From seeing my wife struggle with 6 strings and a full size guitar body - and give up, to hearing countless people tell me "I wish I could play an instrument but I could never do it." it's been all about accessibility to me. 

Just like I say in the first sentence on this site, "Anyone should be able to make music." everyone should also have a safe place to live, food to eat, access to medical care, social equity, and equal treatment under the law. For this reason, I gladly support the following organizations and others when I become aware of them:

* The Greater Chicago Food Depository www.chicagosfoodbank.org/

* Doctors Without Borders www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

* The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund www.naacpldf.org/

* Room in The Inn www.roomintheinn.org/

The story

cigar box guitars and more...

Guitars

roughcutguitars@gmail.com              312.543.3375


speaking of 'vision'...


I've been in love with guitars since I first picked one up and started playing over 30 years ago. A little too in love. As the guitar cases started filling up floor space, my wife came across CBGs and took a shot at building one as a project. Dabbling in woodworking and being a husband, I soon started throwing in my 2 cents worth - which is when she told me to go... build my own. It took me a few months, but I finally realized this had all been part of her plan to cure my GAS. Like I said; a husband.


  Why go with the self-deprecating name? Well, first, that's simply my nature. Second, because it's not only about what I do, but where I do it. For now, I build out of a condo basement around a full-time job. Thirty minutes to set up and thirty minutes to break down, without even counting the build-time. And those guitar cases on the floor have been replaced by lumber.

  But don't let the name fool you. Shaped, refined, honed, there's no 'good enough'. It's "measure twice," check a third time, look at it long and hard, stress over it awhile, then cut. 


  I start every instrument with a creative vision, but that evolves with the inherent qualities of the materials - seeing what the instrument really 'wants' to be. When those two paths converge, ​the feeling is magical. I approach every build as if it were my dream instrument.

Hand-made for players by a player.


​-Tom Swietlik, owner and principle