Did a onsite search and found this from 2012.....

https://sixshootercommunity.com/forum/index.php?id=2946

also some references to banjos etc.

I've personally been dabbling in cigar box guitars/banjos, both homemade from c.b.gitty kits and factory made. I recently attempted to reach out to the cigar box aficionado social networking community (forums & boards) but got no responses on the open sites and my registration attempts on the securely moderated sites were ignored. Not sure why "they" are or seem unsociable.

Anyhow, seems like over two decades since the above thread perhaps it is time for a update. Your thoughts ?

I'm amazed at how many of the denizens of this backwater of the internet enjoy not only the sixgun and other firearms but also the various stringed instruments as well. Somehow I've managed to collect a few myself, but nothing grand or impressive, just a Washburn, a Fender (probably Chinese, but don't recall) and a couple of Colombian instruments, a cuatro and a tiple. Have been looking for a 12 string for years, but never had the money when one showed up, or else there was that one that hung on the music store wall for years with an action so high it was hopeless. If they'd put a decent discount on it I'd have taken a chance, maybe, but they wanted full price and that wasn't going to happen.

Justin Johnson is one picker I get a kick out of. He comes up with all kinds of different instruments and make 'em sing.

ammo box guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdZ2_tJOLu4

Three String Shovel Guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9-ltPsbw9g

One string didley bow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nreCw94lxPU

Ironing board lap steel guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMWYnZDq3Bo

really piques the imagination. First of all, cuatro intimates four or at least four pairs. Then when you browse seller's sites or watch "toob" videos you see five pair and very odd (to me anyhow) tuning. As for the tiple, it is said that despite the traditional odd tuning, modern players "chicago" tune that is to say d-g-b-e like the high four of the ubiquitous guitar. I could play that no problem and getting to show folk your permanently grooved finger tips is a bonus.....but spending all that time incessantly retuning could prove a hassle.

Speaking of sore (fretting) fingertips, every time my middle grandson (the one with the robert plant hair) whines about his lessons I show him these little girls.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s9lpLoEbqsM

The music of iglesia pentecostal chilenas is amazing to me. They never seem to tire or complain of sore fingers.

The cuatro is four strings, similar to the ukelele. It's a typical instrument of the Colombian and Venezuelan llanos (eastern plains of Colombia, western plains of Venezuela)

This fellow gets a bit carried away, but shows some of the possibilities of the instrument.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAB2WMYHGRI

Indeed the tiple has four groups of three strings. I still remember the first time I saw one and jumped to the conclusion that it was a "12 string guitar", but the confusion at finding four of three instead of six of two quickly ensued. The only way I'm familiar with it is as tuned similar to the four highest toned strings of the typical gitfiddle. The top three groups are tuned with the center string being an octave lower than the outer two. The e string group are tuned all the same.

Here's a typical trio playing a bambuco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnfJ9rIusys

And for something completely different, try a viola sertaneja from Brazil. Bruna Viola - live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpFolACPhk0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UlV_MypVNI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBtAoPyjzLs

I am/was self-taught long before the days of tutorial videos. All I seem to be able to accomplish is a crude percussive strumming progression brightened with a bit of unmeasured cross-picking. I decidedly lack the melodic zippitydoodah that is considered minimally standard.

As for primitive, homemade instruments, I just can't seem to "get" the open tunings....g, d, or e. Using a slide is supposed to be super easy but I just cannot seem to make them ring. I tune them to g-b-e like the high 3 of a guitar which, in open chord terms is a quasi e minor.

Here is an example of one of my original compositions played on a g-b-e tuned 3 stringed cigar box.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HcsyY5RBkvk

And a folkie alternate arrangement of "silent night", same tuning, different box.....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_VGZ-iHTwTw