of the guitars for sale in the store are built by him. He built his first cigar box guitar in April 2019 after visiting the store with an out-of-town houseguest.

A longtime hobby woodworker, he was intrigued by the idea of creating what he viewed as “playable art” and launched the Mad Sci Innovations brand. Mad Sci Innovations guitars are look substantially different than traditional CBGs. They feature custom sound holes, exotic woods, fancy headstocks and high-end electronics.

Luthier Jeff has built over 1,200 CBGs and, in addition to the traditional-style guitars, he has developed techniques to craft CBGs that make them desirable by musicians, including weight-balanced, with low action, high-end electronics and even adjustable truss rods. See his Professional Series in action here.

You can find a selection of about 40 CBGs in the store most of the time, plus other handmade instruments, such as tambourines, stomp boxes, washboards, cellos, fiddles, bass guitars and cigar box amplifiers.

About Cigar Box Guitars

The cigar box guitar was invented around 1865, utilizing discarded cigar boxes and a wooden dowel, such as a broom handle. It was often part of a “jug band,” a band made up of washboard bass, a jug and a harmonica, and sometimes things like spoons and a comb or stovepipe. Some of the earliest Blues music was created in jug bands. Lightnin’ Hopkins, a Blues guitarist that Rolling Stone placed in its Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, frequently played a CBG.
Other well-known guitarists that have played CBGs include Bo Diddley, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Jimmy Hendrix, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Ed King of Lynyrd Skynrd and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.
The traditional CBG has three (sometimes four) strings. Three strings are easier to play than the typical six string guitar because they are easier on your fingers and hand flexibility.
CBGs are traditionally tuned Open G, with the strings G-D-G. Open G tuning means that many notes can be played as a bar chord (one finger across the full fret) making it easy to play a tune with just two or three different finger placements.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about a CBG is that each one has a unique sound (whereas commercial guitars are built to have consistent sound) because of the different sizes and depths of the guitar body.

Longest-Running CBG Festival

The Cigar Box Guitar Store is the organizer of the annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival, the longest-running cigar box guitar festival in the world. May 29-31, 2026 will mark its 22nd year.
This free, family-friendly event benefits music education in local schools. Generous sponsors cover the Festival expenses, while a group of over 20 volunteers facilitates the event.
In 2025, the 21st Annual Cigar Box Guitar Festival featured a dozen musical acts at three different venues over three days. Over $15,000 was raised for the Microwave Dave Music Education Foundation, a non-profit that integrates music with learning in North Alabama schools.