Homemade Instruments Made With a Box

Just about any small box will work to create a homemade musical instrument.

Several stringed instruments, such as guitars and banjos, have wooden sound chambers to amplify their sound. Using the same principle, you can use wooden, metal and even cardboard boxes, such as an echo chamber, to create homemade instruments. These homemade instruments can be very simple children's crafts or very elaborate instruments that can be used for live musical performances.

Cigar Box Guitar

Cigar Box guitars have been traced back as far as the mid-1800s. The Great Depression era brought popularity to homemade musical instruments for entertainment, and cigar box guitars were part of that movement. Cigar box guitars are made using a wooden cigar box for the body of the guitar. The neck is made from a 3-foot piece of wood, approximately 1 inch by 2 inches. A cigar box guitar closely resembles an acoustic guitar, and even uses acoustic guitar strings for playing.

Tissue Box Guitar

Children can make a tissue box guitar in a manner somewhat similar to a cigar box guitar. All you need is an empty rectangular tissue box and elastic bands or rubber bands of various sizes. Remove the plastic from the tissue box opening and take out the tissues. Then wrap the different sized bands around the empty box. The different sizes of bands produce a variety of different tones.

Cereal Box Instrument

You can make an empty cereal box into a musical instrument by using some scissors, paint, large rubber bands, tape and a cardboard paper towel roll. Paint an empty cereal box and paper towel roll to match or be complementary. Make slits in the bottom of the paper towel roll to slide onto the box and form the instrument neck. Cut a hole in the front of the box and stretch the large rubber bands around the cereal box to make the strings.

Tin Banjo

You can make a banjo from those large cookie tins that are popular around the holidays. Remove the lid from the empty, washed-out cookie box. Cut a hole out of the tin to insert the neck of the banjo. Depending upon how detailed you want your homemade banjo to be, you can add frets and guitar pickups to closely resemble a three-string guitar. Once the banjo is put together, simply add strings and start plucking.

References

• Cigar Box Guitars
• create-kids-crafts.com: Musical Instrument Crafts for Kids
• mademan: How to Make String Instruments Out of Household Items
• Airburst: Tin Banjo